New battery/batteries maybe

[Miggs]

My van has now celebrated is 5th birthday and although the original battery is not showing any issue, I do recall reading somewhere that expect approx 5 years life from it.
Wondering if I should just run it to death or preempt any issue and replace now.

Because of escalating site fees we are favouring more and more non-electric pitches and to that end when I do replace, I want to replace with a pair for more off grid capacity.
Is there anything I should be aware of when fitting two batteries, like linking them up etc? Is there a recommended type/brand - not interested in Lithium at the moment.
Thanks

 

[pappajohn]

I would wait until you have issues.
It may have a year or two yet

 

[Terry]

Wait until it shows issues. As Ppj says it could last a few years yet

 

[Raul]

If the van is used regularly, the battery will be charged and will carry on few more years. If the van is sat for long periods, a additional charging source will need to compensate for the long idle times. Solar, battery master, or plug in, it will maintain your battery. If you manage to keep it charged it will last years.

 

[poppycamper]

As Raul says..."Look after yer battery...and... your battery will look after you"

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[PP Bear]

If you’ve preferred EHU, then the batteries haven’t really been challenged. Give em chance to perform and finally fail, then there are a lot of outlets that supply leisure batteries, you’ll just need to know the physical size you’ll need in the space available and what the best amp hour will we.

Loads of choices.

 

[autorouter]

Try an experiment to see how long it will last without EHU. Next time you're on a site with EHU, don't plug in, and see what happens. I know it's a waste of payment for EHU, but worth it to find the answer to your question. And you can always plug in in the morning to top up the batteries for the next stop.

There are several variations of lead-acid batteries. Apart from traditional flooded batteries that can be topped up with water, there are flooded sealed batteries, Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB), Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM), Gel, and Lead-Carbon. I think I listed them in order of price, but could be wrong on that. Looks like EFB and Gel are popular as leisure batteries.

You might need to check that your mains charger (and solar controller if you have one) can be set to a suitable charging profile for the type of battery you want.

 

[peterc10]

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