Leisure Batteries - biggest and strongest?

alan1406
alan1406 Forum Participant Posts: 75
edited January 2020 in Caravans #1

We need a new leisure battery for our double axle 2019 Crusader Zephyr. It has an AWD mover by Powrtouch and the existing battery can’t really handle it

Any recommendations for a top capacity top performing leisure battery suitable for a big outfit?  Thanks in advance

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited January 2020 #2
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • Hakinbush
    Hakinbush Forum Participant Posts: 286
    edited January 2020 #3

    Ive just changed my Excide 115 amp marine battery which lasted five and a half years and still going strong but didnt fit the new van, so down sized to a 95 amp excide from Tanya batteries.. 

     

  • lornalou1
    lornalou1 Forum Participant Posts: 2,169
    1000 Comments
    edited January 2020 #4

    what size is the battery that you have at the moment?

  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
    1000 Comments
    edited January 2020 #5

    The choice really should reflect what is wanted from the battery, that primarily comes down to, do you need it for caravanning off an EHU or not? If that is a requirement it drives cost in both the technology and capacity needed.

    On the other hand the ability to power a mover is actually a very modest ask from a battery. Its size has little bearing on doing that duty; put blutly amost anything in good health can do that, though conversley a sick battery readily fails to do so. Any battery targeted at the motor vehicle or boat "starter duty" will puch out the amps to power movers, and if promptly recharged via an EHU will do so for a long life. Being on an EHU, it is never going to be asked to yield much of its capacity, a feature it would suffer from doing.

    If the application requires significant off EHU use then things change and the ability to suffer deeper levels of capacity drain, and having inherently lots of capacity, become important, though now with solar to recharge even those features have eased somewhat. Batteries excellent at that duty can power movers.

    My money goes on brands that actually manufacture, not re labelled brands, so I go for Varta, Banner, Exide and Yuasa, and leave the rest for other buyers.

  • Hakinbush
    Hakinbush Forum Participant Posts: 286
    edited January 2020 #6

    The new 95 amp fits if a bit snug in the standard swift battery box using the the tray, where as the 115 I had to take the tray out to get it in, I suppose there must be about an inch or just under difference in height, if you go on the Tanya site they give you the exact sizes of battery that your interested in, they do seem quite helpful and the delivery is very good...

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,810
    1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited January 2020 #7

    Another vote for Tanya, I’m sure they’ll point you in the right direction.

  • alan1406
    alan1406 Forum Participant Posts: 75
    edited January 2020 #8

    Thanks all. My present battery is a 110aH Numax. It's been in the van at storage and powers the alarm.  Our mover failed to work when we took it for a service.  The Powrtouch engineer I spoke to on the phone asked me to look at the van voltage readout when the mover was in use - it went down to 10v and lower.  He said this was the problem - the mover relies upon a good level of capacity in the battery and this wasn't the case with ours.

     

    I'm thinking if we got a new one we could always keep the old one as a spare, perhaps to power the alarm etc when in storage - then I could keep the one we would use for touring on my trickle charger so it was full when we needed it.

  • alan1406
    alan1406 Forum Participant Posts: 75
    edited January 2020 #9

    Having been up to the storage site today and measured the space on our Crusader Zephyr for the battery, it would appear that a couple of decent batteries I was looking at simply won't fit.  Don't want to order the wrong size, so I'll follow the recommendations above and give Tayna a call this week

  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
    1000 Comments
    edited January 2020 #10

    "I'm thinking if we got a new one we could always keep the old one as a spare, perhaps to power the alarm etc when in storage - then I could keep the one we would use for touring on my trickle charger so it was full when we needed it."

    The old one from how you said it dropped the volts driving the mover is IMO shot.

    One way they age is the actual capacity it is capable of holding drops and drops. So whilst you can fully charge it the quanity you get in, and can get out, is a small fraction of what it once was. 

    It now is best used as a door stop, not a battery.

  • Amesford
    Amesford Club Member Posts: 685 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2020 #11
  • Rufs
    Rufs Club Member Posts: 4,072 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited January 2020 #12

    The Powrtouch engineer I spoke to on the phone asked me to look at the van voltage readout when the mover was in use - it went down to 10v and lower. He said this was the problem - the mover relies upon a good level of capacity in the battery and this wasn't the case with ours.

    I only have a single mover but it does say in the user manual that the mover will cease to work at below 11.5v, and when this happens there is i think a red light? that flashes on the front panel of the mover.