Paying for Electric and water

[scotty1]

in my new All the Aires bookes i read that you pay for 1 hr of lecy to charge battery.how much will it charge your battery in 1 hr ? Thanks guys trying to get as much in my head as poss for next wk.Scotty

 

[JeanLuc]

As I said in reply to your earlier post about aires, the electricity facility is really little more than a top-up unless you are prepared to keep feeding the meter. Also bear in mind that you may not be popular with the locals if you hog the EHU point. Having said that, it is not uncommon to find several vans hooked up to the same point using branch connectors. The French Camping Caristes tend not to use EHU in the same way as many Brits do on a camp site. They do not depend on it for general power (sockets, heating etc.) but simply use it to give the leisure batteries a boost.

Regardsing what you might get in one hour, it will depend on the size and type of batteries you have and the power of your charger. Most motorhomes have chargers with an output in the range 15-20 amps so in an hour, you could in theory put that into a battery. In practice it does not work quite as simply as that and you will get a bit less. Also, if you have gel batteries, they charge much more slowly than a wet lead-acid type. I think AGM batteries charge at about the same rate as a wet battery.

 

[scotty1]

JeanLuc many thanks.

 

[JeanLuc]

You may have found out enough information about aires now, but in case not, here are two links that may help.
The first one is a guide to using aires (from a useful website that also sells motorhome items).
http://www.motorcaravanning.com/travel/aires.htm

The second is in French; it is the website of one of the most common manufacturers of Bornes de Service and shows how they work.
http://www.bornes-eurorelais.fr/aire-de-service-camping-cars.php

 

[sallylillian]

As I said in reply to your earlier post about aires, the electricity facility is really little more than a top-up unless you are prepared to keep feeding the meter. Also bear in mind that you may not be popular with the locals if you hog the EHU point. Having said that, it is not uncommon to find several vans hooked up to the same point using branch connectors. The French Camping Caristes tend not to use EHU in the same way as many Brits do on a camp site. They do not depend on it for general power (sockets, heating etc.) but simply use it to give the leisure batteries a boost.

Regardsing what you might get in one hour, it will depend on the size and type of batteries you have and the power of your charger. Most motorhomes have chargers with an output in the range 15-20 amps so in an hour, you could in theory put that into a battery. In practice it does not work quite as simply as that and you will get a bit less. Also, if you have gel batteries, they charge much more slowly than a wet lead-acid type. I think AGM batteries charge at about the same rate as a wet battery.

In terms of voltage AGM's are in a similar range, but you do need to consult the battery manufacturer’s manual as they are much more susceptible to over voltage. However the big advantage is that they can take 2 or 3 times the battery’s total amps in bulk charge. So if you have a 200 amp battery then you could charge at circa 14.4 volts (temp dependent) at 400 to 600 amps, again check with the manual. Of course there are not chargers of this size in common use. I had 2 100amp chargers in parallel on my boat feeding a huge Lifeline AGM bank and regularly saw nearly 200 amps when on bulk charge, so if you install AGM's consider your charger options too to get the most of the bank's ability.

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[FIDGET]

Hi Scott1,
Don't know how long you are planning to go for, or how long stopping in one place, we tend to move on each day , touring doing a reasonable amount of miles each day and have never needed to charge the battery any extra.

Also bear in mind about reverse polarity, we once stopped on a municipal c/site electricity in the price , connected up and it caused the fuse to blow in the control panel (bugger) , since then we have bought a reverse polarity checker

 

[scotty1]

Thanks Fidget