Batteries (1 Viewer)

Apr 21, 2008
816
2,043
bedford
Funster No
2,239
MH
A class
Exp
1995
I have ordered a new frankia and it comes with only one 85amp gel battery.The cost for one more 85 gel battery is about £300+ .Now which is the way forward, sell supplied gel and fit two 110 wet batteries or buy another gel.?Thoughts please
 

pappajohn

LIFE MEMBER
Aug 26, 2007
43,202
48,791
Dark side of the moon
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172
Exp
Since 2005
£300 for an 85ah gel.....they saw you coming.

Buy another gel if you need more reserve but shop around.

Broken Link Removed

Dont just fit lead acid flooded batteries, the charger needs resetting to be able to charge them.
Gel and flooded have different charge rates.
 
OP
OP
dulvil
Apr 21, 2008
816
2,043
bedford
Funster No
2,239
MH
A class
Exp
1995
I have ordered a new frankia and it comes with only one 85amp gel battery.The cost for one more 85 gel battery is about £300+ .Now which is the way forward, sell supplied gel and fit two 110 wet batteries or buy another gel.?Thoughts please
Sorry forgot they update the charger as well

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scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,075
8,973
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
Presumably a brand new van you have ordered .. ?

In the grand scheme of things, it's a small cost on top of the price of a new Frankie

I would order with the extra gel battery .. the cost of Gel battery is about £150 + time to fit and set charger ..

DIY and you may void the charger warranty
 

Lenny HB

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 18, 2007
52,682
147,573
On the coast in West Sussex
Funster No
658
MH
Hymer B678 DL
Exp
Since 2008 & many years tugging
Tanya batteries £145.
Hymer do the same offer an additional chargers with a second batteries, most dealers are happy to fit just the battery. Would only need the uprated charger if you were often charging the batteries from flat.
I have 200 watts of solar and rarely use mains for charging so for my own use the uprated charger would not be used.
 
OP
OP
dulvil
Apr 21, 2008
816
2,043
bedford
Funster No
2,239
MH
A class
Exp
1995
Why do you need another charger? The one charger works for two batteries on my van? Tell me more
 

Chipster

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Oct 15, 2013
1,005
1,118
East Midlands
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28,588
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Getting there!
Think Lenny's summed it up above. Extra capacity when charging fully depleted batteries. Frankia fit Schaudt stuff so one charger is within the Electroblock then second battery and additional charger offered as option (I think!!). The additional charger plugs into the Electroblock IIRC?
 

JeanLuc

Free Member
Nov 17, 2008
3,304
2,199
Warwickshire
Funster No
4,952
MH
Hymer B630 Star-Line
Exp
Since 2007
The fitting of an additional charging unit is to prevent putting excess strain on the single charging unit. Assuming the Frankia does have a Schaudt system, then the Elektroblock (EBL) standard charging and 12V control unit will handle two batteries of around 80-100 Ah each satisfactorily. It contains within it a LAS1218 charging module.
My Hymer came from the factory (several years ago now) with 2 x 80 Ah gels and a single EBL99. The EBL manual (and I have checked those for recent EBL models too) refers to a minimum battery loading of 55 Ah but also refers to charging time for 80 Ah and 160 Ah of batteries, so presumably they expect it to be charging two typical-sized habitation batteries. In practice, I have used mine with 2 x 80 Ah Exide gels, 2 x 110 Ah Elecsol and now 2 x 90 Ah Varta. I think if one were fitting three or more habitation batteries it would be prudent to add the extra charge module (a stand-alone LAS1218) which plugs into the base EBL and 230V and then acts as a single larger unit. I know that Hymer used to fit this extra unit on the larger S-class models (e.g. S820) but then they had three hab. batteries as standard. Of course, the additional LAS1218 works only when connected to mains hook-up. It is not relevant to alternator or solar charging.

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Lenny HB

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 18, 2007
52,682
147,573
On the coast in West Sussex
Funster No
658
MH
Hymer B678 DL
Exp
Since 2008 & many years tugging
Do you need more than 85Ah? We only have one 85Ah battery and we have been fine for the almost 4 years we have had the van.
Don't see how you can survive with only one, 85 A/H that will only give 43 A/H of useful power or 68 A/H if a Gel (@80% DOD), we use around 25 - 30 A/H per day at this time of year, on a dull rainy day no input from solar on a bright sunny day only a few A/H's. If we charge the e-bikes that can be up to 80 A/H gone in a few hours.
 

GJH

LIFE MEMBER
Aug 20, 2007
29,450
38,828
Acklam, Teesside, originally Glossop
Funster No
127
MH
None, now sold
Exp
2006 to 2022
Don't see how you can survive with only one, 85 A/H that will only give 43 A/H of useful power or 68 A/H if a Gel (@80% DOD), we use around 25 - 30 A/H per day at this time of year, on a dull rainy day no input from solar on a bright sunny day only a few A/H's. If we charge the e-bikes that can be up to 80 A/H gone in a few hours.
It will be 4 years on 3rd February and we've survived OK so far :) We've hardly ever used EHU when we are away (though, granted, we don't go for more than a few days at this time of year). We only need electrical power for lights, water pump, blown air heating fan and recharging phones &c.

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funflair

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 11, 2013
19,196
29,878
Guisborough
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29,351
MH
MORELO palace
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since 2012
Don't see how you can survive with only one, 85 A/H that will only give 43 A/H of useful power or 68 A/H if a Gel (@80% DOD), we use around 25 - 30 A/H per day at this time of year, on a dull rainy day no input from solar on a bright sunny day only a few A/H's. If we charge the e-bikes that can be up to 80 A/H gone in a few hours.

It all depends on what you do with it and if you have solar or not (and if the sun shines), with solar you should end the day with full battery/batteries so you only need to last overnight and 85ah could be fully charged again by before lunch.

Th more you have the more you use.

Martin
 
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Lenny HB

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 18, 2007
52,682
147,573
On the coast in West Sussex
Funster No
658
MH
Hymer B678 DL
Exp
Since 2008 & many years tugging
It all depends on what you do with it and if you have solar or not (and if the sun shines), with solar you should end the day with full battery/batteries so you only need to last overnight and 85ah could be fully charged again by before lunch.
No chance in Dec or Jan in the UK, I have 200 watt of solar last month lucky to get 2 or 3 A/H a day not going to replace 30 A/H.
 

Don Quixote

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Jul 29, 2012
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Lost in La Mancha, Spain
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22,171
MH
VW T6 Campervan
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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
It will be 4 years on 3rd February and we've survived OK so far :) We've hardly ever used EHU when we are away (though, granted, we don't go for more than a few days at this time of year). We only need electrical power for lights, water pump, blown air heating fan and recharging phones &c.
That will work fine for you with what you are drawing from your single 85amp battery, however the average MH draws around 30/40amps a day ( I have posted about this before ) and therefore a 85amp battery will not survive the beating. As @lennyhb states 2/3amps per hour a day in the UK from solar is not going to help. At this time of the year even here in Spain I would be lucky to pull 7/10 amps per hour from my 200watts solar. Just my pennies worth.

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GJH

LIFE MEMBER
Aug 20, 2007
29,450
38,828
Acklam, Teesside, originally Glossop
Funster No
127
MH
None, now sold
Exp
2006 to 2022
That will work fine for you with what you are drawing from your single 85amp battery, however the average MH draws around 30/40amps a day ( I have posted about this before ) and therefore a 85amp battery will not survive the beating. As @lennyhb states 2/3amps a day in the UK from solar is not going to help. At this time of the year even here in Spain I would be lucky to pull 7/10 amps per hour from my 200watts solar. Just my pennies worth.
I don't dispute that - and many will use more than 30/40 amps a day. It all depends, as Martin said, what you do with it. We have managed fine for a weekend in all months of the year, and for longer in most months, using just the one battery and 80W solar panel (which has always managed to recharge overnight use during the day).

When we bought our van we wondered about getting a second battery when we had the solar panel fitted and were advised to see how we managed before doing so. That is basically what I was saying in response to the OP's "Thoughts please".
 

Jaws

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Sep 26, 2008
23,821
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Thetford Norfolk
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since 2006 ( I think ! )
Putting it simply...
If like us you tend to use the one eyed monster ( telly ) a lot then extra battery.. If like Graham you do not then no problem with a single battery ;)(y)
 

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