power output

[peanutcrusher]

can anyone help me with this one.
I'm looking at putting a second battery in my bongo for the audio system, blinds and the internal lights.
I've had a split charger fitted and I'm just going to fit the battery what i need to know is how good are the alternator i guess that they had half decent because of the vans being used for conversion to campers.
can anyone tell me the output of the alternator and how big of a second battery i can get away with. i don't want to cook the alternator..

[mister munkey]

From memory its around 2.1kw, well up to the job.

A 110ah battery will slot in if you get a big enough tray.

[daveblueozzie]

As Chris has said a 110 amp battery will fit ,its a tight squeeze but will go in if you have a long enough battery tray.

[peanutcrusher]

the tray is big enough to take a 110ah battery.
i take it that 110ah will power all my audio kit with no problem.
I'm powering:-

head unit
DVD multi changer
4 x screens two of which have DVD players in them.
5.1 DTS audio decoder
3 amps
2 or 4 12" subs
oh and a Wii

[daveblueozzie]

the tray is big enough to take a 110ah battery.
i take it that 110ah will power all my audio kit with no problem.
I'm powering:-

head unit
DVD multi changer
4 x screens two of which have DVD players in them.
5.1 DTS audio decoder
3 amps
2 or 4 12" subs
oh and a Wii

depends how long you have them on for, and how many switched on at one time.

[peanutcrusher]

most of it will be running at the same time, running time at least a film or two if not more that's without the engine running.
do you it will last that long or not

[stringman]

The calculation is I (current) x V (voltage) = Watts

So add up the wattage of all the appliances you are running and divide by 12 volts, this will give you the current (amperage). If using a 110 amp hour battery, divide 110 by the amperage and this will tell you how long you can run these appliances until the battery is flat

[peanutcrusher]

cool thanks a great help.
can you get any bigger batteries that 110ah to fit the bongo

[stringman]

110 ah is actually the biggest I've see. You could run a couple in parallel but then you're getting complicated and you would need to find somewhere inside the vehicle to mount the second (or third as it would really be) battery.

[mikeonb4c]

I wonder how well the LB will cope with that lot all working together. I get teh feeling with mine that it doesn't much like anything approachign a serious current draw before the voltage drops, though mine could be a bit duff. Ron Miel has talked about his Elecsol battery in persuasive terms - his sounds like it may cope better than many with higher current drains. But whichever way you cut it, I wonder how long you would get before the LB complained

[Simon Jones]

I think there's a bit more involved in the calculations than meet they eye. 110 A/hr battery will on the face of it provide 110 A for 1 hour, or 1 A for 110 hours, but as it will be completely flat by that point, all the the gear being powered will have packed up long before then.

There's tons of info out there - here's just one that goes into some of the technical reasons why the above calculations are unrealistic http://www.windpowerunlimited.com/batte ... _Hours.htm

In general, get the highest capacity battery that you can physically fit & ensure your split charger, fuses & wiring is up to the current required to charge a completely flat battery. It seems the Bongo alternator is more that powerful enough to keep both batteries charged.