Leisure battery ~ how long will it stay charged and how do I test it?

Elfit

Guest
Hi Folks.
I have a couple of questions about my leisure battery. 110amp

I top it up using a split charge relay and give it a full charge before I go away using the car charger.

I've been told that it's best not to discharge the battery too much ~ not more than 80%
How do I test for that? I have a multi meter and can find my way around measuring voltages

My second question is how do I calculate how long I can use a battery before recharging?
The most simple calculation will be for a stand alone lighting system I'm using.
I have 3 5m strips of 5050 (300)LEDs I'm told that they have a wattage of 72w per strip ( 0.24 watts/led)
Assuming the battery is fully charged at the start how many hours can I have the lights on for?

Many thanks
Tim
 
See: Battery voltage and state of charge - Energy Matters

Generally I don't discharge below 50% and get voltage up again ASAP

Your 72w per strip = 6A current, so if you have a continuous loop that is lighting your van then it's 6AH used, if you had all three on (apart from being like a light house) you would use 3x6A /Hour = 18 AH so if your 110 AH batt can go to 50% you get 55AH useable, lights full on =55/18 = 3 Hrs

I would cut into short lengths and only illuminate what you need they are usually cut in multiples of 3 so each strip of 3 = 3/4 watts or 0.0625A
 
To check battery voltage I use one of these.
12V Car Voltage Monitor Battery Alarm Temperature Thermometer Clock display | eBay
Cheap and cheerful and accurate enough for my needs.
Fully charged battery is about 12.7v. I try not to go below 12.2v with no load on the battery. I cut the plug off and wired it in to my distribution box so its always on.
As Pete says they are quite bright. I only need a 6 ft strip in my 11ft x6ft habitation area. Does my sitting and kitchen area great at 12w per metre.
 
Hey Tim

I cannot answer your question here but have a few spare wafer type LED two pin "bulbs" if you want to play with them to see if they can illuminate your van sufficiently... They are the soft white type. I have some fittings that you could have and modify too if they would be of interest... I take it these would be for the van and not the Tiv

K :D:D:D
 
I also have a 5m long 300 led strip, with dimmer, running along our cupboard tops, from the seating area, behind the front cab, past the bathroom and just into our fixed bed area at the back, directed across the van, and we have found it to be too bright (hence the dimmer). However, we have a solar panel fitted to two 115Ah batteries and the leds don't seem to use any lecky.

How big is your van to need three 5m led lights?
 
You should be able to properly light your van using about 12W (1A) worth of LEDS.
 
Hi all

The lights are for a market stall that we have at music festivals ~ as you say the van would be incandescent were they all inside and turned on.

They performed well last weekend and the battery hasn't lost hardly any charge.

Hi Kev! :wave:

It's been great weather for Tiv's, but you didn't want to hear that! Hope all's well
 
Elfit said:
Hi Kev! :wave:

It's been great weather for Tiv's, but you didn't want to hear that! Hope all's well
Click to expand...

I do miss my Tiv and particularly in this weather...:cry: you'll have to update me with your van developments... Its been a while...

K ;)
 
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