battery options

[glanrichbex]

The leisure battery is designed to give you power over a long period, as opposed to the standard car battery which is designed to give higher power over a shorter period.

The leasure battery can take more abuse - as in it can go almost flat and recover when it is recharged ( there is debate about this ). It holds its charge for longer as it has less of a natural leakage and It is good at delivering in cold weather. It can be damaged if using it as a starter battery turning the engine over excessively - too many variables to put a figure on it.

A car battery can give massive current quickly - it is referred to as a starter battery in many cases and that is why the lead plates have to be thicker to prevent them deforming in high demand situations. It is not good at holding its charge over time and suffers in cold weather.

A car battery is substantially cheaper than a leasure battery - they are far superior to a car battery of 15-20 years ago - I would say a leasure battery is usefull in a caravan but not justified anywhere else. I would rather buy a new battery every 4 years than a leasure battery for much longer.:thumbs


Some say to put an over rated leasure battery in the vehicle and that will stand the starting current demand problem - the payback is that you are not cycling the battery very much and bring about premature failure.

 

[makeitfit]

Sort of with you on most of that, but answer me this then.
Why do they say it's a "Dual" battery, ie starter and deep cycle. It's also rated at 1000 cca :augie implying starting may be done
Last time I looked for a 1000 cca was a lot more expensive as a car battery , well over £100 for a cheap one. Dual /leisure Numax 70 quid . Both 3 year g/tee.
I'm interested to know more , especially empirically as I'll be buying a new one for the trol soon :thumbs

 

[makeitfit]

Maybe the best result then for me anyway, will be a churffing great starter battery AND then the 2nd battery a "leisure" type one

 

[solarman216]

basic rule of thumb, leisure/start batteries do not discharge to more than 50% of capacity and certainly do not leave them discharged for long, then they will give a fair life, traction batteries are deigned to be discharged to 80% on a daily basis with a 15 year design life, so for starting your truck which is all the battery is for choose the cheapest you can find with the cca that you need, if you use it for winching as well then it pays to go a little higher on the cca amps as your alternator may not be able to keep up, the whole aim is to keep the battery above 50% discharge and it will last, let it go lots below and it will do very much damage, Rick

 

[glanrichbex]

Cold cranking amps (CCA) is a measurement of the number of amps a battery can deliver at 0 ° F for 30 seconds and not drop below 7.2 volts. But do you really have that problem where you live? ..... we are in the U.K after all :augie

Dual ??- does this mean dual purpose or there are two of them?

you can connect 2 X 12volt batteries in parallel which will give you 12volts but double the Ah capacity

You can connect 2 X 12volt batteris in series which will give you 24volts with the same Ah as one of the batteries - if they are different Ah ratings it will be the smaller one.

Have a look at this excellent tutorial http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/battery-basics.html

 

[rustic]

Was wondering what's à better option, getting a massive battery or making à split charge system? I'm running a lot of lighting and a large stereo etc, spit charge would be cheaper I guess:nenau

I am totally confused as to why you are asking this question:nenau

In your profile, you say you are an Auto Electrician, surely this means that you understand the requirements of load vs battery capacity and discharge times thus giving the required amp hour rating. Or am I misunderstanding the role of an "Auto electrician".

In my opinion, as an "Auto Electrician" you should be the one advising us.:nenau
Well, when I say us, I don't mean me or others that understand the calculations.

Do the maths, it's easy for you to work this out.
What qualifications or education do people have, to be called an Auto electrician?
When fitting spot lights, do they calculate the cable size, vs the load and the voltage drop per metre based on the resistance of the wire?
Thus giving the voltage drop of the cable thus giving a lower light output.
Or do they just put in a bit of 10 amp rated wire and wonder why the lights aren't that bright after all.

If I followed that plan on my boat with long cable runs, I would really have voltage drop issues.

In a car once you start using big amplifiers, then cable size becomes more important, not only that but multi strand cable will perform better on this type of application. Voltage drop at connections will vary on loads. This is one of the main reasons that Gold plated connections are used. There is also an issue with high frequency interference feeding back from the amplifier into the wiring of the vehicle due to the resistance of the wiring and connections. This is why large low impedance capacitors of more than 1 farad are used, together with filtering as the large short duration currents cannot be delivered by a battery alone.

So in answer to your question, if you are using the large powered stereo whilst parked up, ie not charging, then you would need a large separate battery to power the stereo and leave the main battery as a starter battery.

You will also require a suitable charging method for the second battery once the engine is running. A split charge relay should be able to do this, but bear in mind that if the second battery is well discharged, then as soon as the split charger cuts in, you could be dealing with charge currents of 50 amps going into the battery, so the wiring and fusing has to allow for this, unless you have some current limiting electronics to keep the charge to less than say 20 amps.
It is also important to understand your battery technology, some so called "Leisure batteries" don't like being charged at high currents, so consider this too.


hope it helps,

best regards,

Rustic

 

[makeitfit]

and there's me being nice and not pulling his leg about the "Auto Electrician " bit :lol

 

[spiderpig37]

and there's me being nice and not pulling his leg about the "Auto Electrician " bit :lol

Me too
But hey give the kid a break
Hes still getting over the starter motor

 

[AD Ent]

I asked the battery man about Varta's because they are good and shiny, easily pleased you see. The Numax was black. He said the only difference between these batteries are the Varta's are made with new shiny silver/blue plastic cases and the Numax are made from recycled plastics. Thats it. Insides are the same. Made in the same factory, he did say who but I forget now. Go figure. But this is a leisure battery I said. He just shrugged and said, look it's cheaper, upto you. 100ah 750ccc.
So I gave him 65 notes. Jobs a good un

 

[96terrano]

I am totally confused as to why you are asking this question:nenau

In your profile, you say you are an Auto Electrician, surely this means that you understand the requirements of load vs battery capacity and discharge times thus giving the required amp hour rating. Or am I misunderstanding the role of an "Auto electrician".

In my opinion, as an "Auto Electrician" you should be the one advising us.:nenau

did i say 'professional'??? don't think i did, i'm still learning so that's why i ask questions and don't expect to be slagged off by people in the process....I've got more knowledge then some people and less than others, but can still earn money from my current knowledge hence the reason i class it as a occupation, in my books, you're never too old to learn something new....

 

[96terrano]

Me too
But hey give the kid a break
Hes still getting over the starter motor

Yawn, getting a bit old now..

 

[rustic]

did i say 'professional'??? don't think i did, i'm still learning so that's why i ask questions and don't expect to be slagged off by people in the process....I've got more knowledge then some people and less than others, but can still earn money from my current knowledge hence the reason i class it as a occupation, in my books, you're never too old to learn something new....

If every profession had to say professional in front of their title to say what they really do then I totally disagree.
You are a trainee Auto electrician, I have no problem with that.:thumbs

Now if I put Professional in front of my job title...

"Professional Customs and Excise officer specialising in tax avoidance" then you might think that was a bit of a mouth full. So that's the first reason that I don't usually quote my job title.
The second reason is... I'll tell you later:lol

By the way, do you declare your cash payments on your tax return? :nenau


What's black and shrivelled and hangs down from the bonnet of a Terrano?




A trainee Auto Electrician..:lol:lol




Ryan, I'm only joking mate, if you can make a bob or two from your knowledge, then good luck to you.
I actually admire you for making an effort to get some work, times are hard, and a lot of youngsters are getting bad press at the moment.
You are clearly not one of them.
take care,
best regards,

Richard (Rustic).:thumbs:thumbs

Oh and the second reason for not quoting that as my job title is...
That's not what I do, so apologies to all you guys who have just had a mini heart attack..:doh :lol:lol:lol

 

[spiderpig37]

I say three cheers for mr tax man
A cheque landed on my mat for 1500 quid this morning paid too much tax on company car fuel allowence

 

[makeitfit]

I nearly blocked RUSTIC there for a moment, I've taken a chill pill now , stashed the cash in a secret place and currently deleting all posts regarding cash income
Phew, that was a near thing, I hate the VAT and all that goes with it

 

[rustic]

I nearly blocked RUSTIC there for a moment, I've taken a chill pill now , stashed the cash in a secret place and currently deleting all posts regarding cash income
Phew, that was a near thing, I hate the VAT and all that goes with it

That's why I had to complete the post in one session...


Anyhow regarding Batteries, I want a couple of new 85/86Ah so called leisure batteries or there abouts for the boat. The pair of batteries will meet our needs without exceeding 50% discharge. I have worked that out.

I have seen Lucas, Numax and Alphaline, ( which are about 2 for £100 on ebay).

So are the Alphaline ones any good? They are cheap... but you get what you pay for.

The Lucas claim Deep discharge to 50% I want to start a 15 hp outboard engine, so CCA doesn't need to be that great, most are over 500 A anyway.
Are the Numax And Lucas one of the same.

Most claim 250-500 deep discharge cycles, but I take that with a pinch of salt:doh

I am looking for a minimum life of 5 years, but of course the batteries will deteriorate year on year.

Any advice on manufacturer greatly appreciated, given the price guide above.

I could go to a larger frame size, but weight then becomes an issue, what you can easily carry in one hand.

best regards, Rustic

 

[makeitfit]

My battery record is not good but I have numax on my truck and my rib and on the yacht. The later is a tiddler at 500 a/h and just does cabin lights and small elec winch for the keel. It's ignored, abused and used the max then ignored again. It's been like that for 5 years with the odd charge at the start of the season and that's it. My rib one is a 750 a/h one and does start the 55 four stroke outboard in a flash.