Hymer exsis (1 Viewer)

[garjanco]

Yay! Look forward to seeing it! ( Robs test driving a MX5 on Monday !! Eek will we get iadout of it?!!)

You won' get the lad out wants to be a boy racer again ha ha

 

[bellabee]

Nice choice! Enjoy!

 

[Lenny HB]

Thanks for all your views guys didn't buy the i598 as the island bed was very cramped against both the toilet and shower as mentioned by @bellabee but we have bought a 2017 unregistered i678 single beds at back, drop down at front , large garage 7.2m long
Gary and Janet

7.2m I take it is the old model, hope you got a good deal.

 

[garjanco]

7.2m I take it is the old model, hope you got a good deal.

Yes got a good deal just reading threads about batteries now as need second leisure battery and solar

 

[Lenny HB]

Yes got a good deal just reading threads about batteries now as need second leisure battery and solar

Ditch the AGM and fit a couple of Gels. That's what I did on my DL after the problems I had with the AGM's on my Exsis.
What chassis is it 3500 or 4250kg?

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[garjanco]

Ditch the AGM and fit a couple of Gels. That's what I did on my DL after the problems I had with the AGM's on my Exsis.
What chassis is it 3500 or 4250kg?

3500 updated to 3850 which gel s do you recommend and which solar controller
Gary

 

[Jenben]

Nice choice! We’ve got an Exsis I578 and love it. We’ve looked at the new ones but can’t see the changes worth updating to yet - probably best to hang on for the next Ducato upgrade which can’t be far away. Like you’ve found, for anyone buying now there are still lots of original ones around at really good prices. Ones like your 2017 will have most of the interior updates like trim and new hab door anyway.

We added a 2nd Varta AGM battery as it seemed pointless chucking a brand new one away to switch to Gels. They are still fine after 2 years regular use. However we don’t use an inverter so they probably have an easy life and we have made sure we have a solar controller with a proper AGM charge profile. We picked the Electrobloc LRM 1218 solar controller. I think @Lenny HB and others have used the Votronic controller instead. Both plug straight into the van electrics and have an optimised setting for AGM batteries.

 

[Speve]

We have still got the running bull AGMs that we started with had no problems with them at all in two and half years.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have still got the running bull AGMs that we started with had no problems with them at all in two and half years.

Living on borrowed time, the Banners were a disaster the Varta's fair a bit better. Would be interesting to see what the capacity is on a controlled test. The ones I had were down to 10a/h at 18 months old.

 

[Lenny HB]

We added a 2nd Varta AGM battery as it seemed pointless chucking a brand new one away to switch to Gels.

As 2 new Gels will not cost an awful lot more than one AGM and the Gels will give a life of 5 - 10 years, with all the problems with AGM's (just look at the German forums) it's a no brainer far better to change to Gels. You don't throw it away you ask the dealer to swap it, if he wants the sale he will do it.

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[Lenny HB]

3500 updated to 3850 which gel s do you recommend and which solar controller
Gary

The Exsis we had, we uprated to 3850 but were still on the limit on the rear axle. You can increase the axle loading to 2240kg (from 2000) by fitting air suspenion and changing the tyres, 16" wheels won't need a tyre change.

I have 3 x Sonnenschein SL75 Gels in my van, they are 78 a/h at the C20 rate, they are the same battery as the Exide G80/ES900, Sonnenschein make the Exide Gels.
Another Varta AGM would be around £185, the SL75 is £142, Tanya normally give a 5 or 10% discount for sighing up to their newsletter if not phone then and haggle.
Two of the SL75's will give you higher capacity as you can take the Gels down to 20% DOD and they will still give you a long life. If you go the AGM route it's pot luck it they last more than 2 years.

If you decide to go the Gel route get the dealer to swap the exsisting battery as part of the deal.

Probably the 3 best solar regulators are either the Victron MPPT, the Votronic MPP or the Schaudt LRM1218. The Victron & Votronic are avalible in different sizes the Schaudt is 275W. If you are going to fit 300 watts or more of solar I would go for the Votronic as it has an output for AES fridges which will switch the fridge over to 12v when there is excess solar avalible.

 

[Jenben]

@Lenny HB. Yep if you have the option to swap that sounds a good idea. We didn’t really look into the 2nd battery option until we’d got the van home so wouldn’t work for us.

 

[Lenny HB]

@Lenny HB. Yep if you have the option to swap that sounds a good idea. We didn’t really look into the 2nd battery option until we’d got the van home so wouldn’t work for us.

I had 2 fairly new Gels in my Exsis so I got the dealer to swap them over then added a third, nice to have decent battery power could do with more but don't want to waste garage space.

 

[garjanco]

The Exsis we had, we uprated to 3850 but were still on the limit on the rear axle. You can increase the axle loading to 2240kg (from 2000) by fitting air suspenion and changing the tyres, 16" wheels won't need a tyre change.

I have 3 x Sonnenschein SL75 Gels in my van, they are 78 a/h at the C20 rate, they are the same battery as the Exide G80/ES900, Sonnenschein make the Exide Gels.
Another Varta AGM would be around £185, the SL75 is £142, Tanya normally give a 5 or 10% discount for sighing up to their newsletter if not phone then and haggle.
Two of the SL75's will give you higher capacity as you can take the Gels down to 20% DOD and they will still give you a long life. If you go the AGM route it's pot luck it they last more than 2 years.

If you decide to go the Gel route get the dealer to swap the exsisting battery as part of the deal.

Probably the 3 best solar regulators are either the Victron MPPT, the Votronic MPP or the Schaudt LRM1218. The Victron & Votronic are avalible in different sizes the Schaudt is 275W. If you are going to fit 300 watts or more of solar I would go for the Votronic as it has an output for AES fridges which will switch the fridge over to 12v when there is excess solar avalible.

Thanks Lenny lots to think about before I make my decision defo going 2 batteries and at least 200 watt of solar thanks for input really appreciated
Gary

 

[peterc10]

I have a 2015 B678, layout is a bit different to yours and a bit longer at 7.5m. Much to Lenny's disgust I have 2 AGMs, but so far so good (touch wood). Also have 250W of solar and the Schaudt LRM1218. The EBL does not have a setting for AGMs, so it is set to Gel. But the LRM does have a setting for AGM, so it is set to that. Not sure if that makes any difference.

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[bellabee]

Our van is a 2017 model, too. We have the EBL30 - (not that I know what that means in practical terms) - but it has settings for gel and agm.
We're also sticking with the AGMs. Had two in our last Hymer and they performed very well - although we did sell it at 2-years-old, so they could have failed since. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[peterc10]

Our van is a 2017 model, too. We have the EBL30

We have the EBL29. I suspect the main difference is the batteries it supports. Ours does lead acid and gels, yours does gels and AGMs.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have the EBL29. I suspect the main difference is the batteries it supports. Ours does lead acid and gels, yours does gels and AGMs.

EBL29
Gel setting charges to 14.3v then holds at that for the absorption phase for 8 hours then drops to 13.8v.
Flooded setting charges to 14.3v and holds for 1 hour before dropping to 13.8v.

EBL30
Gel Setting charges to 14.4v then holds for 16 hours then drops to 13.7v
AGM setting charges to 14.7v then holds for 4 hours then drops to 13.7v.