How long will my leisure battery last ??

[hembramacho]

Ran the engine for about 20 mins. LCA was complaining for about 10 mins of this - coolant level OK - which is to be expected.

My LCD also chirps a bit more than normal on startup when the LB charge is a bit low. As it stops when the willington relay kicks in (only a few seconds mind, never gone for 10 mins before! ), I've never really thought any more about it. Is this normal then? Anyone know why the LCA does this?

Andrew

[mikexgough]

Recent (this month) MMM.... a test on Leisure batteries...... Banner and Premier batteries ...... Energy Bull and Diamond came out well, MMM did not publish the worst batteries but hastened to add that one of the so called and very popular premium brands 100Ah Leisure Battery(no name mentioned but I guess you can think of one) was only giving 54Ah....
The 110Ah Energy Bull was giving 122Ah....

They did add that ....... however....and shockingly.....some of the plates in the batteries that they cut up were 1/2 size and some cells were packed out as these plates were so small....

[droodle]

two bloody days my batt lasted .. i think thats quite rubbish really i'll be at festivals for 4 days at a time this summer and thought it would last longer than that i was being quite sparing as well turning fridge off in the evening and the only other things being used were the inside light occasionally and 12v cig lighter to charge my phone .. in the end i had to run the engine twice for an hr at a time to add some charge in the batt to chill the fridge down for the beers @ baby food

meh i prefered my 3 way gas fridge in my old camper .. parkup light it and forgetabout it !

[haydn callow]

I'm a bit surprised it lasted that long.
Assume you have a 100amp Hr battery
You will be lucky to get more than 80 amps into it.
To all intents and purposes it will be flat when 40 amps are left.
That gives you a usable capicity of only 40 amp Hr.
I would carry a spare fully charged battery as back up.

Running the engine for a hour will put very little back.....80 amp Hr alternator will push out 70 amps for about 3 mins then quickly fall away.

[dave_aber]

I was pleasantly surprised that about 20 mins running (tickover) raised my L/B by enough to run the fridge (vitrifrigo C42L) for another day.

[Alison01326]

Droodle, was your leisure battery fully charged when you left home?

[droodle]

It's a numax 110ah only about 2 months old I'm guessing it woul have been fully charged after a 4 hr drive.

[Alison01326]

Agree that it should have been. Did you sort out your Willinton split charge relay before you left?

[mikeonb4c]

I'd like to experiment more with evaporative cooling as this should extend the time stuff stays cool in a coolbox.

Try one of these......... http://www.vwcurtains.com/easicool.php I used one many years ago .....yes they do work,not as efficient as a compressor fridge but keeps your dairy & meat stuff fresh........if you freeze things too as has been suggested..... jobs a good 'un

Excellent tip Mike and thanks. Vindicating to know its been assessed as a valid idea and is in commercial production already. Might see if I can DIY it using some two-be-two-be-two-be and some Hard as Nails or wotever its called

[droodle]

no willington not sorted yet but on further looking it is working .. kind of .. it didn't flatten the main battery .. the LED stays on for about 15 - 20 mins after the engines stopped then turns off

if i get a cheap amp meter will that tell me how much Ampage its holding ?

[missfixit70]

Nope, a voltmeter'll tell you how much voltage though.

[missfixit70]

These factsheets may help explain things -
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... ffairs.pdf
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... teries.pdf

[Alacrity]

Excellent post - a man after my own (well, before my own in truth)

Didn't know about vacuum packed meat. V. interesting. Same technique could be used I guess for precooked stews etc. esp. as they are sterile after cooking. I buy Cravendale milk as being a lot longer lasting. Choose beer that is nice to drink when not being ice cold (Cans of Tanglefoot do me). As SD says, if you freeze the meat, sausages etc they become edible cooler packs and don't waste space. You can also get some seriously well insulated coolboxes.

Personally, I've found I like to be as free as possible from dependancy on electricity, even from an LB. I'd like to experiment more with evaporative cooling as this should extend the time stuff stays cool in a coolbox.



[/quote]


My pal took that picture for the Bow Wow Wow album - caused quite a stir back then as she was only 14!!!

[TechnoTurkey]

I've been wondering about the possibility of a small wind turbine to charge the leisure battery, from experience camping I end up being more exposed to wind than to sunlight!

A small turbine on a little pole may give enough to keep the fridge going, although I can find thousands of solar panels but no small scale turbines. Thoughts?

[missfixit70]

Noisy? vibrations? worth pursuing though to check viability, I think it's come up before on the forum if you have a search?