BATTERY QUESTION

[mikeonb4c]

Hi Ron they are a 16 amp blue and white water proof jobby, mine was inserted into the side panel which means cutting a hole I would have prefered it to have been fitted under the rear bumper and not cut holes in the side panel. Colin

Thanks Colin,
Cutting holes in the side holds no fear for me, Im a paint sprayer by trade and have lots of body work experiance. Although i would have prefered not to.
Just wondered if anyone has done it and where the best place would be?
given once you fit it, is it in the best spot and would you have put it in a better spot with hindsight.
Saves me making an error that you guys may have already done and thought " wish i'd put that there"
If you catch my drift.

Bf member Dreamwarrior mounted his somewhere around his side door step I think. Might be worth PMing him to ask how his works as his overall conversion was very neatly done.

[Colin H F]

Heres a piccy of mine Ron next to the fuel filler Colin

[missfixit70]

This should help - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... t=+hook+up

[falcoron]

Cheers Colin thats the type im after.
Can you give me a piccy or a link to it please.
Ron

[falcoron]

It's all about the internal structure.

Starting batteries are made of lots of thin plates to give maximum surface area and thus highest CCA for starting. Running these flat is bad for them. Plates become eroded etc.

Leisure batteries have fewer, thicker plates, which give better overall capacity but lower max CCA. These are more tolerant of running right down to flat. Still not a nice thing to do to them, but they are much more tolerant of it.

So, you can use a leisure battery to start your car, but it won't be great at it, and you can use a standard battery as a leisure battery, but the continual 'deep cycle' discharging will shorten its life significantly.

Horses for courses.

Nicely put

The only contribution I can make is its worth getting Ron Miels view as he did some research on this before buying an Elecsol (I think it was) battery that claims to manage starting demands well while being principally intended for use as a leisure battery. This interests me as I came up with a cunning bit of Heath Robinson circuitry that woud allow me to run an electric blanket off a leisure battery. It worked great on test (ran for 2 nights off a 75Ah starter battery) with an old starter battery, but would not work properly with my LB as the circuit included a low voltage cutout which kept cutting in (if you get me ). I reckon it was because the LB would not maintain voltage at the amperage required. Quite possibly though, an Elecsol type would

So would a 75ah be ok or would it be better the higher the ah number?
Sorry if this is dumb but i know jack about these things!

[Colin H F]

try these Ron open link and then electrical Colin http://www.rainbowconversions.co.uk/Equ ... trical.htm

[g8dhe]

Yes put the largest that will fit or that you can afford in place, I believe that some have got 105AHr batteries to fit but its rather tight.

[haydn callow]

Heres a piccy of mine Ron next to the fuel filler Colin

Thats where I fitted mine.....It's been fine and I wouldn't want it anywhere else and defo better than running a wire in via a windod/door with all the risks involved.

[falcoron]

Thanks everyone, great stuff and just what i need to get on with for now.

[stilldesperate]

Another advantage of fitting on the offside is that the cable isn't in the way of a side awning, should you use one.

SD

[falcoron]

Another advantage of fitting on the offside is that the cable isn't in the way of a side awning, should you use one.

SD

AH! very good point and one easily overlooked
Cheers

[missfixit70]

It's all about the internal structure.

Starting batteries are made of lots of thin plates to give maximum surface area and thus highest CCA for starting. Running these flat is bad for them. Plates become eroded etc.

Leisure batteries have fewer, thicker plates, which give better overall capacity but lower max CCA. These are more tolerant of running right down to flat. Still not a nice thing to do to them, but they are much more tolerant of it.

So, you can use a leisure battery to start your car, but it won't be great at it, and you can use a standard battery as a leisure battery, but the continual 'deep cycle' discharging will shorten its life significantly.

Horses for courses.

Nicely put

The only contribution I can make is its worth getting Ron Miels view as he did some research on this before buying an Elecsol (I think it was) battery that claims to manage starting demands well while being principally intended for use as a leisure battery. This interests me as I came up with a cunning bit of Heath Robinson circuitry that woud allow me to run an electric blanket off a leisure battery. It worked great on test (ran for 2 nights off a 75Ah starter battery) with an old starter battery, but would not work properly with my LB as the circuit included a low voltage cutout which kept cutting in (if you get me ). I reckon it was because the LB would not maintain voltage at the amperage required. Quite possibly though, an Elecsol type would

So would a 75ah be ok or would it be better the higher the ah number?
Sorry if this is dumb but i know jack about these things!

Yup, bigger the better, a lot of us have got 110ah, Freewheeler has a 113ah Numax - one of many threads discussing this very subject here - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ax#p346174

[mikeonb4c]

Another advantage of fitting on the offside is that the cable isn't in the way of a side awning, should you use one.

SD

AH! very good point and one easily overlooked
Cheers

Not sure I get that one Coudn't you make a counter argument that says its better/neater if it allows a quick split off into the side awning as well as connecting to the van. Basically, link side awning to Bongo and link power supply too. I think (but not sure, if not then thats a down side) dreamwarriors comes in from underneath the Bongo, so sliding door and access is not obstructed, but check with him

[Ron Miel]

It's all about the internal structure.

Starting batteries are made of lots of thin plates to give maximum surface area and thus highest CCA for starting. Running these flat is bad for them. Plates become eroded etc.

Leisure batteries have fewer, thicker plates, which give better overall capacity but lower max CCA. These are more tolerant of running right down to flat. Still not a nice thing to do to them, but they are much more tolerant of it.

So, you can use a leisure battery to start your car, but it won't be great at it, and you can use a standard battery as a leisure battery, but the continual 'deep cycle' discharging will shorten its life significantly.

Horses for courses.

Nicely put

The only contribution I can make is its worth getting Ron Miels view as he did some research on this before buying an Elecsol (I think it was) battery that claims to manage starting demands well while being principally intended for use as a leisure battery. This interests me as I came up with a cunning bit of Heath Robinson circuitry that woud allow me to run an electric blanket off a leisure battery. It worked great on test (ran for 2 nights off a 75Ah starter battery) with an old starter battery, but would not work properly with my LB as the circuit included a low voltage cutout which kept cutting in (if you get me ). I reckon it was because the LB would not maintain voltage at the amperage required. Quite possibly though, an Elecsol type would

Sorry, only just dipped into this thread for the first time. Although I've empirically confirmed that my Elecsol 100 will start our Bongo unaided, in fact I didn't research it before buying. It's standard Imperial fit on our conversion. Basic info in these FAQs: http://www.elecsolbatteries.com/faqs/#09 As well as high performance, they're also guaranteed for 5 years.

I did carefully research a replacement starter battery I bought a few months back, ending up buying one of these http://www.tayna.co.uk/Type-249-Varta-A ... P3215.html - which I'm delighted with. It does snugly fit the standard Bongo battery tray, whereas the 105 Ah batteries Kirsty mentioned, I believe may not, and if so they have to be supported above and overlapping the tray - not something I wanted to do, although they are typically much cheaper. Tayna also sell Elecsol BTW, at better than direct from Elecsol prices.

[missfixit70]

the 110ah ones I mentioned are leisure battery not starter battery, fit perfectly with the willinton LB tray, fits with a bit of adjustment on a standard twin battery tray by all accounts.