Second leisure battery question

[Newbie2021]

Just picked up my motorhome (second hand) and it only has one leisure battery. Should I be buying a second battery or not? If so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

 

[XxAnthxX]

I would wait……see how the existing one performs and then you can judge if you use enough power to warrant the additional battery.

You may find your existing battery is failing in which case a new one may suffice or you could fit a matching pair of new batteries.

You may find you don’t spend much time off grid and mainly on sites with EHU I’m which case one will be enough.

 

[mikebeaches]

Just picked up my motorhome (second hand) and it only has one leisure battery. Should I be buying a second battery or not? If so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

If it were me, I'd just see how you get on with the existing one.

If you've got a fridge that can run on gas, OR you plan to use mains electric hook-ups at campsites, then you won't necessarily need a second battery.

We've always managed comfortably with just the one.

If you find you need a second, that's the time to sort it out - but try without first, would be my advice.

 

[Itsmcb]

It really depends on the type of camping you intend to do. If your using lots of campsites and will use their electricity then one is probably fine. If you want to be off grid a lot then the more battery power you have the better

 

[Phill D]

What method do you have to charge the existing leisure battery.
Do you have a solar panel.

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[PG’s trips]

Just upgraded to two new leisure batteries and solar panel. Got engineer to to it so quite costly. After three weeks away this year so far, wildcamping with the odd night on a camp, I'm not convinced I needed the new kit. . If I was doing a month or two in Euope then yes. I would hold off as others suggest. Just make sure your existing leisure battery is in good order because it is such an.important item for a trouble free trip.

 

[James-Alex]

We’ve been off grid this weekend! Battery fully charged. Solar panel on roof and tonight we’re low on power. Not been watching tv and have used minimal lights. Fridge on gas. I think our battery maybe old as we’ve only had van 8 months. Not sure how long it’s been in. Would you guys advise a new battery? We only have one and from memory it’s a 120ah one

 

[Vikdikdok]

What lights ? If halogen change them to LED

 

[Itsmcb]

We’ve been off grid this weekend! Battery fully charged. Solar panel on roof and tonight we’re low on power. Not been watching tv and have used minimal lights. Fridge on gas. I think our battery maybe old as we’ve only had van 8 months. Not sure how long it’s been in. Would you guys advise a new battery? We only have one and from memory it’s a 120ah one

Not sure where you have been but the weather in Bristol was very grey, not much charge from my solar over the weekend.

 

[Gaston aires]

If you have room add another battery like for like. Solar panel a necessity.
Phil

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[James-Alex]

Not sure where you have been but the weather in Bristol was very grey, not much charge from my solar over the weekend.

New forest. It’s not the solar I’m concerned about it’s the actual usage. Have hardly used power. Thinking a new battery is needed but not sure what people think/ how much they get from one full battery. Caravans and mohos on site all watching tv tonight. If I turn mine on with a light battery level goes to 11.5v on display.

 

[James-Alex]

What lights ? If halogen change them to LED

These led type. Roughly all this size. Some slightly bigger or smaller

 

[royw]

if your lights are doing that then using a tv on 12volt or worse an invertor then i suspect a serios drop. will occur, before considering even a second battery i would ascertain condition of first, solar will recharge but depends on a variety of points but sort first things first.

 

[Brella]

Power can drop at night without using much, but if the power increases during the day with light it should be ok. Our charge drops to 12.5V sometimes 12.2V in the evening it never drops below 12.2V but it's back to 12.7V in the morning, upto 13.5V mid afternoon.

 

[autorouter]

The battery is an energy store - you fill it and empty it, it can't generate its own power. Its level depends on what rate you take energy out, and what methods you have for putting it back.

Power usage depends on exactly what you use. In summer your usage might be minimal, sitting outside chatting and drinking until it's bedtime. A single battery could last a week. Others might be watching TV, charging phones and laptops, running a fan to keep cool, having a long shower each every day etc, so that one battery won't last a weekend.

To get away from handwaving and put up some actual numbers, a good starting point is the energy produced from a 100W solar panel. That's variable, obviously, but 30 amp-hours on an average day, and 40Ah or more on a good sunny day, is a reasonable estimate. Many find that in summer with a 100W panel, the 30Ah or so is enough to stay off-grid indefinitely.

I know you didn't mention solar panels, but I'm just giving that as an example of a quantity of energy usage. If you're using 30Ah per day, this is the reason people go for a second battery. A 100Ah battery may have only 50Ah of usable energy, since mostly it's best to avoid discharge below 50% for optimum battery life.

So the advice to see how you get on is based on this. If you only want to last a couple of days before moving on and refilling while driving, then you might not need a second battery. But for many people who want to extend their time off-grid, it's the first upgrade to make.

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[DumfriesDik]

Despite having a second battery and solar panels, I needed a battery monitor to see what is going on with the batteries. Highly recommend you consider this if you are going to add stuff to your storage.

 

[Pusscat]

We’ve been off grid this weekend! Battery fully charged. Solar panel on roof and tonight we’re low on power. Not been watching tv and have used minimal lights. Fridge on gas. I think our battery maybe old as we’ve only had van 8 months. Not sure how long it’s been in. Would you guys advise a new battery? We only have one and from memory it’s a 120ah one

What solar charge controller do you have?

we originally had a Sargent one that was originally factory fitted along with a 100w panel. i Was really disappointed with it. I changed it for an votronic MPPT controller and went direct to leisure battery (and also starter batter, votronic controller can do that) and the improvement was like night over day!