# 2nd Leisure Battery



## Musea (Jun 1, 2005)

Looking for advice or know how, to fit a second leisure battery to a Autosleepers Executive on a Boxer chassis.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Harry


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi 

If you want to double the power available, buy a Sterling budget charger, very similar cost to a good leisure battery and fully charging the one battery will give over double what you get from charging via a split charge and Zig. It will also increase the batteries life

Buying a second leisure battery means you will have 2 partially charged batteries. Unless you buy 2 new batteries they will be mismatched and this means neither will charge as well and the poorer one will always bring the newer one down.


George


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

Although everyone advises buying 2 new batteries just adding a second on works OK - it won't be as good as 2 new ones but still a lot better than just one.

I'd be cautious about spending too much - a lot of the battery theory you read doesn't hold up in practice. Last winter I spent £250 on a 30 amp Sterling charger, but the results are disapointing. The charger is fine but after 20 minutes the charge drops back to about 5 amps defeating my efforts to run the generator only an hour a day. I think the (new Exide) lesiure battery is crap, but try getting the shop or manufacturer to agree.


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi HaylingChrist

The charger is supposed to do that that means the bulk of the charge is in and your battery is nearly fully charged up within a few %. running the charger till its absolutely fully charged every day is not absolutely necessary.

It would be a better idea to run the charger for longer every decond day via the genny if you can.

Run as a power supply via hook up is a different scenario and will always be a better proposition.

George


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

I don't know the layout of your van I'm afraid, but if you don't have room for a 2nd battery you could consider swapping for an AGM of similar size, and investing in a decent charger (or inverter charger) as George suggests. Ask around about after-sales service and users' experiences before choosing a make.

I have recently found that changing our 2x110 Ah lead acids for AGMs of the same size has made a remarkable difference. They hold their voltage until they are almost completely flat, even under huge (150A) loads, meaning you can actaully use most of their capacity.

I got mine at the York show, costing £70 each. The make is Trojan, and despite my suspicions that they may be a little budget (AGMs are usually £1 per Ah) they seem fine.

We use about 100Ah of energy per day (at 12 V). We use a 70A Victron unit, which we are chuffed to bits with. As standard the charger's programmed such that it won't deliver the full 70A, as this may damage your batteries (can be changed with the optional PC interface)

We do get about 45 A of charge until the batteries are over 95% full (bulk phase) The last few % go in much more slowly. Typically we run from about 30% full to 80% full when without hookup. That means running the genny for 1-2 hours each morning, until the BMV-501 indicates 80% or more (or until we need to move, get bored of the sound, run out of fuel, etc)

Furthermore, we use a 'proper' current integrating battery monitor to take the guesswork away. It's all great stuff, but I'm damn sure we use a lot more power now we have the extra confidence. We're always leaving lights on willy-nilly


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi Ben lizzie

Even AGM's will not take being run flat too often, they will certainly cope better than most types of battery, but running flat is battery abuse.

My First post was slightly out any good 3-4 stage charger will do, I prefer Sterling, for price and honesty, that doesnt mean all other makes are bad.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

I'm having a 2nd battery fitted in tandem soon, excuse my ignorance, but whats an 'AGM'?

pete.


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## elbino (May 9, 2005)

hi PeeJay, glad you asked that one as I haven't a clue what they're on about. I have 2 leisure batteries and am in the happy position of not only having unequal ages but unequal sizes--an 80amp and a 110 amp.!!
However I took advice on this site 6 months ago not to chuck them out and start again and ,touch wood, have had no problems through the Spring and Summer. Staying on Aires in France posed no problems and we always seemed to have plenty of power for lights and pumps. I'm now in the 'if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it' mode and will see what the winter brings. If I lay the van up over Dec-Feb is it advisable to remove the batteries or just keep them charged occasionally----I'm contemplating putting the van on a storage site and it wouldn't be hooked up to the mains unless I take it home or out for a run


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Elbino;

Think i,ve sussed it, probably one of those yearly get togethers where everyone talks about batteries, or maybe not. (I detect a bit of Pusseritis rubbing off on me here).

pete.


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

AGM = Absorbed Glass Mat Batteries

A more expensive battery that can withstand the abuse meted out by motorhomers. They can be discharged to greater levels than Normal batteries.

A normal battery will not survive long if you take more than 50% out of it ie a 110 ah battery should not be used beyond 55ah very often otherwise it deteriates rapdily. A agm battery can be discharged below that and survive better. However despite the hype it work take it for that long.


George


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## Don_Madge (May 1, 2005)

Harry,

Why don't you get yourself a cheap old battery, stick it under the seat, buy a solar panel and forget about it. You're seen mine so you know it works.

Enjoy your trip.

Don


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## 90136 (May 1, 2005)

George you are a knowlagable man, I have a 110 amh battery which I intended to use as a slave to charge my electric power chair, via a 300watt inverter, but my problem has been that of getting the leisure battery to take a charge afterwards. Originally I put on a trickle charger 6amps but no good. Howver when I put on my large crypton booster charge at 20 amps bingo the volts in the leisure battery increased. What are your comments?.


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

George (et all)

Thanks for your advice and suggestions:

It was my intention only to run the genny every couple of days. What I omitted to say is that the charge rate starts to drop after 20 minutes no matter how flat the battery is to start with.

I've seen it so flat it hardly registered on the hydrometer, but still only really charge for about 20 minutes. According to the theory the charge rate should only start to drop when the battery is 80% charged. The rundown test I did on the 110 ah battery showed an actual capacity of about 50 ah, but the vendor (and Exide) tested the battery and said it was OK. 

This doesn't fit the theory, but no-one has explained it or offered to replace anything I've bought. The point I'm making is that often battery system performance doesn't fit the the theory and it's the user who ends up paying.

Chris


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi Hayling


Either the Battery is naff or the Sterling is not working, I get the feeling its the battery.

On Initial charging its constant current until the battery reaches a set voltage then the Sterling swaps over to Constant voltage the ampage does not drop rapidly down even then.

I have run it on my 10 X 110 ah set up several times now and I am well impressed with the charging rates.

Have you tried it with a different battery ? that would settle whether it was battery charger or battery at fault.

George


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

BenandLizzie

You make some interesting points and obviously use a lot of juice, though if I was to be picky, your arithmetic doesn't quite add up (e.g. 1-2 hours @ 45a isn't 100 ah).

I'm loathe to abandon lead-acid because other types either need more careful treatment and/or can't be checked with a hydrometer. I've just bought 2 new Varta 110s so we'll see how these do this winter.

I think I've already got a decent battery charger. I know I could spend more on a Victron but £250 for a 30a Sterling seems enought to me. Battery charging isn't that complicated - in principle not much difference to pumping up a tyre. If the 'pump' delivers more pressure (volts) than already in the 'tyre' then the battery will charge. Otherwise it won't. Some sophisticated chargers have a few tricks up their sleeve, but these generally depend on the charger being switched on for longer than the hour or two you're likely to want to run a generator for.

An integrating battery meter would be nice (I thought about buying a Labjack and building my own, plot graphs etc), but really it just seems like a waste of money (I know the system's not working...)

I'm interested in just how self-sufficient you are - you mentioned hookup. I'm on hookup about 1 day a year, and spend the winter in the Alps hammering the batteries. I think there may lay some of my problems and much of the lore is either based on motorhomes which have small battery banks but are usually on hookup or boats which may be self-sufficient, but can carry lots of batteries. 

Chris


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi Hayling

Your last post seems strangely isolated from any post by benandlizzie are you being PM'd or emailed with a sales pitch ?

Have you seen my set up ? this is nearer to a boat system than campervan and can be completely self sufficient.

George


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## RobMD (May 9, 2005)

Hi george, tried the link to your site - but it's not working. Says Board Closed


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi

There apears to be a concerted campaign against my board the Invision free team are looking into it. hopefully back soon.

~George


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Harry said:


> Looking for advice or know how, to fit a second leisure battery to a Autosleepers Executive on a Boxer chassis.
> Any advice would be appreciated.
> Harry


Hi Harry

I have seen a Leisure battery fitted under the passenger seat of an Executive using the same type of fixings as used under the driver seat. On the installation the owner had simply connected the 2 batteries in parallel the wiring running under/outside the van with a fuse (15A I think)in the +ve lead between the two. In our Executive, when we are going to be away for longer than 2/3 days without a hookup I carry an extra fully charged 55/60Amp car battery in the space between the back of the drivers seat and the Bed, under where the bed extension flap drops down. The 55amp battery was used because I had it for free! On these trips we run the TV exclusively from this battery and I carry an Accumate to charge it when we get to a hookup or back home. If we flatten it we dont watch any more TV, but that has not happened yet.

Mike


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## fjmike (May 10, 2005)

spykal what a stunningly simple and brilliant idea :idea: :idea: . This method means only taking a battery when needed and no messing about with wiring - nice one


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## dodger148 (May 9, 2005)

I have seen an Executive with a larger battery holder fitted in original place and an Elecsol type battery (of larger capacity) which is smaller in dimensions than a conventional leisure fitted. They seldom use sites and go away for long periods and dont seem to have any problems


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