What battery 110ah or 130ah

lamman52
lamman52 Forum Participant Posts: 50
edited March 2017 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

I am collecting my caravan end of march.  What battery for my caravan 110ah or 130ah

how do I tell the difference between a car battery and a leisure battery 

i am having a 100watt solar panel fitted 

 

Comments

  • Navigateur
    Navigateur Club Member Posts: 3,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments
    edited March 2017 #2

    Go for the biggest that will fit in the box!

     

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
    1000 Comments
    edited March 2017 #3

    Is  it  a  new  van  lamman52  ??

    If  it  is  take  a  stroll  round  the  dealers  showroom,  check  on  what  batteries  he/she  sells  then  do  a  little  research  on  line.

    Banner  and  Numax  batteries  &  similar  are  not  cheap  but  do  have  a  fine  reputation.

    As  Navigateur  says  of  the  top  ones  go  for  the  biggest  that  will  fit  your  battery  box  &  wallet  !  wink

  • dmiller555
    dmiller555 Forum Participant Posts: 717
    500 Comments
    edited March 2017 #4

    I agree, measure the hole first.

    You need a leisure battery - there's a clue in the name. 

  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
    1000 Comments
    edited March 2017 #5

    The first point that needs sorting before saying go for the biggest battery that you can get in is to determine, "is the van’s payload generous enough to have that option"?

    If your usage pattern does not need a large capacity battery, then IMO it is illogical to take up what is often desperately under provided payload with pointless weigh. Plus not all batteries are created equal and a “quality” leisure battery of “X” Amphrs will be a lot heavier than a poor quality battery similarly labelled.

    You only need a large battery if you need to caravan off EHU, you only need a quality Leisure battery if you also camp regularly off EHU. They are not needed to drive movers unless you have 20 minutes or more up hill struggle to get it into or out of storage; a mover requires a decent amperage, current, not amp hours. I used a 60 Ahr to power my mover on a 1750 kg van, my current 1900 kg van uses a 90 Ahr battery. I rarely use an EHU on site.

     


    The NCC have listed our batteries by class, their “verification scheme”, that is a good starting place.

     

    http://www.thencc.org.uk/Our_Schemes/ncc_verified_leisure_battery_scheme.aspx

    The other valuable advice is to buy from a specialist battery vendor not from a caravan accessory shop that also sells batteries; deal with those knowing what to buy and how to look after their stock.

     


    Online suppliers Tayna and Alpha Batteries are in my experience solid recommendations.

  • Hakinbush
    Hakinbush Forum Participant Posts: 286
    edited March 2017 #6

    If you have a Thetford outside battery box a 110 will fit, but a bit snug, if like a lot of Baileys these days with an inside under the floor type box you need to go with a low profile 110 not sure about the 130.. 

  • volvoman9
    volvoman9 Forum Participant Posts: 1,053
    500 Comments
    edited March 2017 #7

    same here better more capacity than not enough.

    v9

  • obbernockle
    obbernockle Forum Participant Posts: 616
    500 Comments
    edited March 2017 #8

    It depends on what the battery is for. If you don't have a motor mover, and you don't use non electric sites, then you don't need a leisure battery at all. A small 12v car battery will be adequate and you can save  money and weight. Some caravans have no battery, and rely solely for 12VDC on the transformer.

    If you don't use non electric sites but have a motor mover, then a car battery is probably still better because it is designed to perform at high amperage, but not designed for deep discharge.

  • dmiller555
    dmiller555 Forum Participant Posts: 717
    500 Comments
    edited March 2017 #9

    Well now that's confused the situation completely. laughing

  • lamman52
    lamman52 Forum Participant Posts: 50
    edited March 2017 #10

    New van dealer special based on advant 840

    i used to have a monza 1400 30 years ago with foot action water pump so electric is all new

    twin axle with 4 motor movers

    comes with alarm so need power for that

    the dealer has offered  Platinum AGM 100 amp AGMLB6110L A Rated  So I assume this will fit in the box

    have not got as far as sites more of a holiday type change away from long haul flights although we did like CL's when we did it before

    thanks for your replies 

     

  • SteveDSD
    SteveDSD Forum Participant Posts: 36
    edited March 2017 #11

    A 100Ah AGM leisure battery is certainly the right choice.

    There's very little capacity difference between a 100, 110Ah and 130Ah battery anyway. 

    You've said you're having a solar panel fitted, that's a good idea as you have an alarm which would run the battery flat while the caravan was in storage. 

    I'm not sure how much power the movers use, but I don't see that they'd flatten the battery too much before you plug into the mains and start charging the battery again. 

    I hope you have many happy holidays in your new van. 

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