Leisure batteries type and siting (1 Viewer)

Theonlysue

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Not long enough!
Hi, have 260w solar being transfered to my next hymer.
I presently have 3 exide 120 a gel batteries, only 6 months old.
I stayed with gel as I'm used to them, and only changed as full timing in UK in winter, the original 2 x 80a were insufficient, but still working well after 10 years.
The next hymer has 2 x 85a agm batteries approx 18 months old which are in the centre floor. I was looking to have my gels moved over, however
Camper UK say my present batteries are too tall to go in the floor.
Options so far;
Add extra new agm battery.
Put mine in the nearside outside locker, but they would have to stack one, which would present difficulty with passenger leg room on nearside sofa as front of sofa wall folds back.
Put the gels in the garage, but will result in a longer cable run.
Any thoughts please??
Many thanks, Sue
 

flatpackchicken

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Jun 27, 2010
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Hi Sue. I would put your 3 gel batteries in gge and use appropriate size cable
As the ones that come with new Mh are only 170 a against your 3 X 360 a
But if you can keep the 2 originals as well ( but remember the weight) and have a change over switch fitted so you always have backup batteries !!!!!!!!!!!
Best of luck with your New Mh :) x

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Dazzlin

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We had one 120ah agm in ours (batt 6 months old) so I added another.

A lot of folks say the van chargers are not up to doing agm charging propely but yours is newer so may be ok Sue.

We only hook up once or twice a year so rely on solar and the votronic regulator has a setting for agm which takes them up to the 14.7/8 that they need.

If it were me I would just add another agm and avoid all the probs with moving your gels.

Nice new van!

Darren
 

JeanLuc

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Sue, you may need to consider the power of the EBL fitted in your new Hymer. If you intend to put lots of batteries in, it may need upgrading with an additional charging module (LAS1218-2 or LAS1218 Bus depending on the EBL installation).

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Jul 5, 2013
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Sue, our new Hymer has the batteries and electrobloc in the outside locker under the L shaped front seating. I think all A class Fiat based Hymers have them there now. The standard one is stacked over the Electrobloc. We had a second one fitted next to the Electrobloc and that does not get in the way of the door that opens to allow the extra passenger legroom. I think that you could stack a third one on top of the second one and still open the door, but have never tried.

I am sure @Lenny HB will be along in a minute to tell you what he thinks about AGM's in Hymers!! I have two AGMs and so far they work fine. But because of what Lenny said I got a 4 year warranty on them in writing from the dealer before I was willing to accept them.
 

Lenny HB

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Yep @peterc10.
As your AGM's are of the vintage where Hymer may not have changed to an AGM charger, if your charger has not got an AGM setting they will be well past their sell by date could fail at any time. Mine lasted 18 months both failed in a few days of each other, I replaced them with Gel's. As said Gel's can be mounted on their side if required.

If you are predominately using solar like I do it's not essential to add the extra charging module. Only time you might overload the existing charger is it the batteries were completely flat, unlikely to happen with the solar input and if like me you monitor the state of charge.
 
Oct 8, 2009
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Yep @peterc10.
As your AGM's are of the vintage where Hymer may not have changed to an AGM charger, if your charger has not got an AGM setting they will be well past their sell by date could fail at any time. Mine lasted 18 months both failed in a few days of each other, I replaced them with Gel's.

I was recently offered an AGM battery rather than Lead Acid when collecting a MH with an EBL 220 from a dealer and I was worried about it so contacted Udo Lang at Schaudt. He came back with the following advice and I declined the battery as I believed it would fail prematurely as I could not get the assurance I needed.

"we give a recommendation for the use of lead acid and Gel batteries for our EBL's and chargers.

To connect an AGM battery, please talk directly to the battery manufacturer if the characteristic of our device in combination with the charging voltage and the corresponding switch position (acid or gel) for AGM's is compatible.

Our specific data, please see in the manual of your device.

For all AGM-type batteries please ask at the producers directly.


If you want to reach a higher voltage for charging the battery with an external charger, we require
for a corresponding AGM battery the following information:

The installation of an additional device(for example,solar controller, battery charger with a highercharge voltage) has not been investigated by
Schaudt-company and it can´t beofficially released.
Therefore, such installations are generally done at your own risk. However, there are no cases known to us, in which there would have been a problem at all.

Make sure, that all connected devices(TV,LED bulbs...)
are ok with the expectedfinal charge voltage, and the higher voltage will not
cause damage to consumers in the leisure area or the vehicle electronics."

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Jul 5, 2013
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All of this is why I got the warranty. But if most of your charging is solar then you may be Ok if you use the new Schaudt LRM1218 MPPT solar controller because that does have a specific AGM setting.
 

Lenny HB

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When I got my new Hymer I contacted both Udo at Schaudt and Banner (Banner AGM batteries fitted), both advised charging on the Gel setting. Yer right 18 months later both batteries fecked and both Banner and Hymer won't honor the warranty as the batteries pass a starter battery test.
If I buy another Hymer I will insist on the AGM's being changed for Gel's.
 

JeanLuc

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Just to add to the debate, according to the Varta technical leaflet on leisure batteries, they recommend a charging current of 25-35% of the nominal Ah capacity. That means at least a 50 amp charger for 2x100 Ah batteries! Not possible with a standard motorhome charging system.

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Theonlysue

Theonlysue

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Not long enough!
Thank you all for you very useful input.
Will ask them to move my gels to garage.
Anyone want some secondhand agm leisure batteries lol
 

JeanLuc

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Nov 17, 2008
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My last post referred to AGM batteries only - should have made that clear. For sealed lead-acid, the recommended charging current is 10-15% of the nominal Ah capacity - i.e. the standard 18 amps provided by many Elektroblocs will support around 180 Ah without problem - up to 220 at a push.
 

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