Which battery or batteries

[Neil S]

I have a bit of a problem , I taking delivery of Pilote A-class once DVLA get their act together and process the new vehicle application
Now stupidly when viewing it I never paid much attention to the leisure battery compartment
I’ve now discovered it’s a bit on the small side and won’t accommodate my
2 x 100 amp low height leisure batteries
which are 345mm long from my old Motorhome
The dimensions of the battery compartment are
310mm height
220mm Depth
650mm Length

Ive considered this single 180amp

or two of these

Open to suggestions and have budget of £350

 

[Hoovie]

If you want a decent battery, I would not look at either of those ones. very limited in performance.

In the space you have available, I would go for this fella - https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/1...rbon-gel-ultra-deep-cycle-battery-exp12-200c/

Yes it is more expensive but rated at over 7 times the cycle of the Varta, with over twice the warranty period.

I have 300Ah of the AGM version of this GEL battery and think they are excellent.

 

[pappajohn]

Who says a second battery has to go in the battery compartment.

 

[Podney]

Who says a second battery has to go in the battery compartment.

I don’t know.

But if it doesn’t go in the battery compartment it may be taking up space elsewhere that is not “spare”.
Whether or not you need a super duper battery or a steady plodder will depend on how the Moho is used. E.g. if on sites with ehu any old lump will do,but if you are a rusty tufty wild man you need something with more oooomph.

 

[cmcardle75]

You'd get 200Ah of LiFePO4 in that space easily. They'd have twice the usable capacity and significantly more electrical effienciency, which is important if wilding on solar and not driving much.

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[Neil S]

Who says a second battery has to go in the battery compartment.

They don’t but surely it’s better to have two leisure batteries as close as possible to avoid voltage drop

 

[Hoovie]

You'd get 200Ah of LiFePO4 in that space easily. They'd have twice the usable capacity and significantly more electrical effienciency, which is important if wilding on solar and not driving much.

bit tricky on a £350 budget maybe?

 

[Neil S]

You'd get 200Ah of LiFePO4 in that space easily. They'd have twice the usable capacity and significantly more electrical effienciency, which is important if wilding on solar and not driving much.

I’ll look into that , I could up my budget I suppose

 

[deleted79651]

We're thinking of getting 2ndleisure battery to reduce my paranoia as the existing sole battery remaining power reduces and I fret about it surviving until sunrise when the solar panel bursts into life again. What is the approximate cost of getting 2 lithium replacements, fitted,please? Might have to defer action for a wee while since the reversing camera appears to have croaked it today, but it would be nice to have a fund raising target to aim for. Too old to think of selling my body, bit a kidney might be a goer ...

Steve

 

[Hoovie]

I’ll look into that , I could up my budget I suppose

If you went Lithium, apart from the batteries themselves you would have to budget for:
Battery State of Charge Monitor - without that you would not know what you have left in the batteries (A voltmeter is no use with Lithium). Some batteries have a built-in SOC monitor you can access via Bluetooth (I do on my LiFePO4 battery but much prefer using the Victron Monitor to check).
Either a way to ensure the battery does not charge at low temps, or a battery you know has that protection (if you camp all year and your batteries are in an external locker, you will not be able to recharge them for a fair bit of time in winter)
Check your charging system is up to the job in both design and charge levels - there is no point in having 200Ah of fast-charging Lithium if you can only push though 15A into them.
etc. etc.

Lithium Batteries can be very handy but there is very few genuine "drop in" replacements that don't require you to do quite a bit of other stuff.

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[Neil S]

If you went Lithium, apart from the batteries themselves you would have to budget for:
Battery State of Charge Monitor - without that you would not know what you have left in the batteries (A voltmeter is no use with Lithium). Some batteries have a built-in SOC monitor you can access via Bluetooth (I do on my LiFePO4 battery but much prefer using the Victron Monitor to check).
Either a way to ensure the battery does not charge at low temps, or a battery you know has that protection (if you camp all year and your batteries are in an external locker, you will not be able to recharge them for a fair bit of time in winter)
Check your charging system is up to the job in both design and charge levels - there is no point in having 200Ah of fast-charging Lithium if you can only push though 15A into them.
etc. etc.

Lithium Batteries can be very handy but there is very few genuine "drop in" replacements that don't require you to do quite a bit of other stuff.

Yes I’ve just been reading up on the facts about charging
As you say you cannot recharge them in below -0 conditions , it is possible to get a 12v heat jacket and temperature probe for an additional cost .
My onboard charger has lithium settings so that isn’t an issue but I’m sort of leaning towards a good Gel battery

 

[Hoovie]

If you did want to go lithium and have the battery in an outside (so unheated) locker, the battery I would go for would be the one I am running actually - the Poweroad Infinity Subzero. It has a Bluetooth enabled BMS so you can check the state of charge (a monitor you can look at IS still a good idea though) and it has internal heaters which allow it to carry on taking a proper charge when the ambient temp is down to -20C.
The better Lead batteries such as the Lead Carbon batteries such as the one I linked to are still very good. A world apart from the cheap wet cell Lead Acid batteries and many characteristics similar to Lithium such as deep discharge ability and PSOC capabilities and at a quarter the price. (Yes, lithium should be cheaper overall but do you want to wait for 15 years to get that payback?, especially as in say 5 years chances are the lithium you buy today will be outdated and cheaper and better options available again)

 

[Neil S]

If you did want to go lithium and have the battery in an outside (so unheated) locker, the battery I would go for would be the one I am running actually - the Poweroad Infinity Subzero. It has a Bluetooth enabled BMS so you can check the state of charge (a monitor you can look at IS still a good idea though) and it has internal heaters which allow it to carry on taking a proper charge when the ambient temp is down to -20C.
The better Lead batteries such as the Lead Carbon batteries such as the one I linked to are still very good. A world apart from the cheap wet cell Lead Acid batteries and many characteristics similar to Lithium such as deep discharge ability and PSOC capabilities and at a quarter the price. (Yes, lithium should be cheaper overall but do you want to wait for 15 years to get that payback?, especially as in say 5 years chances are the lithium you buy today will be outdated and cheaper and better options available again)

Would a 100 ah lithium the one your quoting be ok to use with a 1500 watt
Purse sine wave inverter
For occasional use with 600 watt microwave or low wattage hairdryer
Or would I be better with 2 x 100 ah

 

[pappajohn]

They don’t but surely it’s better to have two leisure batteries as close as possible to avoid voltage drop

As close as possible, yes but as long as the linking cable is of sufficient size to account for the distance it makes little difference.

 

[cmcardle75]

Would a 100 ah lithium the one your quoting be ok to use with a 1500 watt
Purse sine wave inverter
For occasional use with 600 watt microwave or low wattage hairdryer
Or would I be better with 2 x 100 ah

A 100Ah LiFePO4 battery can run these in terms of sheer discharge capacity, but you will need to seek out a BMS with sufficient rating to allow it. Some will be limited to 100-150A, which might not be enough. Obviously, such a load would eat through the stored energy pretty sharpish. However, it will work much better than 200Ah of lead acid. Even at low load, they would have similar usable capacity, but add in the electrical inefficiency of lead acid at high discharge currents, you can expect much more real life capacity from 100Ah LifePo4 than 200Ah lead acid.

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[Dorset Diver]

New MH's that we have bought have always come with leisure battery fitted as standard. Is it normal that Pilote don't?

 

[Hoovie]

Would a 100 ah lithium the one your quoting be ok to use with a 1500 watt
Purse sine wave inverter
For occasional use with 600 watt microwave or low wattage hairdryer
Or would I be better with 2 x 100 ah

The current that can be drawn does depend on the battery.
Most Lithium Batteries tend to quote a C1 rating for maximum continuous current - so 100Ah battery would be 100A, 80Ah Battery would be 80A, etc.
It does vary by the battery model though. some could be less, some may be more, so it is something that it is very important to check for an Inverter user.
The 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery I mentioned actually has a high continuous current of 150A, so at the top end of the general range.
A 1500W Inverter at full power will draw close to 150A out the battery once Inverter losses are taken into account, so I would say you need more - again depending on the batteries (and their BMSes), it could be one larger one or a pair of batteries.

Also note a 600W Microwave is not really a 600W microwave. If you are able to get to the back, have a look at the label to see the input power - it will roughly be around 80% more. My "700W" microwave runs at around 1250W.

 

[Neil S]

New MH's that we have bought have always come with leisure battery fitted as standard. Is it normal that Pilote don't?

Yes is does come with one standard 100ah lead acid sealed battery
Not sure of the make

 

[Neil S]

The current that can be drawn does depend on the battery.
Most Lithium Batteries tend to quote a C1 rating for maximum continuous current - so 100Ah battery would be 100A, 80Ah Battery would be 80A, etc.
It does vary by the battery model though. some could be less, some may be more, so it is something that it is very important to check for an Inverter user.
The 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery I mentioned actually has a high continuous current of 150A, so at the top end of the general range.
A 1500W Inverter at full power will draw close to 150A out the battery once Inverter losses are taken into account, so I would say you need more - again depending on the batteries (and their BMSes), it could be one larger one or a pair of batteries.

Also note a 600W Microwave is not really a 600W microwave. If you are able to get to the back, have a look at the label to see the input power - it will roughly be around 80% more. My "700W" microwave runs at around 1250W.

I was thinking about 1200 watts for the microwave in real terms of power requirements so my inverter should cope
Just need to decide if I want to spend in excess of £1000 for two lithiums or buy the other battery you suggested
The single 200ah gel which should cope with occasional inverter use

 

[Hoovie]

I was going to go all Lithium for my new (to me) Motorhome last year, but the price was just too much. Bought 300Ah of quality Lead Carbon AGM for 3/4 the cost of a single 100Ah Lithium.
(I am actually running a 100Ah Lithium with the Lead Carbon to give me a 400Ah Bank now but that is a different story )