Leisure battery question

[eelblady]

Hi all, new here and new to campers. Love the forum and great to be here.

I have a new (to me) Bongo with side conversion that I'm slowly going through to make sure I know it and that everything works okay for a few trips from spring onwards.

The leisure battery is well past its best so I'll need to replace. Would I be best just replacing like for like or would a gel battery or a particular capacity/type be better? Any guidance much appreciated.

Many thanks

[Bob]

Welcome aboard.

I can't think af any advantages of gel leisure battery over the existing type, but someone with more knowledge may know better.

I've bought a few batteries from this company and been happy:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/

Prod the web for a possible discount code for them. Not always one to be had but worth looking.

[g8dhe]

Yes Tayna are good, GEL batteries are NOT a good choice for vehicle or leisure battery use. Go for the largest capacity battery that will fit your tray, normally 9-12Ahr ones can be fitted depending on tray size and depth.

[mikeonb4c]

Yes Tayna are good, GEL batteries are NOT a good choice for vehicle or leisure battery use. Go for the largest capacity battery that will fit your tray, normally 9-12Ahr ones can be fitted depending on tray size and depth.

Geoff - do you not mean 90-120Ah batteries? Or am I missing something

[g8dhe]

Yes AMpHour AH AmpHr lots of variations and yes 90-120 AMpHr I was on my tablet and the auto-correction is a bit over zealous at times!

[mikeonb4c]

Yes AMpHour AH AmpHr lots of variations and yes 90-120 AMpHr I was on my tablet and the auto-correction is a bit over zealous at times!

I eventually took my sons advice and switched auto-correction off. My big fat sausage fingers still make loads of mistakes, but at least they're MY mistakes

[eelblady]

Many thanks!

[Jillygumbo]

A question from me on the same subject. My LB was fitted by Den when the Bongo was converted. If memory serves, the tray was already in place because my Bongo came from the North of Japan.

The existing tray was of course for a second starter battery. It sits slightly to the right in front of the expansion tank. The LB currently sits on the left hand lip of the tray because the right hand side is squeezed under the top of the wing. This means that the LB is sitting at a slight angle off the vertical and there’s space on the tray on the right.

Will the fact that the LB is raised by about 1cm on the left cause any issues with the use and charging of the battery? I’m experiencing issues with it draining with use after full charge. Eg off grid, cold, diesel heater works fine all evening but there’s not enough charge to keep it going throughout the night. I have to start the engine to get it going again and it doesn’t last long. I’ve been regularly charging in the week because although I use it every day, the journeys are short.

The LB currently fitted is a 110ah low height battery but I haven’t found another one lower than 190mm.

If I had the tray changed would a normal LB then fit properly?

Royston is going to do a drain test next month but I am thinking of getting a new LB as mine is now 2 years old.

Any ideas?

[Bob]

I wouldn't have thought that slight incline would make much difference, not unlike living in a hilly area, but a picky MoT tester may say it's not properly secured.

I've got a battery tester if it can wait until March Hare, but I would think anywhere selling batteries would test it for you.

[Jillygumbo]

I wouldn't have thought that slight incline would make much difference, not unlike living in a hilly area, but a picky MoT tester may say it's not properly secured.

I've got a battery tester if it can wait until March Hare, but I would think anywhere selling batteries would test it for you.

It’s very definitely secured, just not sitting I’m the tray. It can’t move. Royston and Dave Westgarth have been using the usual testing kit, the next stage is the drain test. I just wondered if the incline caused it.

[Bob]

I could see a problem if some of the plates were above the electrolyte, but at such a small angle it seems unlikely.

Does it have caps you could remove and have a look? Many newer batteries don't.

[g8dhe]

No a small tilt isn't the problem, but you can get vibration wearing the casing on the raised edge which can cause problems sometimes. At two years old and I suspect quite well used it may well be getting to the end of its life, few of the sub-£100 batteries are rated for more than 200 full charge cycles, which with solar panels happens a lot quicker (one partial full each day) than with EHU charges only when your out and about!

[Jillygumbo]

No a small tilt isn't the problem, but you can get vibration wearing the casing on the raised edge which can cause problems sometimes. At two years old and I suspect quite well used it may well be getting to the end of its life, few of the sub-£100 batteries are rated for more than 200 full charge cycles, which with solar panels happens a lot quicker (one partial full each day) than with EHU charges only when your out and about!

That's an interesting point about the solar Geoff. I've had solar for one and a half years.

My OH is searching for the best batteries online. The battery tray is as low as it can be, so presumably even if I changed the tray to one used for LBs then I'd probably have the same problem?

[g8dhe]

Its probably as good to put something in the bottom of the tray to lift the level to the edge that way its not wearing its way thru the plastic case.

Yes as regards the solar if you have a bit of load on the battery all the time like security/dash cams, tracker etc. there is a load all night long that then causes the panels to charge the battery during the day so maybe 1/4 charge per day so maybe in a week you get the equivalent of a full charge cycle, two years later you have had 100 full charge cycles which along with the number of charges when your out and about using the van soon builds up to the 200 cycles that most are rated for.

[Jillygumbo]

Its probably as good to put something in the bottom of the tray to lift the level to the edge that way its not wearing its way thru the plastic case.

If I do that across the whole tray, it lifts the height of the LB too high for the righthand side of the wing lip. The LB installed is already the low one of 190mm high and on the righthand side its wedged under that wing lip (if you understand what I mean).

Unless I just put something under the lefthand edge to support the LB on that side (if that's possible). It would still be slightly unlevel but would protect the case?