# how long should a new 110 a/h leisure battery last in use?



## 100369 (Aug 5, 2006)

Just bought new elecsol battery, 110a/h for my benimar anthus aereo 2003 CFL. Can anyone give an estmate of how long a full charge will last using say, 3 or 4 lights and a mini lcd tv each evening ? also I am still a little(no, a lot!) confused by the 2 digital redouts on controll panel. Top one indicates when hooked up and one below it the battery `state` - number 0-99 then if pressed for longer the voltage. It seems to go down quite rapidly if I put all the lights on is this normal? any advice appreciated SHINETOP :?:


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## rickwiggans (May 10, 2006)

Try to make an estimate of the power your appliances are using (the number of watts, - you can often get this from the spec, the handbook or a label on the piece of kit). Your battery is nominally 12v. The number of watts divided by 12 is the current in amps. Divide 110 by the number of amps, and that is (approximately) the number of hours your battery should last. It's not quite an exact science, because efficiencies etc come into play, but you'll get an idea


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

*Re: how long should a new 110 a/h leisure battery last in us*



SHINETOP said:


> It seems to go down quite rapidly if I put all the lights on is this normal? any advice appreciated SHINETOP :?:


Tricky question. It depends on how powerful your lights are, and how much power your TV takes, and exactly how long you have it on.

To give you some idea, we only have a single 85Ahr battery on our van. In the somewhat lighter evenings of last autumn, we would be able to have a couple of lights on for around 2-3 hours, and the telly (similar to yours, I think) for again a couple of hours or so a night. We'd have no problem living off hookup from a Friday night to a Sunday. This also includes running the water pump for cooking, washing up, and showers in the morning.

Follow Rick's advice.


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

hi Shinetop,

the battery voltage will decrease when 12 volt appliances are switched on,this is quite normal.If your battery is in a good state of charge the voltage will increase again when everything is switched off.Although I have found that m/home control panel digital readouts are only a guide,the most accurate test is to use a quality multimeter.

As far as the leisure battery life is concerned it really depends on how long you watch the TV,because this is what takes the most current.My 15'' Toshiba LCD takes just less than 3 A/H.Assume you watch 4 hours per day(if your an avid soap fan like Sharon)that would be 12 Amp hours per day,add on your lights,which are on more in winter,water pump and any other 12 volt appliance,and you will get an approximate current draw out of your battery per day.

My estimate for our personal current draw from our batteries is 20Amp/hours per day in winter,this is assuming 4 hours TV at this time of year(less in summer).This is probably overestimating but imo that is preferable to underestimating and then finding a prematurely flat leisure battery.

Your 110A/H battery is recommended not to drop to below 50% charge so that gives 55 A/H.Then subtract another 10% because of the cold weather affecting efficiency(leisure batteries are less efficient at low temperatures)and you have approximately 50 A/H at your disposal.

With my estimated current draw(20 A/H per day)that 110 A/H battery should last me for 2 days,10 hours.My useage is fairly heavy mainly because Sharon likes watching the street and eastenders :roll: ,yours will most likely be less so you could get longer before a re-charge is necessary.I have fitted 2 extra heavy duty batteries and an 85watt solar panel mainly because I am married to a soap addict.

Steve and Sharon


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

The first part of my article on Solar Power may help flesh out the good advice given above plus the spreadsheet can be downloaded and used just for the battery part.

You can find it from the MHF home page or follow the link : >LINK<

Regards Frank


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

*Re: how long should a new 110 a/h leisure battery last in us*



SHINETOP said:


> Snip:- then if pressed for longer the voltage. It seems to go down quite rapidly if I put all the lights on is this normal? any advice appreciated SHINETOP :?:


Hi Sninetop

I am not sure but you may be testing too soon after charging:-
If you test the voltage immediatly after you have had the leisure battery on charge via hook up or by running the engine then the initial voltage at the battery will be much higher than normal... during charging the charger or altenator applies a higher voltage to the battery ( approx 13.8+) and after charging the battery will stay high for quite a while. This high voltage is caused by what is known as "surface charge". This surface charge may be indicated at a voltmeter as 13V+ but after a load is applied to the battery it will drop away quite quickly and the voltage will come down to a more realistic 12.6 V+-. If you allow a charged battery to stand for 12 - 24 hrs the surface charge will dissapear naturally ... then if you apply a load ( say the lights) the voltage will drop off more slowly from 12.6 -12.7.

Mike


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## 100369 (Aug 5, 2006)

*HOW LONG WILL A LEISURE BATTERY LAST-NOW I KNOW!*

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELPFUL ADVICE, GOING AWAY NEXT WEEK SO IT WILL HELP WITH PLANNING STOPS/HOOK-UPS ETC, SHINETOP

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!


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