Will 85 amp do?

[Mattylad]

Hello All,

Just ordered myself a Willington leisure battery kit. Fantastic, however, now I am wondering on the size of bettery I need to do what I wanna do with it.

My philosophy is this. When camping on sites I will always get electric hook up which I have a cable for and sockets. However, I wanted a leisure battery just to operate the elec blinds and cab lights while at said site.

If I am stopping somewhere without said elec hook up then I just need it for cig lighter, radio, cab lights and blinds and poss a cool box (but more than likely only to use cool box with elec hook up and my cool box can do both mains and 12v.

Is 85 amps enough? I know loads of people say get bigger etc but do I really need that for what Im running off it, its all down to cost.

Matty

[g8dhe]

Its adequate, and until you have used it a while you will never really know just how much more equipment will get added or how many hours you want things things to run for. A coolbox will knacker most L/B when standing around in a few hours, OK when moving and the load is supplied by the alternator but for wild camping keep it OFF!

[Mattylad]

Thanks G8dhe, I suspected the cool box issue with wild camping but the addition of a few ice packs will sustain it for any wild camping trip.

Tar

[francophile1947]

85A/Hr is all I use - no problems, unless using coolbox

[froghandler]

Hi Mattylad

We found a great coolbox at the boat and motorhome (or whatever it's called) show.

http://www.coolicebox.co.uk

They claim their coolers stay cold for up to 5 or 10 days depending on the model with NO power. The other half was interested in them for overnight river expeditions.

They looked to be extremely sturdy and from memory you can also buy gel packs which I think were medical grade that stay frozen for days at a time.

Glad you posted - it's reminded me to remind the other half to get one

Cheers

[francophile1947]

Hi Mattylad

We found a great coolbox at the boat and motorhome (or whatever it's called) show.

http://www.coolicebox.com

They claim their coolers stay cold for up to 5 or 10 days depending on the model with NO power. The other half was interested in them for overnight river expeditions.

They looked to be extremely sturdy and from memory you can also buy gel packs which I think were medical grade that stay frozen for days at a time.

Glad you posted - it's reminded me to remind the other half to get one

Cheers

Link not working Do you mean http://www.coolicebox.co.uk/

[froghandler]

Yup - I did indeed - spotted it after going to peruse their website - now edited.

They used to use the .com ending as it's on a business card I've dug out.

Admittedly, they're not cheap but if they work as they're intended they're probably not bad for peeps with no hook up.

[helen&tony]

Hi
I've never used anything except cheap coolboxes for nearly 40 years, and never had any problems. Freeze all the food, milk, etc. and bung it in. I usually make myself a chilli and keep that in a pan for the first night, and if you keep the lid on, and don't poke around, keeping things inside the box in the order you'll use them, you'll find that the last bits are just thawed in about 2-3 days...even in heat.
For an overnight stop, and dinner the following night, you'll need freezer blocks, or poly bags of frozen water. It's all about cramming the box with frozen stuff!
For long trips, a gas cooler is the way. Leave it in the awning. I've always done the same in the caravan for frozen stuff!...fridge for ready-use, big ice-box for the rest.
Cheers
Helen

[haydn callow]

You can work the "electric" blinds by hand to save power.,(you won't harm them)

[Mattylad]

Haydn, I have done that once or twice and though,oh am i gonna knack them so that when I use the buttons are they gonna all do different things ha ha ha.

Good to know anyway.

[mikeonb4c]

Hi
I've never used anything except cheap coolboxes for nearly 40 years, and never had any problems. Freeze all the food, milk, etc. and bung it in. I usually make myself a chilli and keep that in a pan for the first night, and if you keep the lid on, and don't poke around, keeping things inside the box in the order you'll use them, you'll find that the last bits are just thawed in about 2-3 days...even in heat.
For an overnight stop, and dinner the following night, you'll need freezer blocks, or poly bags of frozen water. It's all about cramming the box with frozen stuff!
For long trips, a gas cooler is the way. Leave it in the awning. I've always done the same in the caravan for frozen stuff!...fridge for ready-use, big ice-box for the rest.
Cheers
Helen

Good advice & I've found the same, more or less.

[Jaws]

Is 85 amps enough? I know loads of people say get bigger etc but do I really need that for what Im running off it, its all down to cost.

Yes. 85 Amp/hrs will last for ages as long as you don't expect miracles.
Not really possible to run 'fridges or TV for long but lighting, blinds and 'phone use OK.
Depends what you intend..

Prolonged 'wild camping' will obviously run the battery down and the more you use the quicker it will drain. Unless you have a solar panel of course...

[mikexgough]

I echo what others have said, 85 ah is enough but I went for 110ah a) because it fits and b) your useable power is 80% of the batteries capacity , there are some charts available which gives you consumption of certain items.....my Waeco compressor fridge is about 15 amps maximum but mainly around 12 amps per day.....add lights and charging of phones etc plus TV/Satellite on that and I get 4 days parked up no worries "off the grid". Obviously the cooler boxes that a lot of folks have "kill" a Leisure battery fast as these peltier cooler boxes consume 96 amps per day as they run full time, so okay on the LB if your between home and site hook up...... right I'm off for the day, Royal wedding free for me......

[mikeonb4c]

I echo what others have said, 85 ah is enough but I went for 110ah a) because it fits and b) your useable power is 80% of the batteries capacity , there are some charts available which gives you consumption of certain items.....my Waeco compressor fridge is about 15 amps maximum but mainly around 12 amps per day.....add lights and charging of phones etc plus TV/Satellite on that and I get 4 days parked up no worries "off the grid". Obviously the cooler boxes that a lot of folks have "kill" a Leisure battery fast as these peltier cooler boxes consume 96 amps per day as they run full time, so okay on the LB if your between home and site hook up...... right I'm off for the day, Royal wedding free for me......

I made up a simple box of tricks with a temp sensor and adjustable switchover so that, by immersing the sensor in the peltier coolbox, the motor only came on when the temp rose about a trigger point. This meant the box could be left plugged in, but motor never came on until the pre-frozen contents (see Helen's post higher up about that) unfroze and the temp started to rise. Then, I found that the motor came on roughly 2/3 of the time in order to maintain the cooling temp. That was in a warm room. I then stopped to consider how much less it would need to come on through the cool of the night, if the box was left exposed to that coolness.

Put together, in theory (and while in no way being able to match the efficiency of the compressor type fridge), a simple coolbox could provide a cheap and still not completely impractical alternative for cooling. In practice, I've found that for my weekend camps I can get by, as Helen does, by pre-freezing contents an including a couple of those glycol freezer packs, and the presumption that even if the sausages etc. have started not to be refrigerated by Sunday, they are gong to be cooked and eaten that morning anyway.

Oh, my magic box included a low voltage cut-out: essential if you are not to risk your LB being run flat while you are elsewhere.

And the magic box was originally made to experiment with the feasibility of running a 12v electric blanket from an LB. It does that very well too (blanket only needs to be on 1/3 of the time if placed inside the duvet). By throwing a switch, you tell it to either come on when temp drops below a trigger point, or when it rises above it.

Simples

PS - might be worth seeing if peltier boxes with thermostat control are available - you would think they would be. But they will still be juicy (too juicy really)

[maxi_77]

I echo what others have said, 85 ah is enough but I went for 110ah a) because it fits and b) your useable power is 80% of the batteries capacity , there are some charts available which gives you consumption of certain items.....my Waeco compressor fridge is about 15 amps maximum but mainly around 12 amps per day.....add lights and charging of phones etc plus TV/Satellite on that and I get 4 days parked up no worries "off the grid". Obviously the cooler boxes that a lot of folks have "kill" a Leisure battery fast as these peltier cooler boxes consume 96 amps per day as they run full time, so okay on the LB if your between home and site hook up...... right I'm off for the day, Royal wedding free for me......

Most battery manufacturers specify the life of Leisure batteries based on a max 50% discharge. If you regularly go down to 80% you will severely lower the potential life of your battery especially if do not use a smart charger regulalrly. I think you may have your cosumption figures out a bit, my Waeco uses some 40+ampere hours a day and most peltier ones I have seen use more than 4 amps.

My boat has a 220 Amper Hour battery bank and I would be very wary of running my fridge for 24 hours without some charging. In the Bongo I would only run the peltier fridge with the engine running or on mains.