Running a laptop without electricity?

[millso]

Any advice on the battery guys as I ideally wanted to order one today

 

[Canalsman]

Our current leisure battery has had it so we're looking for a replacement and are considering this 120ah Caravan Batteries, Boat Batteries & Leisure Batteries - Ultra Plus 12v Sealed 120ah Leisure Battery

Hi

I would suggest looking at the Elecsol branded batteries ... the link you give worries me a bit because it says they're also suitable for engine starting! That isn't usually the case with leisure batteries, and many so called leisure batteries are rebadged starter batteries.

Are you certain the battery you've got has had it? Take a look here for advice http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

PS Ebay is a reasonable place to buy Elecsol batteries.

 

[millso]

Hi

I would suggest looking at the Elecsol branded batteries ... the link you give worries me a bit because it says they're also suitable for engine starting! That isn't usually the case with leisure batteries, and many so called leisure batteries are rebadged starter batteries.

Are you certain the battery you've got has had it? Take a look here for advice The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

PS Ebay is a reasonable place to buy Elecsol batteries.

I'm pretty sure its had it... After being fully charged, its a going down by about 1v an hour when tested without being connected to anything. Its also a maintenance free one so no topping up.

I had a flick through that site, some good stuff

 

[millso]

Has anyone got experience of these?

Flexible Solar Panel Pv 120 watt Grid tied Batterys MCS on eBay (end time 01-Apr-11 22:58:20 BST)

 

[seesa]

When on mains electric hook up check the Amps rating of the hook up supply. It will vary from site to site, some will be as low as 4A, on others you may get 16A.

Next check the power needed to run your appliances, this will be marked on the appliance in kW.

Roughly speaking you need a 4A mains hook up supply to power a 1kW appliance, 8A for a 2kW appliance, etc.

Regarding fan heaters, get one with adjustable heat settings, say 1kW and 2kW, you can do the same with hair dryers, we have a small one with 2 heat settings, 0.6kW and 1.2kW. That way you can use an appropriate setting to suit the supply you have.

If you try to take too much power from the hook up supply all that will happen is that the circuit breaker on the hook up supply will trip and cut off the power to your van. Often you can reset this yourself at the hook up post, however sometimes the circuit breaker is locked away and you have to call the site warden to reset it for you. This won't make you too popular with him if it's the evening and he's off duty!

AndyC

Thank you Andy
thats helped a lot - as usual I'd got wrong end of the stick but now I'm much clearer what's what
Cheers!
Lisa

 

[seesa]

if your on a 240v hook up you can run what ever the contact breaker will allow depending on what the site set it at ,some electric kettles and fires ect will trip it out

what these guys are talking about is wildcamping with no hook up

Oops sorry Arthur!
Didn't read post properly and got into minor panic
Lisa

 

[Firefox]

Hi

I would suggest looking at the Elecsol branded batteries ... the link you give worries me a bit because it says they're also suitable for engine starting! That isn't usually the case with leisure batteries, and many so called leisure batteries are rebadged starter batteries.

Are you certain the battery you've got has had it? Take a look here for advice The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

PS Ebay is a reasonable place to buy Elecsol batteries.

Check out the Elecsol site. I think it says somewhere they can also be used for starting Elecsol are very good at marketing and hype, but when it comes to customer service, they are not so good. I've got doubts if their batteries are any better than ordinary lead acid. They do come in a nice case though!

However, I've used two 110Ah Elecsols for 18 months with no problems. I don't put them under big load though, I'm on hook up 70% of the time.

 

[Canalsman]

... I've got doubts if their batteries are any better than ordinary lead acid. They do come in a nice case though!

However, I've used two 110Ah Elecsols for 18 months with no problems. I don't put them under big load though, I'm on hook up 70% of the time.

They did very well in a recent MMM article and test of leisure batteries ...

 

[Firefox]

Have you tried their customer service?! Some of the rudest in the business espec on the phone.

Elecsol is basically a one person operation as far as I can make out. He buys them in, brands them, and farms them out.

I'm not sure what test MMM did but the acid test is long term use over 5+ years. What I find with a lot of the MMM reviews is that they are more like advertisement features. The manufacturers supply them with stuff to review for free and it ends up being either good, very good, or excellent!!

Having said that, I do actually have Elecsol batteries and they perform OK under not very testing conditions. I had low electrolyte (clear dot) in one of mine from new. He advertises 24/7 365 day office hours and phone numbers so I took him up on it and phoned at 9pm one evening. Basically got told to get lost, and phone at a reasonable time.

OK... so I sent him an email, and got the reply to ignore the level indicator, not even confirming or denying low electrolyte. Having read up on other forums, I also notice problems with getting customer service and sometimes getting guarantees honoured.

 

[Canalsman]

I'm not sure what test MMM did but the acid test is long term use over 5+ years. What I find with a lot of the MMM reviews is that they are more like advertisement features. The manufacturers supply them with stuff to review for free and it ends up being either good, very good, or excellent!!

Ah well, let me explain ...

There was a several page article about leisure battery types - and MMM cut open examples of batteries which I believe they'd purchased, many of which were rebadged starter batteries.

Of the ones that were of a proper leisure battery, deep discharge, design, the Elecsol was by far the best constructed.

After this examination, they took other samples and rigorously bench tested them using sophisticated computer controlled gear.

The Elecsol 110Ah battery was the best performer, and exceeded its rating, giving 120Ah as I recall.

I'll grant you that no comment was made about the after sales support, but that wasn't the point of the article.