battery question (1 Viewer)

[tommytli]

our battery is a brand new 110ah, when wilding it only lasts about 3 hours is that normal?
we have running a 300w inverter with the sky box on it 30w and our tv 35w also the gas blow air heating which uses the power aswell unsure of wattage consumption. is lasting 3 hrs normal?

 

[breeks]

our battery is a brand new 110ah, when wilding it only lasts about 3 hours is that normal?
we have running a 300w inverter with the sky box on it 30w and our tv 35w also the gas blow air heating which uses the power aswell unsure of wattage consumption. is lasting 3 hrs normal?

our batt is 85 get about 3 to 4 hours but don't run inverter or blow heating so sounds about right what you are getting

 

[breeks]

battery

rep

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[dave newell]

No it doesn't sound right but....................
Is your battery fully charged to start with?
What are you runnig from the 300Watt inverter?
What type of blown air heating do you have?

D.

 

[tommytli]

No it doesn't sound right but....................
Is your battery fully charged to start with?
What are you runnig from the 300Watt inverter?
What type of blown air heating do you have?

D.

the tv and skybox are on the inverter, no idea what type of blow air heating it might be truma?
and yes a fully charged battery

 

[pappajohn]

hot air fan may draw 10/12amps per hour.
the tv and sky box,(65watts) even on an inverter, wont draw a big current.

a single 110ah battery will allow around 55amps usable power before needing recharging.

if you're charger is a bog standard motorhome charger it wont be fully charging your battery anyway, maybe 90% at best, so 3 hours sounds about right to me

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[jonandshell]

Hi Tommy

We have 2x 115AH traction batteries.
We have just been on a CL for three days straight, Webasto blown air running more or less constantly, 4 hours of TV a night.
I'm sorry to say, the claims made of your battery are a bit optimistic. It sounds like one of the many poor quality batteries the industry sells us as deep discharge types but are nothing of the sort. What make is yours?
A small TV and digibox shouldn't really draw much more than 6A, I would assume an average of 2A for the blown air. Even at only 50% discharge, a decent deep cycling battery should last around 6 hrs, assuming no use of lights or water pump.
Hope this helps.........

-Jon

 

[jonandshell]

MMM magazine carried out a test of leisure batteries recently.
Of all the batteries tested, only Varta and Banner, whose products met the BS-EN standards, were the only ones which met or exceeded their claimed AH ratings.
The other batteries fell way short and, upon internal examination, were found to be re-badged starter type batteries and totally unsuitable for use in a deep discharge application.
As previously stated, the industry has a lot to answer for.
I gave up with regular 'leisure' type batteries for off-grid camping and now swear by my 'Dyno' traction-type batteries.
'Traction' batteries are those designed for industrial use, are generally of open lead-acid type, and are found in golf carts, sweeping machines and forklifts, to name but a few applications.

-Jon

 

[tommytli]

im not sure of the make of battery i would have to take the passenger seat off again to check, our lights have all been changed to led and run on less that 2w each light, but these are rarly on. i think i will have to invest it a quality battery or even fit another 110ah to the existing 1 to help bump it up

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[jonandshell]

hot air fan may draw 10/12amps per hour.
the tv and sky box,(65watts) even on an inverter, wont draw a big current.

a single 110ah battery will allow around 55amps usable power before needing recharging.

if you're charger is a bog standard motorhome charger it wont be fully charging your battery anyway, maybe 90% at best, so 3 hours sounds about right to me

On the subject of efficient charging of your leisure battery, we use a Sterling Power Products Battery to Battery 50A charger.
It charges at a higher voltage than the the alternator alone whilst you are on the move and, as Papajohn rightly suggests, gives you that 10% extra that regular charging just cannot achieve.
The only downside with the unit is that fast charging does consume more distilled water, and more regular monitoring and topping-up of your battery electrolyte level is neccesary.
Having said that, we only need to top up about three times annually.

 

[jonandshell]

im not sure of the make of battery i would have to take the passenger seat off again to check, our lights have all been changed to led and run on less that 2w each light, but these are rarly on. i think i will have to invest it a quality battery or even fit another 110ah to the existing 1 to help bump it up

We have Transit Chassis and understand well your battery access issues!
We gave up and put 'em in the garage!

Just a thought though, if you are on a Transit Chassis, you might find one of the batteries under the drivers seat is connected in parallel with the leisure battery and split from the other by a large relay. Ford supply the chassis cab with both of these as starter batteries, even though one of these is effectively used as a leisure battery. If the starter battery in the 'leisure' role is damaged from being deep discharged, this might be hampering the leisure battery you have fitted.
Don't wish to confuse, but it might be a factor................

 

[BriantheSnail]

Did the experiment a couple of days ago. Have a single 110Ah battery. About to go onsite with no hook up available.
Had 6 halogens, Camos box, TV and the sat box on. Eight hours before the voltage indiacted that low level had been reached. This shows as 11.4 volts. Dropped from an indicated 13.3 volts. Looks like a Halfords lead acid battery of unknown age. Haven't looked at it that closely. It's not the most efficient way of using available power to run things through an inverter. 12volt already is at the battery terminals.

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[tommytli]

We have Transit Chassis and understand well your battery access issues!
We gave up and put 'em in the garage!

Just a thought though, if you are on a Transit Chassis, you might find one of the batteries under the drivers seat is connected in parallel with the leisure battery and split from the other by a large relay. Ford supply the chassis cab with both of these as starter batteries, even though one of these is effectively used as a leisure battery. If the starter battery in the 'leisure' role is damaged from being deep discharged, this might be hampering the leisure battery you have fitted.
Don't wish to confuse, but it might be a factor................

i am confused now lol, we are on the new shape transit and i think it does have the starter battery under the drivers seat. are you suggesting i change that 1 and see if the result gets better?

 

[jonandshell]

You should find 2 batteries under the driver's seat!

Of the 2 batteries under the drivers seat, one battery (the front one) is connected to the three 'customer connectors' on the rear left of the seat/battery box via 60A fuses.
All of this is installed by Ford and is covered in the owners manual. A look under 'changing a fuse' might shed some light on the bus bar and fuse arrangement under the driver's seat.

In essence, the front battery is used as a leisure battery and is connected to the other by a splitter relay when the ignition is switched on. This provides extra cranking power to the starter battery as well as providing charging to both batteries when the engine is running.

Now, as mentioned previously, the front battery is connected to the 'customer connections' and it is to here that your leisure battery under the passenger's seat is connected!

Are you with me so far?

So, basically, your leisure battery and the front of the two Ford-fitted batteries is connected in parallel, giving you an extra leisure battery you never knew you had!! Because of this, it is worth having that front battery checked out as well!
A quick check to make sure your van has this arrangement might be to disconnect your leisure battery under the passenger seat and see if your caravan electrics still work.
Ford fit a 70AH starter battery as standard, it might even be worth changing that battery for whatever size leisure battery you can squeeze in there for better performance when off hook-up.

On our 10-plate transit, I have made changes to the battery connections to isolate that second Ford battery from my 2 traction batteries to prevent that battery being damaged due to repeated deep discharging. Thus, on our van, it only works as a second starter battery.

Also, check this link- Link Removed
-Click on 'Interior Features'

Hope this makes it clearer!

 

[Wildman]

our battery is a brand new 110ah, when wilding it only lasts about 3 hours is that normal?
we have running a 300w inverter with the sky box on it 30w and our tv 35w also the gas blow air heating which uses the power aswell unsure of wattage consumption. is lasting 3 hrs normal?

assuming it is fully charged and you run to 50% which is the safe discharge level then you have about 55 amp hours. Are you sure the battery is topped up and fully charged.
you need to add up all of the devices you are running, some are marked in watts and some in amps.watts = Amps x volts. So taking TV and sky box you have 65W divide by 12 =5.42 amps so that alone will flatten the battery in 55/5.42 hours =10 hours, but you are also running blown air heating, lights, water pump and anything else suddenly 3 hours seems not too far out. But I have no idea hope much your blown air is using or what size lights. change the lights to LED instead of halogen and don't try to run fridge on 12v or have hot water heater on all the time and things change.

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