Leisure Battery Problem?

caspar

Guest
Thanks to all who are helping me resolve my issues with the 'new' motorhome.

The next one I've found is the Leisure Battery. This is situated in the outside locker with the electrical hook up point (It's a Talbot Express 1500P Elddis Marquis Mayfair SE). The battery compartment is very tight, so the only way to install two would be to place them on top of each other. Would this be safe? I'm guessing probably not, but don't know.

If not, can anyone think of a solution other than getting the biggest Leisure Battery that will fit the available area?

Thanks again!
 
I agree, reduce your requirement first, LED lighting, 12v TV are the main starters, then a solar panel.

Make your existing system as efficient as you can. good earths on the battery really helps.

It all depends on what you plan on doing. If it's just weekends in the winter and a few days away in summer, prob all you'll need is a solar panel, it's when you go away for extended periods of time "off grid" or you have a particular power requirement do you need to start increasing battery power. Suck it and see first!!
 
To be honest, we have a generator at present, but ideally would like to move to solar panels so we can be pretty much entirely self sufficient. For example, I'm going away on Wednesday in it for one week. I'm not sure yet what ampage the L.Battery is, but I'll have a look. I suspect it will be one of the lower ampage ones.

The only lights fitted are fluorescent tube ones. I'm not sure how easy it is to install lights for led lighting (and mood!) as I've not done it before. I'm sure you can take a fused spur off the fluorscent ones, but I've no idea how you'd hide the wire without it becoming unsightly. We had LED lights in our last one and they were brilliant, but they were already installed. LED fluorescent doesn't appeal as they create little mood, but I believe fluorescent is fairly economical anyway, so again, probably try it this time and see.

The other thing I'm unsure about is 12 volt TV. We have one brown socket (normal three pin) - is this 12 V or mains? Obviously if we start watching TV from it, I guess it will be quite a big draw on the battery.

It is all confusing me at present. lol Part of the fun of buying a van completely different to anything I've had before.
 
With regards to the lighting being to harsh from led lights ( I agree with you ,great for lighting but not good for mood lighting ) I saw a fella once who put a bit of coloured plastic film ( if memory serves it was nothing more than than something he cut from a carrier bag ) between the lights & the cover for the lights. it worked a treat too !!!

Now not 100% sure this is a god idea but he has had this set up working for a while with no problems , I guess the heat from led lights is nowhere near that from tradititional lights.
 
Leisure Battery

Hi Casper,

With regard to the socket, if its a standard three square pin socket, chances are its mains voltage. Easiest way to check it is to hook up to mains and plug a mains voltage appliance in to it.

Re leisure battery life, you could always start the van up each day to charge your leisure battery ! I have just come out of a twenty year old Talbot Express with a Compass Drifter coach built on the back. This had a Zig unit which charged both batteries when attached to mains and allowed the vehicle battery to be used in an emergency to take over from the leisure battery. Leisure was a 90 amp and we never had a problem with it and we spent almost every weekend for eight months wilding, it also had original twenty year old lighting etc, but I did use a low power TV.

Abarhs
 
It is very likely that your leisure battery is 85 or 90 amp/hour. What you can do is measure the depth and width of the battery compartment and then do a search for batteries. Most websites give the physical dimensions of each battery and you might find a bigger one that fits. I did this with my Elddis and found that a 110 Ah Elecsol battery would fit.

Definitely go for LED lights. My advice is to just buy one soft white and one bright white and see what you think, The softer white is very similar to a halogen bulb. We much prefer the brighter white lights and I am pleased somebody advised me to try them both before buying more of them.
 
caspar said:
Are you talking fluorescent LED tubes or fitting new lights?
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It is possible to alter fluorescent fittings to LED strips. If you do a search on here, there should be some posts about how to do it. if not, a google will give you the info you need.

Another handy tip. Keep an eye out for cheap stand alone (battery powered) LED lights from Aldi and Lidl etc. We carry a few in case of emergency. We have not needed them ourselves but have loaned them out to others with battery problems. I also have 2 fitted in cupboards for extra lighting in dark corners.

If you hurry down to Aldi now, they have 24 LED worklights at £4.99. We have been using 2 as torches for a while and I bought another 2 the other day because they are so good. They are also selling Panasonic AA batteries cheap to go with the worklights.
 
maingate said:
It is possible to alter fluorescent fittings to LED strips. If you do a search on here, there should be some posts about how to do it. if not, a google will give you the info you need.

Another handy tip. Keep an eye out for cheap stand alone (battery powered) LED lights from Aldi and Lidl etc. We carry a few in case of emergency. We have not needed them ourselves but have loaned them out to others with battery problems. I also have 2 fitted in cupboards for extra lighting in dark corners.

If you hurry down to Aldi now, they have 24 LED worklights at £4.99. We have been using 2 as torches for a while and I bought another 2 the other day because they are so good. They are also selling Panasonic AA batteries cheap to go with the worklights.
Click to expand...

Just nipped to Aldi and got 2 of the worklights, your right Jim, they are very bright, i was about to buy a torch, so thanks for that tip, and they come with batteries, can't go wrong for that price
 
At Shepton Show recently on sale were rolls of LED lights,12volt you could fit strips of whatever length you desired anywhere as they were sticky backed, the roll could be cut every three LEDs as required.the threads of lights were flat so easily hidden away, in conversation with the seller I was told that these lights were really intended for domestic kitchens but as he had ,had so many enquiries from Caravan and Motorhome people he had decided to try the show and was doing really well, it has long been possible to buy lengths of LEDs but not the complete rolls he was selling, he would also sell you a short length if you wanted it but it seemed to be more economical to buy a roll, the LEDs also came multi coloured with a remote control if that is your bag, he also had all sorts of connections to make any fixture viable. I do not agree that LEDs give too harsh a light as warm white bulbs are available too.
 
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maingate said:
It is very likely that your leisure battery is 85 or 90 amp/hour. What you can do is measure the depth and width of the battery compartment and then do a search for batteries. Most websites give the physical dimensions of each battery and you might find a bigger one that fits. I did this with my Elddis and found that a 110 Ah Elecsol battery would fit.

Definitely go for LED lights. My advice is to just buy one soft white and one bright white and see what you think, The softer white is very similar to a halogen bulb. We much prefer the brighter white lights and I am pleased somebody advised me to try them both before buying more of them.
Click to expand...





Hi there,

The terms they use are " Warm White " and " Cool White ".

The " Warm White " ones are very easy on the eye.

I`ve changed all the lights to LED in our van and it`s made a huge difference.

I saved a fortune buying mine on Ebay from China.

So long as you know what you want and you don`t mind waiting, some took
as long as 4 weeks to come they are well worth it.

Regards.

Graham.
 
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Keep warm, everytime.

Lots of good info on your leisure battery issue but the biggest issue is heat. I can go for a long, long time before I need power but Ive got to have heat. If your using your battery for powering heat, you need to think again.
 
If your gas heater is blown air you still need 12v to use it.
 
Just bought three of the LED 27 light thingys from Aldi - you didn't make it clear they're BOTH a torch and a lamp type light. Excellent value!
 
caspar said:
Just bought three of the LED 27 light thingys from Aldi - you didn't make it clear they're BOTH a torch and a lamp type light. Excellent value!
Click to expand...

If you register with Aldi and Lidl for their weekly special offers, you will eventually find a range of useful LED lights for the van. We have a circular one which clamps to the pole of a patio umbrella. Ideal when sitting outside on a Summer night (it needs a little mod if you do not have a pole). Also, we have a smaller one which has a 3 position switch for lighting just a few LED's, most of them or all of them. These sort of things come around on a regular basis.

Apart from lights, I have previously bought a battery charger (on offer at Aldi AND Lidl at the moment), last week we got a memory foam mattress topper (single size) for £29.99 and it is a good one. A camera tripod for mounting the Sky dish on and all sorts of useful odds and ends.
 
Back to the original question - YES, you can mount one battery above another PROVIDED you can figure out a way of clamping them firmly in place and provide you can get at them for maintenance and installation - and that may not be easy to do unless you use some very sturdy slideouts.

Here is a very comprehensive topic on modifying Fluoro fittings for LED

Inexpensive Fluorescent to LED Upgrade - iRV2 Forums

But it may not be economical to buy a strip just for one fitting. My Airstream has seven double fluoro fittings so a 5 metre strip of LEDs is just about right for converting all of them to LEDs

Warm White LEDs will probably be just nice to suit most tastes, but if you prefer office-type fluoros then cool white or bright white may be more to your liking.
 
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