John n Jax Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Been touring and living in motorhome 7 years, bought new Lion leisure batteries 3 years ago that don't seem to be holding much charge any more, I have a 80 watt solar panel and I use a 300watt inverter for charging I-pad ,laptop and phones. Is this a fair time for my batteries ? Am looking at new banner ones at £108 each which seems expensive or there are hankook 110ah for £58 ,anyone know if these are good ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazooka Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Hi John,the 100amp with a 4 year warrenty (Hankook) look good to me. My two alpha 110 amp are still going well at 4 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 If you've been living in your van for 7 years then the leisure batteries have done well to last 3 years. If your batteries are located in a well ventilated locker, you can replace with a wide range of batteries. If you go for wet acid batteries, easy access will be needed for topping up. Banner batteries have had a few poor reviews on this forum mainly concerning short longevity. Don't know much about Hankook but I've heard of one happy user. Varta now do a range of multipurpose sealed wet acid batteries which might be worth considering. I have Varta LFD 90 and they seem to be performing well. They are relatively cheap and if they last over 3 years, I'll be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John n Jax Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 Yer the hankook look good on price and as I live in van if they last 2 years plus then still better than £££ for banner or enduroline batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 The Hankook XV110MF battery (which I assume is the one John is considering) is advertised as ‘dual purpose’ http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/hankook-xv110.html but so are Varta LFD batteries. Given the XV110MF's dimensions (Length = 354mm, Width = 174mm, Height = 190mm - similar to a Varta LFD90) I suspect that the Hankook battery’s 110Ah capacity-datum is based on K100 rather than K20. I’m not aware of any common-or-garden vehicle battery with those dimensions having a Ah (K20) capacity much above 90Ah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Yep, don't get stuck on the numbers - on many batteries these are a work of fiction - or are based on discharge over 100 hours (but this is not stated on the side). I suspect the Varta 90's would outperform the Hankook 110's in a discharge test. Thus far I have been happy with my '140AH' Exides (ER650) - which may be worth considering if you can accommodate the extra height over a '110AH'. I have only had em for 9 months though, and they are ruddy heavy (a good sign for a lead acid!!). Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyExsis Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Thanks for ref to the Exide....I intend to replace my 71/2 year old 110amp Elecsol battery this year, which have served me well I have concluded that I would prefer 1 x 140amp (Exide) over 2 x 75 amp Vartas....and I remembered that a very knowledgable member had posted some while ago that they had fitted the Exide, so thanks for the reassurance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 And don't just take your old battery to the local tip or put it out for the scrap man! I took one to my local metal recyclers yesterday, it weighed 15 kg and they pay 40 p per kilo. So £6 for taking it in! Result! OK I did have other stuff to take but still worthwhile. If you've got a pair of heavy batteries that could easily by 40 or 50 kg so maybe £16 to £20 for your trouble. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 The Lion batteries are pretty much bottom of the pile, so if you have managed 3 years, your usage must be very battery friendly? The Hankook's are not nice batteries but should last longer than the Lion's? If you go for some of the quality batteries mentioned, you might get very, very long battery life if you have been able to make the Lion's last 3 years? Most batteries that now quote the Ah figure on the battery top will generally have that capacity, however a higher 110Ah figure is usually obtained at the expense of longer life. In the normal MH 'locker' size, an Exide G80 battery is quoted at 80Ah, it is a really tough battery with long life. The tough and more capable LFD90 is quoted at 90Ah in the same physical package. The Bosch S5 is 100Ah. A Lion is 110Ah So you can see that for the same physical package, as the battery capacity rises, so generally, it's expected life drops. It's a trade off the manufacturer has to make during construction, generally a more durable battery will have a lower capacity rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John n Jax Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 so, a lower AH lasts longer ,but what about power ? should I buy another 80watt solar panel? price jumps considerably from batt to batt,so economics tells me to get the cheaper and replace again in 2 or 3 years? 2 many choices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 The Hankook batteries in the link by Derek are cheap. Because you are a light user you could make a good economic case for going for these and replacing at 3 years. However, there is more to consider than how long they last. If it was my MH I would fit Varta LFD90's at £75 because they are so much more efficient. By the time the budgets are at 2 years old they could be delivering significantly less power than the LFD90's which are only a little more money. The LFD90 is about the best you can get to partner Solar Power, because it makes the most of every amp hour. The budget batteries at 2 years, typically waste about 20% - 40% of your Solar charge. That is they may have needed about 120Ah - 140Ah Solar charge for every 100Ah they gave back. At 5 years old a good LFD90 should still be working at close on 90% efficiency. In other words fitting LFD 90's should feel like you HAVE added another Solar Panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John n Jax Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 its all very confusing but thank you all for your input, especially aandcaravan for putting it in plain English and I am now considering the varta LFD90 x 2 , just gotta find cheapest seller with delivery and my 2 go down to metal man , ps; I have green light showing on the batteries telling me they are good ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 If you use Derek's link to battery mega store you should find they are one of the cheapest. They also sell a lot of these LFD batteries so battery turnover is high. The battery you get should be new, not been sitting on the shelf for weeks. However, two customers recently fed back that the telephone sales team tried to push an alternative battery make, saying they were as good, which they were not. It wasn't about selling them the best battery, the one they put forward gives them a higher profit margin. We have been told they also have a lot of stock of these Asian batteries so need to shift them quickly?. The 'Green' light is a vague guide at best. We have had a lot poor batteries with 'Green' lights. One battery had a voltage of 9.8v but a 'Green' light. However, suggest you carry out a test. Maybe, rather than your batteries 'not holding charge', it's because the Solar system is not charging them for some reason? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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