leisure battery charger **pics added of split charger

[pottinger]

Hey guys, okay, this may seem a silly question but gona ask anyways.

I have a normal battery charger / maintainer that is constantly plugged in when can not in use
keeping my battery lovely.

Now, i am buying a leisure battery and note there are chargers (£70-100) and I have been told
there different.

So, firstly, if the charge from the alternator does both, why wont the same charger do both types of battery ?

I maybe fitting a http://www.xtremevan.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=5026" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and was wondering what i should consider

any helpf fellas much appreciated.

cheers
potts

 

[71Westy]

Well, it's probably down to the current that the "maintainer" charger can supply. You can use it for charging the leisure battery. But if you are hooked up, have a 12V fridge, TV, radio, lights all on, and want to charge up the battery, you may need more amps.

I have a CTEK marine one that pushes out 15A -powers all the devices and charges the battery And I also have a small CTEK "maintainer" type charger for the van battery for over winter and general topping up.

So the answer is it depend on your usage.

That unit you are looking at looks a nice piece of kit but in my opinion is probably overkill for what you are doing.

Cheers,
Nick

 

[terrier man]

A Leisure battery is designed to give a constant supply of power. A car battery will supply a high supply of charge over a very short time, ie; when starting up & can be charged accordingly with a Leisure battery it needs a slow recharge, & this is what your Generator/Alternaror does.

I have a very similar 12v/240v set up to the one your thinking of having, it's excellent been using it 2 years with no gripes only real difference is I made & sourced all the components myself & didn't save much money by doing so. :shock:

 

[pottinger]

cheers fellas,

My usage is minimal, the setup i am going to do for the moment is
only the split charge relay part (the inline charger and RCD etc I may never do)
I like how simple it seems to be and I can add the RCD etc later IF i find i need to.

My question is more along the lines of when the van is in store/not being used to basically
keep the leisure battery re-charged (if the trip back hasnt done it) and then topped up / maintained
if ya get me.

I have a normal battery maintainer (£19.99 halfrauds jobbie) that is constantly plugged in
that keeps the vehicle battery ready to go, so long and short is, are there specific chargers/maintainers
for leisure batterys (ie are they different to a £19.99 car battery charger maintainer from halfords ?)

anyone peeps

ta
potts

ps
just found this too http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-30AMP-SPLIT-CHARGE-RELAY-KIT-SELF-SWITCHING-/110838818172?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item19ce82257c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

would this not do exactly the same job as the xtremevan one above ??

 

[terrier man]

I don't honestly think you have to worry about the battery charger too much as long as it has a trckle type charge facility
I have a proper leisure battery charger but not used it in years as my 12v/240v system in the Bus charges it when plugged into mains, so when I want to go away the night before I plug into mains(hookup) switch on my 12v compressor fridge & unhook in the morning the fridge is ice cool & all batteries are fully charged.Then the relay does the rest when on the move when we strike camp we either hookup or if it's just for the weekend we do it on the batteries as my fridge draws very few amps & is thermostatically controled. :mrgreen:
As for that relay for £17, I wouldn't bother their alright but not great you tend to get what you pay for.
My dual sensing relay was £60 alone. :shock:

 

[Foz]

I have a CTEK marine one that pushes out 15A -powers all the devices and charges the battery And I also have a small CTEK "maintainer" type charger for the van battery for over winter and general topping up.

Cheers,
Nick

I'm so confused with all this...........
So the CTEK marine charger you have is 230V input correct? So this is run off an invertor installed in your van?

I too am looking to upgrade my power source in my van as I have a large ICE install which requires a fair amount of power, currently my leisure battery lasts about an hour, then it dies.....I just want a solution to make it so it will last longer....

Bigger battery? or a better charge system...ie http://www.xtremevan.co.uk/product_info ... ts_id=5026 ??

 

[lard]

.....I too am looking to upgrade my power source in my van as I have a large ICE install which requires a fair amount of power, currently my leisure battery lasts about an hour, then it dies.....I just want a solution to make it so it will last longer....

Bigger battery? or a better charge system...ie http://www.xtremevan.co.uk/product_info ... ts_id=5026 ??

Hi,

If you are looking for your ICE to run longer off the leisure battery only, then you need a bigger capacity battery (amp/hours) - a 70 Amp/Hour battery will delivery 1 Amp for 70 hours (minus losses e.t.c.) so for it to last one hour you must either be pulling a lot of amps or your battery isn't fully charged?

Using a quick online calculator - a 70Ah battery pulling 16Amps (based on a poor efficiency battery) is 1 Hour for a 75% discharge..

If this isn't the expected current draw (total up all the Wattage of your equipment to calculate Amps (I=W/V) then I'd suggest investigating the battery charge level - leisure batteries need multi stage charges so that they get recharged a particular way, when nearly drained more power and then slowley dropping down to a trickle to bring them to 100% - how long are you leaving it to charge before putting it under load? I typically leave mine charging for 24 hours before setting off for the weekend

 

[Foz]

I left it on charge over 48hrs, the charger does specifically charge leisure batteries, and then maintains the batteries charge automatically. It may possibly be that the battery itself is on its way out, as i've already had to replace the main engine battery. :evil:
So I'm thinking the van may have been sold to me with duff batteries originally :roll:

My ICE setup has 2 x 1000 Watt Amps and a DVD head unit to power, along with 6 main speakers and 6 tweeters :shock:
If anyone could enlighten me as to how i can measure with some degree of accuracy how much that lot is pulling out the battery per hour, it would help a lot!!

lard appreciate your comments bro

FoZ

 

[lard]

Quick google only shows me that calculating current draw on car audio is quite complicated :shock: - to know for sure you'd need an inline amp meter, but anecdotal evidence from various sites implies that upgraded alternators e.t.c. are used in high end systems which implies that running at any sort of load requires quite a lot of power (I'd suggest halfing 1000W for full volume power usage so 500W)

But going back to the equation - for 16 Amps W=IV so W=16x12 =192W - which seems quite low, but a couple of amps, headunits and speakers will certainly draw quite a bit when pumping away - not so bad in motion as alternator is continually charging the Leisure battery but when you stop....I'd suggest getting a hookup and then putting the charger in the bus so it keeps the battery topped up, you then know that parked up off hookup you have to play your tunes at quite a low level to eek out the usage - or get a bigger capacity leisure battery and possibly double/treble this time depending on budget

 

[terrier man]

I left it on charge over 48hrs, the charger does specifically charge leisure batteries, and then maintains the batteries charge automatically. It may possibly be that the battery itself is on its way out, as i've already had to replace the main engine battery. :evil:
So I'm thinking the van may have been sold to me with duff batteries originally :roll:

Sounds that your batteries could be duff sorry to say Foz.
Leisure batteries don't like to be run flat if this has happened a few too many times
they suffer the symptoms you seem to be sufferin.

 

[pottinger]

ok, decisions made :shock: :lol:

gone with extremevan option as I can easily add to the system (IF i want to) plus
it seems to be the easiest and quickest method for me. Its all ready to connect up
no messing cutting wires etc etc and does the job.
I may have been able to acheive the split charge system at maybe half the cost
BUT the hastle factor for me anyway isnt worth it :msn4:

battery and charger:-
http://www.tayna.co.uk/ELECSOL-100-Carbon-Fibre-Leisure-Battery-Positive-Front-Right-P7827.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and
http://www.tayna.co.uk/CTEK-MXS-5.0-Charger-and-Conditioner-MULTI-XS-5.0-P8690.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seems to be fairly good value for money imo.

so, jobs to do over next 2 months (well ive bought the parts now) :lol:
leisure battery
propex
twin carbs etc
refit gearbox / engine

so, a days work :shock: :msn4: :lol:

cheers
potts

 

[Foz]

Yeh thanks terrier man, Im under the same impression, as when i bought the van, the leisure battery was flat on the way home from collection. Not a good sign!

I've got 3 leisure batteries in mind, prices are between £250-£300 top end, so Im hoping the price reflects the performance if i decide on this option!

The 3 batteries in question are

Varta's latest deep cycle leisure battery claiming new technology!

Oddessey-2150 (a favourite used by ICE enthusiasts apparently)

And Optima's yellow top leisure battery.

Either that or i plump for the extremevan option, with a less powerful leisure battery.
Im still unsure as to whether this would cure the problem tho.



..
..



sent via mobile, using that taptalk app thingy!

 

[terrier man]

WOW that's expensive Batteries :shock: you'r considering Foz, all I can say is mine cost less than £70, 85 amph from Go Outdoors a couple of years ago they were on special offer, make sure the one you get is gel filled maintinance free jobby. makes life a lot easier.

 

[pottinger]

The extremevan split charge turned up this morning, must admit I can now see why it costs 140 quid. It will make the install a doddle and is slot more heavy duty than I thought it would be 8)

First impression is its quality product

A happy potts

 

[Haveacamper]

any pics showing the bundle in a bit more detail?

i hope you are going to be posting pics when you install this? any plans to do this soon?

very interested in this

 

[Foz]

WOW that's expensive Batteries :shock: you'r considering Foz, all I can say is mine cost less than £70, 85 amph from Go Outdoors a couple of years ago they were on special offer, make sure the one you get is gel filled maintinance free jobby. makes life a lot easier.

I was considering these.....

Varta....
http://justcarbatteries.co.uk/index...es/varta-agm-dc-battery-12v-115ah-lad115.html


Optima....
http://justcarbatteries.co.uk/index...s/optima-yts-5-5-yellow-battery-8051-187.html



Odyssey....
http://justcarbatteries.co.uk/index.php/odyssey-batteries/odyssey-battery-pc2150mjs.html


However, I've came up with a cheaper solution.....

A 12v and 240v output mini generator :lol:
Not exactly quiet, but not as loud as i'd initially anticipated. My music will drown out the noise mostly anyway 8)

Initial problem solved!!
....eventually i'd like a couple of those batteries installed, and remove the generator from the equation altogether, but for now it stays!

 

[sparkywig]

I can remember somebody turned up at Bristol Volksfest a couple of years ago with a "silent" generator.
It was "confiscated" after an hour or so and then given back at about 4pm on the Sunday.....

:msn4:

 

[pottinger]

okay guys, request for pics so here ya go.

this gives you an idea of size

side view of master on/off switch

side view of the ground (if required) and the plug with 10 12v outputs (all plugs / connectors supplied with 30m 2 core too)
for nice one block connect of all of them (one of them has perm for the stereo headset mem wire)

side view of high power output jack (ie for big amps etc)

the connections (longest red to vehicle battery / the other red and black to Leisure - spur on the black to chasis) even have all the batt connectors done for you

I know £140.00 is alot, but by the time I would have bought all the bits (remember in DIY its not JUST the relay your buying its all the wire/connections/fuseboxs and the messing about) PLUS this is a voltage sensor (which are more in the first place) then for me it was a very good compromise. It has the ability to add more very simply and looks far more heavy duty than I could possibly need it to be and certainly far more attractive than anything I could have made :lol: :roll:

anyways, Im off to do some actual work for a change,

cheers fellas,.

potts

 

[Foz]

I can remember somebody turned up at Bristol Volksfest a couple of years ago with a "silent" generator.
It was "confiscated" after an hour or so and then given back at about 4pm on the Sunday.....

:msn4:

I have a viciously trained Labrador, born and bred in the art of generator protection! :lol:

On a more serious note, i could understand some people may take offence at a gennie whirring away in the background most of the day, so an end plot would be the ideal answer i guess.




sent via mobile phone, using that taptalk app thingy!

 

[Humphrey]

Good decision, I have one of these and it is fantastic!

okay guys, request for pics so here ya go.

this gives you an idea of size

side view of master on/off switch

side view of the ground (if required) and the plug with 10 12v outputs (all plugs / connectors supplied with 30m 2 core too)
for nice one block connect of all of them (one of them has perm for the stereo headset mem wire)

side view of high power output jack (ie for big amps etc)

the connections (longest red to vehicle battery / the other red and black to Leisure - spur on the black to chasis) even have all the batt connectors done for you

I know £140.00 is alot, but by the time I would have bought all the bits (remember in DIY its not JUST the relay your buying its all the wire/connections/fuseboxs and the messing about) PLUS this is a voltage sensor (which are more in the first place) then for me it was a very good compromise. It has the ability to add more very simply and looks far more heavy duty than I could possibly need it to be and certainly far more attractive than anything I could have made :lol: :roll:

anyways, Im off to do some actual work for a change,

cheers fellas,.

potts