how long battery life?

[kangaroo]

im off to fraserburgh 5 days wild camping for the kite wave comp...

just running off the bongo battery - how long can u listen to dvds / radio for and maybe run interior lights before needing to crank the engine up to recharge baytteries - safe time frame of windows please

n.b. i dont have any lesiure battery just the van battery which obviously i dont want to flatten

cheers mart

anyone living around fraserburgh come say hi - good spectacle to watch too

[missfixit70]

Not long to be honest, It's surprising how much power these'll draw, I'm sure G8DHE or someone more knowledgeable will be along with some numbers.

[mikeonb4c]

I'd be very nervous about doing it in case I found myself stuck in a field with an automatic vehicle (that can't be bumped or towed I think) with a flat battery. I've come to think that the single most important reason for a leisure battery is not so much what it will do, but that whatever it doesn't do before it goes flat, it will have no impact on your ability to start up and drive off.

[g8dhe]

Without measuring the current drawn its impossible to be at all accurate, but DVD's video's, TV all take a surprising amount of current. A car radio will be fine for a few hours in the evening (played at normal volume).

[Aethelric]

I'd be very nervous about doing it in case I found myself stuck in a field with an automatic vehicle (that can't be bumped or towed I think) with a flat battery. I've come to think that the single most important reason for a leisure battery is not so much what it will do, but that whatever it doesn't do before it goes flat, it will have no impact on your ability to start up and drive off.

I'm 100% with you there Mike. I have a normal vehicle battery connected as a leisure battery. If it does go flat I can still start, (although it has never gone flat)
To be on the safe side kangaroo, why not pack a ghetto blaster fitted with batteries for your music, and keep the lights usage to a minimum.

[missfixit70]

Why not plug them in through one of those jobbies that cuts off the power below a certain voltage?

[stringman]

For lighting most DIY shops sell battery powered LED lights and the batteries in them last for ages. I've got three in my camper and they are just the job

This sort of thing: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Osram-Dot-it-Shoc ... 286.c0.m14

[kangaroo]

thanks 4 prompt replies

i have some of those lights so ill lay off interior lights

dvds i meant as in music on the cd player - my fault

so an hour is safe just to have a bit of music to chill out too shud be fine i guess

thanks - heres hoping for wind and swell

[mikexgough]

Personally I would lay off the Starter battery all and take portable units for lights and DVD/TV's etc., but that's me.....Starter batteries can go flat quite easily with just radio usage from experience......for effective Bongo camping away from hook ups you really need a leisure battery/split charge kit....well worth the investment IMHO

[apole]

Hi there,

For a while now I've had all the interior things like lights, blinds etc running off the LB. Not had an issue with it going flat, even with several days use.

Suggest you look at moving as much as sensible over to protect your car battery, changing all your interior lights to 3rd gen LED's and get a decent digital voltmeter. This gives idea of state of charge but it takes a coupe of hours after charging for the voltage to stabilise:

http://www.c-realevents.demon.co.uk/battleaf.htm

Also check how much current is being drawn from you LB by different things. Some cheaper stereos can pull too much power, mine uses just under 1AMP when running, and a very small amount when not. Worth checking this and other things to be sure something isn't taking too much.

Andy

[Biobongo]

As I posted on a previous topic, read through this link parts 1 & 2.
It has every thing you need to know. It is American so the mains voltage is 110v but that is irrelevant as loads are the same being measured in watts, amps X volts.
Note: you will see you should never run any type of lead acid battery flat.

Kirsty can this link be made 'sticky'? or what ever you do to make it readily available. It does have answers to most of the electrical supply questions the keep coming up.

[missfixit70]

No link there Roy

[Biobongo]

No link there Roy

Oops
Here it is:

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

[missfixit70]

Very worthy info, but if I were to make it sticky, then I'd have to make every informative post in Techie sticky, which would result in pages of stickiness, which would then defeat the point IMO. This is where the factsheets come in, then we can refer people to them

[kangaroo]

last minute a local mate has decided to go due to epic wave and wind forecast - i am now travelling up in his vw van which is fully equipped for camping...

thanks - end of day my van is gud for weekend trips - im not intending spending $$$ as trust me kitesurfing eats that up

thanks again mart @ blackpool