Charging leisure battery.

[fofeg101]

The absence of mains hook-up, a solar panel or a generator results in the leisure battery having to be charged via the engine, I guess it's a "How long is a piece of string" question but what average length of time per day would the engine have to run to keep the leisure battery topped up? My van has powered sink taps and shower, Fridge, space heater, the space heater would be used sparingly, if at all.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

The string is actually quite long but it does depend on the alternator setup and type of battery you have - and of course how big the battery is and how flat it is.

AGM batteries have very high charge acceptance rates and can actually damage some alternators not rated for maximum continuous output, while GEL batteries need a very long topping up period to get them to 100%.

If you have the usual substandard wiring, you might be lucky to get a maximum of 20 amps tapering quickly to 10 amps after half an hour so if your 100Ah battery is half charged, two hours of driving might just about put 35Ah back in - so that leaves you quite short of fully charged. Next day, your battery will be down to 35% charged so the two hours driving will get it back to 70% charged. Next day etc etc etc.

If you were to get an expensive DC to DC charger or modified alternator and regulator that will put out a genuine 40 amps, then provided your alternator can handle it, an hour and a half driving will get it to as close to 100% as makes no difference.

Generally the advice will be that charging from a standard alternator will be lucky to get most batteries past 75% charged with any practical driving time and the end result of never using a quality mains charger is a dead flat battery and a very short life.

It isn't all doom and gloom though because a quality 7 amp charger - proper three-stage operation - doesn't cost the earth and provided you hook up to mains every few days and charge it up overnight, you should be able to carry on indefinitely even if you don't drive every day. Depends on you daily usage though. Heavy users and short distance drivers will require hookup at least one night in three

BTW Doubling up on battery capacity may get you a few nights longer on the first outing but once they get flat, you still have to have some way of recharging them and often the alternator just can't provide much more (safely) than a few miserable Amp-hours in a couple of hours.

One critical bit of information we need from you is just what sort of RVing lifestyle you are considering. Weekend warrior, 4-week vacation once a year or full timing.

 

[fofeg101]

Thanks Tony Lee, We're not sure how much use we will put the van to, we hope to make regular one week trips, mainly to visit parts of the country we've never been to before, not necessarily Rural parts, Cities too, so it will be away for a week back here for a few days...mow the lawn, etc., then off again. O.T.: How far we will get with those plans remains to be seen, I've been driving an Automatic VW Sharan for some years and the transition back to a manual box isn't going well. I'll persevere for a couple more weeks and if I'm still finding it hard work I'll have to sell it and look for an Automatic Camper, I'd be very disappointed, after all of the rubber we burned for 18 months to find a good'un, but there may be no other option. I thought a couple of days would get me back into it but I've got lazy...I admit it.

 

[vwalan]

hi, if you have trouble with the gears is it the clutch that causesyou a problem. i have a click n go clutch on one of my units . supplied by vehac, i think in kent i believe. it allows you to have a kind of auto clutch system. i had mine fitted by a disabled unit in our local hospital. cost of cause. i find the hydrolic clutch on the mitzy much easier than the cable control on my vw,lt. so at the moment manage with out it. these units can fit most manual cars vans or trucks .work a treat .just click a switch on the gear shift when changing gear. sometimes its controled just by the drop in revs . takes a bit of getting used to but saved me using my left leg for awhile. cheers alan.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

O.T.: How far we will get with those plans remains to be seen, I've been driving an Automatic VW Sharan for some years and the transition back to a manual box isn't going well. I'll persevere for a couple more weeks and if I'm still finding it hard work I'll have to sell it and look for an Automatic Camper, I'd be very disappointed, after all of the rubber we burned for 18 months to find a good'un, but there may be no other option. I thought a couple of days would get me back into it but I've got lazy...I admit it.

I'll get Betty to give you some pointers. After a lifetime of mostly automatic cars, she did her heavy truck license test in this beast. 16 tons, 4-speed crash box and a turning circle just less than the Queen Mary's

 

[fofeg101]

Thanks Alan, I'll take a look at those clutches.

 

[vwalan]

last info i have is vehvac tel..01732 868080..info@vehvac.com or 0845 3458005.
auto clutch they are calling it now. they were at edenbridge kent.

 

[fofeg101]

Thanks VWalan, I'll try to arrange to go down and have a test drive, £1300 would be cheap compared with what I'd lose if I had to sell my van. Thanks for the info.