ChocNessie
Free Member
There are lots of TYPES of leisure batteries out there but what type is best at what.
Gel, Lead Acid, Carbon Fibre, Deep Cycle, etc etc ......
I recently upgraded my motorhome and as the existing batteries were not holding charge they were replaced. Unfortunately I bought from Alan Kerr (that's another story) who promptly used the cheapest most useless batteries they could find.
So only one year later I am looking to replace them again, but with what. I believe in quality so would rather pay a little extra for something that works well and can do the job.
My MH has the topical 12v lighting system, so arriving on site you hook up the mains, for everything else telly for kids, hair dryer and microwave for the wife etc and although the batteries are fully charged the charger starts trickling. This seems silly as the lights draw like 4 to 6 amps from two batteries with 230 amp hours in total.
This to me is odd as I thought batteries work best being discharged and then charged, rather than continuously not being allowed to discharge. This is the same when driving as I have a split charger sending uptown 50 amps to the vehicle battery and 70 amps to the leisure batteries.
When I get to a site would the system benefit from turning the charger off and allowing the batteries to discharge a lot before charging. My charger has gone faulty in the last couple of days and when it is replaced I am considering having the charger switch moved somewhere more accessible. Currently it is under one of the seats (where my kids sit to travel) so does not encourage you to use it to improve battery life - if doing this now and again would indeed help?
Also recently we have been running the Thetford fridge off my inverter whilst travelling as it really doesn't do fridgey things like keep the food cool on 12 volts. This works brilliantly by the way.
So to the big discussion ........
Are there any boffins out there that can tell me what is the best type of battery to buy :
That provides high current draw short term when stationary and not hooked up, as the inverter could draw uptown 150 amps,
That allows continuous 50 amp discharge and charge for whilst driving and running fridge and A/C from inverter.
That can be topped up quickly from say 10% on arrival at a site and hooking up the mains charger.
That can stand being continuously topped up at 99% when on site and hooked up.
Well there is the question - can anyone help
Many thanks
Richard and Nessie .