Hab battery venting (1 Viewer)

[BreweryDave]

I am about to replace my leisure batteries. Currently are 2 fairly generic looking (knackered and old) 110 sealed lead acid batteries, am replacing them with Varta LFD90's - same type of battery. ( have sought much advice re this, please don't change my mind !!!! Don't want gel or agm !)

The current ones are located in the double floor of the van (2005 Burstner elegance 821) pretty much centrally and are not vented as far as I can see, just sat in place and connected up.

Simple question is, should they be? Or more relevant, should the new ones be vented? As they're not in a locker, getting to the 'outside' may prove interesting, if required!

Please tell me I can just put them in place and connect them up........!

 

[Floydster]

Our new (May 16) Burstner had 2x Varta LFD90's fitted as standard and they had a vent pipe through the floor.
Have now removed them and replaced with 3x120amp gels

 

[Wildbill]

if its not broken dont try to fix it Dave no point in losing sleep over it.
it's working i would not bother trying to fix a problem you dont have.
bill

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[funflair]

Put them in place and connect up,

and then put a vent tube through the floor you knew you had to really

Martin

 

[PhilandMena]

Lead acid batteries will not be sealed and will need topping up.
The Varta batteries you refer to are also lead acid and will need venting outside of the motorhome for safety reasons. Fail to do this at your peril.
As you can see from the attached link, they are also sold with the option of a vent tube from Tanya.
https://www.tayna.co.uk/LFD90-Varta-Professional-DC-Leisure-Battery-930090080-P3638.html

 

[DavidG58]

buy gel, nothing wrong with changing your mind

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[PhilandMena]

buy gel, nothing wrong with changing your mind

If you do! Make sure your charger is suitable for Gel batteries.

 

[JeanLuc]

I have the same (2 x LFD90). They are in a tray that sits in the floor and are vented through the bottom with plastic tubes. You should do the same.

 

[Mikeco]

Have 2 sealed batteries under the bed which are not vented and do not need venting.

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[funflair]

Have 2 sealed batteries under the bed which are not vented and do not need venting.

You sound quite sure of that, plenty of "sealed" batteries still need venting though as "sealed" just means that you can't top them up, I thought Gel were the only truly sealed lead acid type?

Martin

 

[daveandsan]

My leisure batteries are under the passenger seat, so they are Gel

 

[maxi77]

Just fit them and don't worry. Most boats have flooded lead acid batteries and no venting and no problems.Hydrogen is the smallest atom and will not go down and can escape through the pushfit vent pipes I have seen.

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[Bart]

Don't all the sealed lead acid batteries that come with a "transport bung" that you must remove when the come need vented don''t they , even though they are sealed

 

[Mikeco]

You sound quite sure of that, plenty of "sealed" batteries still need venting though as "sealed" just means that you can't top them up, I thought Gel were the only truly sealed lead acid type?

Martin

When I bought them I could see no hole to put a tube so I checked with the supplier who assured me that they did not need venting.

 

[BreweryDave]

You buggers, shoulda known I'd get different opinions

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[BreweryDave]

If you do! Make sure your charger is suitable for Gel batteries.

That's the thing, I would've considered it, but it's a factory change for the technoblocermiser thingy, can't be arsed!!!

 

[funflair]

When I bought them I could see no hole to put a tube so I checked with the supplier who assured me that they did not need venting.

I think the truth might be that some AGM batteries have a hole for a vent tube and some don't, if they have it should be used if they don't have it you can't use it

Martin

 

[Floydster]

the technoblocermiser thingy

If that's an Electrobloc it's a p.o.p to fit gels, just flick the switch with power disconnected and away you go.

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[BreweryDave]

If that's an Electrobloc it's a p.o.p to fit gels, just flick the switch with power disconnected and away you go.

Nope. Switch is internal and hidden! Manual says so, visual check confirms. Is a 2005 van.

 

[Floydster]

bugga

 

[BreweryDave]

bugga

Out of interest, why did you remove yours? Just for mor ah????
From my 'research' I am happy that these are good quality despite being slightly less than my 2 x 110's, and should deliver good performance. ( regretting asking this already !!!!!!!)

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[Floydster]

We needed more Ah. We use the van all year and don't do sites a lot. We've got ebikes and tend to use quite a bit of power. We struggled with the 180ah we had so swopped them out.
Probably fine for most but they didn't suit us.

 

[tonyidle]

You buggers, shoulda known I'd get different opinions

Here's another one: gel batteries are pressure vented. The vents are sealed unless the pressure in the battery builds in which case they will vent. I have dismantled (peeled the top off) a number of small gel batteries (5 - 10Ah) and they have little rubber caps. Topping them up often brings them back to near full capacity. They couldn't dry out if they were sealed.

 

[mitzimad]

the varta definitley have plugs in for transit and i assume should be vented to outside ive just fitted a second and its on the todo list which probably means never

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[Stealaway]

IMO they need venting to the outside but its only a 5mm tube - just drill a 5mm hole through the bottom or side and tee them both together.

 

[Gorse Hill]

Our new (May 16) Burstner had 2x Varta LFD90's fitted as standard and they had a vent pipe through the floor.
Have now removed them and replaced with 3x120amp gels

Pandj I've got a van from the same range and not checked where my batteries are located, did your van come with 2 lesiure batteries as standard, Thks for any info

 

[Floydster]

@Gorse Hill Our batteries are under the seat inside. We had the 2nd battery fitted as an extra.
Unfortunately for our usage they weren't enough so I've fitted 3x sonnershein 120Ah gels. they have the same footprint as the vartas but are taller, two of them are where the originals were the extra one is in the extra passenger foot space. We don't have passengers so it's dead space, there was room for 2 but I figured one extra should do us.

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[Bart]

@pandj have you a link to your batteries , and are you happy with their performance

 

[DavidG58]

Dave,

just had a thought, instead of drilling a 5mm hole, why not swap your Burstner for a Hymer with external battery lockers

 

[Floydster]

@Bart

https://www.tayna.co.uk/GF-Sonnenschein-Battery-GF-12-105-V-P5602.html

Happy so far. Only fitted in November but had 10 days in France although we did move about. Survived 6 days in New Forest over New year without moving ok.

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