Leisure Batteries - Recommend? Dislike? (1 Viewer)

mdixon

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Following on from my own thread on leisure batteries that exposed a lot of knowledge on this site (Thanks All), I have decided to replace the one I have with a decent one.

I think I have analysed my needs (with a lot of advice and corrections) and come to the conclusion that without charging bikes I need about 5 AH /H on an evening.

What are your experiences on performance, make, warranty etc etc.
Any good recommendations?

Any help appreciated Banner and Trojan are 2 makes already mentioned - any thought on these?
 

Snowbird

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For the extra costs of these so called Branded batteries I personally find it better and cheaper to buy the normal cheap 110 amp leisure batteries and change them every 2 years. Am paying at the moment £70 each for them. This way I have always good batteries and there is the bonus of scrap value at the end of there life. Regardless of how much you pay for batteries they only have a limited amount of discharges and slowly deteriorate over time. Replacing them every 2 years gives you the guarantee of never having batteries fail in the field.
 

pablomc

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I think you have to distinguish between leisure and traction.

Useful article Link Removed. It refers to marine use but the principles are the same.

Banner is a decent leisure.

Trojan is a traction (deep cycle).

The cost of tractions batteries is not so much an issue anymore especially if you compare the price to a Banner.

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Snowbird

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Our leisure battery failed suddenly.

Original German battery, 8 years old.

Ahah, but how long was it working to its original spec. I have had car starter batteries for years on the same car and as long as it starts the car all is well, then when they don't start the car they are changed. Motorhome leisure batteries are a different ball game. Nothing worse than having to scout around in Europe for new leisure batteries when I cant watch Coronation Street any more :Doh:. Just as an aside, has anyone been at the mercy of a French or Spanish battery supplier ?. It can be very painful experience.
 

Snowbird

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Its just jogged my memory as I have a few batteries that need weighing in. After a quick phone call the big ones are worth a tenner each scrap, so that brings the price of the new ones down to £60 each. If I had paid £100 each for Banners, they would be the same scrap value, so would have cost £90 each over the 2 year period. I have 3 X 110 amp batteries so its a case of buy 2 get one free :thumb:.

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hilldweller

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Ahah, but how long was it working to its original spec.

Not sure, it wasn't causing me any bother.

We got lucky, it failed on south coast the day before we were due to sail. Got one from John's Cross on the way to the port.

I changed the original German starter battery the year before, poor starting. New battery. Poor starting. Got meter out and found big voltage on battery earth terminal. It was the engine earth strap under the engine, corroded at the joint. Cleaned and refitted, perfect. I've not yet recovered knowing I bought a battery when the original was probably just at it's prime.

Moral seems to be, buy good German batteries.
 

Allanm

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My van is fitted with a 105ah Alphaline xv27. I just bought another and fitted it in parallel ( old battery is only 3 months old) Cost was £72.50 delivered from Amazon. They seem to get good reviews but only time will tell if they are any good
Allan
 
Jan 28, 2008
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thats the trouble with batteries you dont know till they fail if there aNY GOOD

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Aug 21, 2008
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Batteries

If you do find your batteries Have let you down in Spain I can recommend Batteria Megastore of Barcelona.
I bought 2 Alphaline 125 amp batteries from them last year and if my memory serves me right they were 115 euros each delivered to Camping Raco Benidorm,they have branches in Uk and France I believe and they also sell them on Ebay
Alan

just checked there website and they're now 135 euros Alan
 
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jonandshell

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Traction batteries- Trojan, US Battery or Dyno.

Leisure batteries- Banner or don't bother!

It all depends on your useage though, for light summer use, any leisure battery will work.
For off-grid winter Alpine adventurers like us, only traction will do!:thumb:

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Terry

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Can't remember ;)
Its just jogged my memory as I have a few batteries that need weighing in. After a quick phone call the big ones are worth a tenner each scrap, so that brings the price of the new ones down to £60 each. If I had paid £100 each for Banners, they would be the same scrap value, so would have cost £90 each over the 2 year period. I have 3 X 110 amp batteries so its a case of buy 2 get one free :thumb:.

Math slightly out ::bigsmile:

Buy the cheapest batteries you can get :thumb: even if they eventually fail what's the worst that can happen-no telly for the night :Smile:
Terry
 

jonandshell

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Math slightly out ::bigsmile:

Buy the cheapest batteries you can get :thumb: even if they eventually fail what's the worst that can happen-no telly for the night :Smile:
Terry

Again, depends on your useage.

The worst that can happen to us is no heater, frozen van, end of holiday, hundreds of pounds wasted either going home or paying for a hotel.
High season apartment for 4 in Val Thorens- £2500 a week!!!:Eeek:

I'll stick with my Dynos!:thumb:
 

rainbow chasers

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Ahah, but how long was it working to its original spec. I have had car starter batteries for years on the same car and as long as it starts the car all is well, then when they don't start the car they are changed. Motorhome leisure batteries are a different ball game. Nothing worse than having to scout around in Europe for new leisure batteries when I cant watch Coronation Street any more :Doh:. Just as an aside, has anyone been at the mercy of a French or Spanish battery supplier ?. It can be very painful experience.

That's Irony for you - Banner are Spanish! So in theory, with a little agro you could get them cheaper through a Spanish supplier?

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Terry

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Can't remember ;)
Again, depends on your useage.

The worst that can happen to us is no heater, frozen van, end of holiday, hundreds of pounds wasted either going home or paying for a hotel.
High season apartment for 4 in Val Thorens- £2500 a week!!!:Eeek:

I'll stick with my Dynos!:thumb:

Sorry but batteries give plenty of warning that they are failing ::bigsmile: if you cannot recognise the the warning signs then sure pay for expensive ones that will still fail :winky: and will have cost a lot more ::bigsmile:
Terry
 

jonandshell

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Sorry but batteries give plenty of warning that they are failing ::bigsmile: if you cannot recognise the the warning signs then sure pay for expensive ones that will still fail :winky: and will have cost a lot more ::bigsmile:
Terry

LOL! Our Dynos are approaching 5 yrs old. They were on our previous van too!

They still have full capacity and the cost was £100 per battery. I would argue that makes them worth every penny considering, if they were el-cheapo batteries, they would have been replaced by now!

Not to mention the fact that they safely discharge to 80% with no problems.
100 Ah leisure- 50 Ah effective capacity.
100 Ah traction- 80 Ah effective capacity.
Effectively 3 batteries for the price of two? Which is cheaper now?

Of course, Sterling's charging system does look after them better than a split charge relay.

Good sparring with you Terry!::bigsmile:

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Terry

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LOL! Our Dynos are approaching 5 yrs old. They were on our previous van too!

They still have full capacity and the cost was £100 per battery. I would argue that makes them worth every penny considering, if they were el-cheapo batteries, they would have been replaced by now!

Not to mention the fact that they safely discharge to 80% with no problems.
100 Ah leisure- 50 Ah effective capacity.
100 Ah traction- 80 Ah effective capacity.
Effectively 3 batteries for the price of two? Which is cheaper now?

Of course, Sterling's charging system does look after them better than a split charge relay.

Good sparring with you Terry!::bigsmile:

My single 110 amp hr el cheapo (45 quid) is still going strong after 6 yrs :thumb:Admitedly I don't give it as much welly as you give yours or have a B2B but hey ho at 45 quid it don't owe me much ::bigsmile:

There was a rather large and detailed test done on batteries and the conclusion was cheaper to buy worked out cheaper in the long run :thumb:
slightly off topic
Just the same type test was done with poundland type batts against Duracell etc and on cost basis the cheap batts won that test BUT you spent more time changing the batts --say 3 cheapo againt the cost of 1 quality :Eeek::thumb:
Also I once purchased a gadget that I thought was faulty -tried cheapos and Duracell niether worked :Sad: Then the boss read that Energisers should be used, worked a treat -Still to this day no one has ever managed to explian why or what the difference is between cheapos and more importanly Duracell and energizers :Doh:::bigsmile:
 

vwalan

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hi, banner are austrian , they did produce good batteries and i have used loads . but lately i find the banner range only just gets through the warranty 2 years and their planet range only just making their years warranty .
bosch went like it a few years ago.
i like hoppecka but at the moment am using hella and varta .
the varta are two 200amp batteries that were bought in 2006 .so they are lasting well.
i think the answer is dont let them get dragged down . switch things off before the batteries are too low .
 

Snowbird

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That's Irony for you - Banner are Spanish! So in theory, with a little agro you could get them cheaper through a Spanish supplier?

Well I can understand your confusion as they do have a picture of bull on them :Smile:

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Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Well whilst we were in the UK ( April ) this year I had a problem with the 2 x Spanish fitted batteries ( all be it the previous owner did not care for the batteries ) and they failed at one of the "funister meets".
I ordered 3 x ELECSOL 110 Carbon Fibre Batteries ( as had room to fit another one ) and can only say really great.
Left UK went to Germany then France and back into Spain using 85% solar power at the stops. Could run for 2/3 sometimes 4 days before charge dropped below 12.2volts ( TV, Sat box, lights etc )
Back home now and MH in the garage turned round for next run out. Have it in EHU trickle charging and every weekend use the batteries for about 6 hours then back onto EHU to top them up.
Will see how long they last.
 

Snowbird

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This guy knows more than most about batteries and battery charging. Very interesting reading for those contemplating spending a lot of hard earned on batteries.
Link Removed
 

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