Best type of leisure battery?

[mariesnowgoose]

Here's a pic of the mounting plate.

Unless there's some way of easily altering the position of the bolts then looks like the battery length is restricted to 255mm

Not really a height restriction as more than enough headroom for a taller battery and could go wider on the plate up to 216mm if that's any use...?

PS. apologies for the muck! I need to give underneath the benches a proper good clean at some stage

 

[alcam]

Phew!

Went to bed tonight and a short while ago became aware of this unusual, very, very faint and muffled, intermittent beeping.
Started to try and track the sound down. Checked all the house alarms, smoke alarms, clocks, phones, kitchen timers, you name it.... no joy.

Finally realised it was coming from outside the house and eventually I tracked it down to the camper.
Dragged a reluctant Neil away from the football(!!) and opened the hab door to an overpowering smell of rotten eggs and a (now pretty loud!) carbon monoxide/gas alarm.

Turns out it was from the duff leisure battery which Neil has had on charge (unbeknownst to me!) for gawd knows how many days since I got back from Harrogate a week Saturday. It was red hot!!!

Neil had now disconnected it and removed it from the van entirely.
He went straight back to the football - as all you folk who are obsessed with such things do - while I recovered from the shock of what could have been a close shave....?

I'm pretty ignorant on the subject of batteries generally, so I googled "rotten egg smell" and "batteries" straight away:-

"When a battery is overcharged, it can cause gases that escape, and the sulfur in the battery emits a rotten egg smell. An overcharged battery is not only smelly but can also be dangerous due to the risk of leaking acid, not to mention the risk of explosion from hydrogen gas."

One positive is that at least we know the gas detector in the van works effectively!

A second positive is that I actually heard the alarm and possibly avoided a nasty outcome...?

A third positive is that now this duff battery is definitely fried he can't object to me replacing it !

Bang out of order ! Nowhere have you explained why Neil had to stop watching the game

 

[barryd]

Here's a pic of the mounting plate.

Unless there's some way of easily altering the position of the bolts then looks like the battery length is restricted to 255mm

Not really a height restriction as more than enough headroom for a taller battery and could go wider on the plate up to 216mm if that's any use...?

View attachment 130991

PS. apologies for the muck! I need to give underneath the benches a proper good clean at some stage

That mounting plate is going to be the restricting factor. If you look at that link I posted on the left hand side you can filter by size. A few more powerful options if you can stretch to 260mm length.

However if you look at your original pic there is a fair bit of space either side of the battery. If you can remove the mounting plate and just maybe make one of your own with some wood surrounds to keep it in place you might have more options. Mine is just in like a kind of wooden frame, its not clamped in. Never has been in 16 years of use. Its not going anywhere.

 

[trevskoda]

Apparently Neil said he'd plugged the van into EHU a couple of days ago and that was how the battery was charging?

Most vans have a charger/power unit from the stone age, dont use it again.

 

[NeilyG]

Leisure Battery Numax CXV24 Battery 12v Dual Purpose 80ah - 85ah size | eBay

Our batteries range from 2, 3, 4 and 5 year. Our Tech team will diagnose the fault over the phone and will assist you. Battery Specification is as follows. Camper Vans, Marine, Solar, and many more leisure applications.

www.ebay.co.uk

This will probably be perfect - just the lugs needed on either end that I can’t seem to find.
Do you think we could just glue something on either end? Bits of wood or other…

 

[trevskoda]

Try and see if a 100ah lead carbon will go in & forget the old ones from the stone age.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

That mounting plate is going to be the restricting factor. If you look at that link I posted on the left hand side you can filter by size. A few more powerful options if you can stretch to 260mm length.

However if you look at your original pic there is a fair bit of space either side of the battery. If you can remove the mounting plate and just maybe make one of your own with some wood surrounds to keep it in place you might have more options. Mine is just in like a kind of wooden frame, its not clamped in. Never has been in 16 years of use. Its not going anywhere.

Neil thinks removing or replacing the mounting plate will not be easy, thinks you might have to get under the van to get it unbolted?

As an aside, I'm pondering the possibility of fitting a diesel heater somewhere instead of using the Truma gas heater.
That might allow a bit of flexibility with the blow heating pipework - or not? I've honestly no idea ...

 

[trevskoda]

Neil thinks removing or replacing the mounting plate will not be easy, thinks you might have to get under the van to get it unbolted?

As an aside, I'm pondering the possibility of fitting a diesel heater somewhere instead of using the Truma gas heater.
That might allow a bit of flexibility with the blow heating pipework - or not? I've honestly no idea ...

Leave well enuff alone and sort the battery mount.

 

[barryd]

Neil thinks removing or replacing the mounting plate will not be easy, thinks you might have to get under the van to get it unbolted?

As an aside, I'm pondering the possibility of fitting a diesel heater somewhere instead of using the Truma gas heater.
That might allow a bit of flexibility with the blow heating pipework - or not? I've honestly no idea ...

Thats a shame. Just looks like half a dozen small screws in the photo. If those clamping lugs come off maybe you could just whack a bigger one on top and wedge it in with a wooden frame.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

You are going to struggle to get anything larger than an 85 in at that size. It did look to me like there was possibly a bit more space though if you could change the mounting plate.

Alphas site lists all the measurements below each battery.

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/leisure-batteries/

This is the only one on the Alpha site out of a choice of 3 which might fit the existing, it's 3 mm longer at 258mm

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/12v-85ah-leoch-adventurer-dual-terminal-leisure-battery-sfl85dt/

Most vans have a charger/power unit from the stone age, dont use it again.

???

It's a standard and fairly new EHU cable, so I don't understand.

Are you saying that the fault is with the original 12 electrical setup linking to the battery inside the van?
It's worked well enough for the last 20 years without any problems until now

 

[trevskoda]

This is the only one out of a choice of 3 which might fit the existing, it's 3 mm longer at


???

It's a standard and fairly new EHU cable, so I don't understand.

Are you saying that the fault is with the original 12 electrical setup linking to the battery inside the van?
It's worked well enough for the last 20 years without any problems until now

Modern chargers go through a full charge then shut down to a float and after a few days do a condition charge, what you have is a old full welly charger which boils batteries dry if left on more than a few hrs, bypass it with a float charger.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Thats a shame. Just looks like half a dozen small screws in the photo. If those clamping lugs come off maybe you could just whack a bigger one on top and wedge it in with a wooden frame.

That sounds like a reasonable solution, Barry.

I haven't had a go with taking any of it apart yet and Neil is already bored with it and off doing other things.
Will probably just leave it until I get up to David's and see what he can suggest?

I can live in the van without the leisure battery for a couple of days anyway

 

[wildebus]

Given the age of the Camper and that it is an Autosleeper, the chances are it will be using a Sargent Electrics setup with a mains 'charger' that is in reality a Power Supply that puts out a constant 13.8V. Not quite high enough to properly charge a Leisure Battery and not quite low enough to leave on for extended periods.
Can double-check this later Simple enough to update if required.

 

[barryd]

That sounds like a reasonable solution, Barry.

I haven't had a go with taking any of it apart yet and Neil is already bored with it and off doing other things.
Will probably just leave it until I get up to David's and see what he can suggest?

I can live in the van without the leisure battery for a couple of days anyway

If you have any wriggle room of a few mm there are some better more powerful choices at 260mm

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/leisure-batteries/?filter_ab_length=77-260

 

[guerdeval]

That sounds like a reasonable solution, Barry.

I haven't had a go with taking any of it apart yet and Neil is already bored with it and off doing other things.
Will probably just leave it until I get up to David's and see what he can suggest?

I can live in the van without the leisure battery for a couple of days anyway

That sounds like a reasonable solution, Barry.

I haven't had a go with taking any of it apart yet and Neil is already bored with it and off doing other things.
Will probably just leave it until I get up to David's and see what he can suggest?

I can live in the van without the leisure battery for a couple of days anyway

I know less about batteries than you do but, why bother with mounting plate?, just get a battery box off the shelf, the plate looks screwed in with Philips screws and while I’m coming up with useless suggestions you could have it the other way round (crossways) leaving room for night heater, the battery I have is 340mm so probably not going to be of use (Unless willdebus knows otherwise) Oh, and you’ll have to move those green arrows they’re definitely in the way!!

 

[wildebus]

I know less about batteries than you do but, why bother with mounting plate?, just get a battery box off the shelf, the plate looks screwed in with Philips screws and while I’m coming up with useless suggestions you could have it the other way round (crossways) leaving room for night heater,

Battery boxes take up a lot of room (if you mean a box to physically put a battery in?)
The securing plates are best for securing, but don't provide any 'off-venting' protection. The type fitted is for the batteries with the bottom holding clamp protrusions but will have no use for a battery without those. Interesting aside ... The dimensions quoted for a battery will NOT include those protrusions if present. This can be important it you are like one of my customers a few years ago who made a very strong steel battery enclosure for a specific battery size, bought new batteries and found they didn't fit due to those lumps sticking out!
If a new battery securing system is needed, I have some battery plates/cradles for just that purpose

the battery I have is 340mm so probably not going to be of use (Unless willdebus knows otherwise) Oh, and you’ll have to move those green arrows they’re definitely in the way!!

I don't think it will fit in this box in any way, but ref your batteries, bear in mind that you can lay it on its side without any issues. can be handy where you don't have the height but do have the depth? (Installed a pair of 160Ahs couple of weeks ago and due to the height, they had to go on their sides in the battery locker as it was about 5mm too low).

 

[wildebus]

Here's a pic of the mounting plate.

Unless there's some way of easily altering the position of the bolts then looks like the battery length is restricted to 255mm

Not really a height restriction as more than enough headroom for a taller battery and could go wider on the plate up to 216mm if that's any use...?

View attachment 130991

PS. apologies for the muck! I need to give underneath the benches a proper good clean at some stage

Those bolts can be easily removed or even cut off if need be. The question is what is the length of the physical plate?

 

[wildebus]

Neil thinks removing or replacing the mounting plate will not be easy, thinks you might have to get under the van to get it unbolted?

Looks to me like it is secured down by 6 little phillip-head screws?

As an aside, I'm pondering the possibility of fitting a diesel heater somewhere instead of using the Truma gas heater.
That might allow a bit of flexibility with the blow heating pipework - or not? I've honestly no idea ...

You want to go to this forum - https://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/ as a VW T4 owner. You can find T4 specific information and get T4 specific advice and there is a good friendly community there with people who will have looked at all the options for fitting diesel heaters.
You could also drop Rae (@Ram Jam ) a message? he may be able to give you a few pointers and tips - he fitted a diesel heater in replacement of the Truma in his monocoque Autosleeper camper. His was a different van chassis but the body shell of the camper is near-identical to yours.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Those bolts can be easily removed or even cut off if need be. The question is what is the length of the physical plate?

The length of the physical plate inside the lip (and ignoring the bolts) is 350mm.

 

[wildebus]

The length of the physical plate inside the lip (and ignoring the bolts) is 350mm.

I thought it might be
The world is your lobster when it comes to battery size then. Any Group 19 (G19) battery will fit so you can get upto around a 120Ah there.
What height have you from plate base to still being able to close the compartment?