Leisure battery upgrade (1 Viewer)

[rutteger]

At some point looking to add / upgrade the leisure battery along with a few other jobs, after some advice as to best course of action.

Setup currently
Newish, sub 1 yo (according to last owner) 80ah Exide leisure battery (wet)
Arsilicii AL-BK20 battery charger, max 200Ah.
100W solar panel with a 10A charge controller. Afaik the solar is wired directly to the leisure battery, not tested this though.

Plan to add a split charge replay (CBE item ordered) and extra leisure battery.

Obvious route is to add a second 80Ah Exide battery.

If I were to replace the existing leisure battery and go with 2 x 100Ah batteries would this work? Or might I overload the 240V battery charger? I.e. do I have to take the current drain of the split charge relay into account.

 

[mitzimad]

do you not have a split charge system to charge the battery you have if so its just a case of adding the extra battery ?
you wont overload the existing charger but it will take longer to charge two batteries, normally the charger is rated a ten per cent of battery size
relays use next to no curent

 

[pappajohn]

Your charger is rated at 20a and will charge a recommended battery bank of 200ah capacity.

To charge a bank of higher capacity than 200ah will take longer but it will charge.

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[rutteger]

@mitzimad should have been more clear, the current control unit the leisure and vehicle battery when the engine and alternator are running. On EHU / solar the vehicle battery is not charged, only leisure.
Intend to add the CBE CSB-2 split charge to keep the vehicle battery charged on solar / EHU.
Was unsure if the extra load from the CSB-2 should be factored in when judging a safe load for the 240v charger.

 

[Gaston aires]

Just add another battery of exactly the same type. Connect in parallel, and its that easy.
Phil

 

[tonka]

If funds allow change to a new pair of batteries... You cant be sure that one is really a year old plus you dont know what use / abuse it's had. If you can go bigger with 2 x 100/110ah then great.
Charger should be ok and solar will do it's job...
Split relay, good move but maybe only if you leave the van standing for any length of time..

Ref testing solar...
Ensure mains charger not connected or engine running.
Put multimeter on DC volts..
Test at input to regulator and if working you should have 18-22 ish volts.
Test at output of regulator and see 13 ish volts (regulated)..
You can do another test at the battery terminals as well.

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