# autosleeper mixed leisure batteries



## 118819 (Dec 16, 2008)

Purchased a new autosleeper Ascot on a Ford Transit, looking into fitting solar panel and have noticed a 85amp hour battery and a 60amp hour battery fitted by Ford (as standard) All the new transit base Autosleepers have this and they advertise it as this as the two batteriesw link together to make 145amp hour. I have discovered that you are not suppposed to have batteries of different amp hour together according to the internet!! Can anyone advise - is this correct - is it dangerous - have autosleeper make a mistake - look forward to your comments.
Thanks


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## Mandi (Jan 10, 2008)

Pands10

I am not wishing to hijack your post but perhaps when the clever person comes along and answers your question they may consider this too. 

We also have a Transit based Autosleeper and recently discovered that we have two identical 85aH batteries, one marked as "engine" and one as "domestic". I understood that the type of battery required to start an engine was very different to a leisure battery. So if you were to link the two together and use as, in my case, a 170aH battery, how do you then start the vehicle engine?

:?:


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi pands10

I thought I could answer this as what I imagined was that you were getting confused over exactly what set up you had as the normal arrangement would be that the leisure battery and the engine battery would in fact be separate and only "connected" when charging from the engine via a split charge relay ...

but then before I replied I checked out the spec of your van at the Autosleeper website : Here <<
and indeed it seems that what you are saying is right ...

it says in the spec. *"85AH and 60AH (Total 145AH) leisure batteries and mains charging system with 12v split charge relay"*

So I am afraid I am in the dark too :roll: and what you have read about connecting two or more batteries is AFAIK correct... two lead acid batteries when used together should be of the same capacity and age. How Autosleepers have got around that I do not know.......Unless there is some fancy wiring/circuitry fitted to your system :roll:

We do have quite a few experts on here so you will no doubt get an answer soon ...

we do also have a member from Autosleepers : *Auto-SleeperAAA* and if the charger and control is manufactured by Sargent we do have a member from them too : *Sargent*

Just to be clear ... how many batteries are fitted to your Ascot including the engine battery?

Mike


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi, I asked the very same question back in 2007, once on here....

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-206757.html#206757

..and once on the Out&AboutLive forum....

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6338&posts=6

I think I got another reply somewhere else but can't seem to find it, something about the fact that the ideal set up is to have two batteries of the same output but its the health of both batteries that is more important than differing output. ie, as long as both are healthy then two differing outputs shouldn't be a cause for concern.

As you can see, I am certainly not an authority on batteries so hopefully someone will be along to confirm all this soon....

Pete


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## dipsticks (Aug 2, 2007)

We have a 2007 AutoSleeper Duetto Transit panel van and that is delivered from Ford with what is called, by Ford, an 'Additional Battery' and classed 'Deep Cycle'. Ours is a Varta battery and they (Varta) call it a Semi-Traction Battery but it has icons of boats and caravans on it. It's rated at 90ah and is installed below the drivers seat in front of the Ford branded Engine battery. The split charge relay is all Ford and I am fairly confident that the same set up is supplied for companies requiring auxilliary power for tools and equipment. eg the companies that go around making up hydraulic hoses on site. I think they use a starter motor to run a hydraulic pump and would run it from the same deep cycle battery.

I believe the deep cycle battery is also used by the vehicle when the engine is running for high drain items like the heated windscreen and rear window heaters or basically what Ford call 'non start relevant features'.

It is very easy to fit another Varta battery under the passenger seat, thus doubling the capacity to 180ah, however we made sure the battery we fitted was identical to the original, and used 25mm cable to ensure that both batteries present the same resistance to the charger. 

Auto Sleeper advertise the Duetto as having a 60ah battery but every one I have seen is 90ah.


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