Bongo Fury

I think the time has come to replace the leisure battery.

We've just been away for a week (not in the Bongo). When we returned I tried using the remote key fob to open the Bongo. It made the chirp to say the alarm had been deactivated but the doors would not unlock. I had to use the key in the door which unlocked it fine. I was then able to start the engine which in turn kicked the stereo into life in demo mode (stereo is on LB and wouldn't normally come on).

So I figure that the minimal drain from the radio memory has drained the battery over only 8 days. I will be doing some checks to ensure that the current drain isn't too high but I figure that the likely outcome will be that I need a new leisure battery.

I've had the Bongo 3 years now and the battery was already in it when we got it, so it has lasted OK. Due to a fuse blowing a few months ago the LB was flattened as well which won't have helped.

I realise that I can spend hundreds on a battery that will be perfect for the job but at the same time I'm sure a cheaper one will do the job and if a cheap one can last me 3 years each time then that will do me.

Any recent bargains spotted or good recommendations?

I just renewed mine and came to the conclusion that buying one of the "tested" batteries might well be a debatable exercise, the price of the tested ones is 3-4 times that of a unclassified one. There all going to get the same treatment and with Solar Panels upping the number of charge/discharge cycles I have my doubts that replacing with a tested battery is going to give me 3-4 times the life of a cheaper one being replaced every 1-3 years!

That was my view,

The bongo is a daily driver, so the battery is topped up every day normally - which I take it counts towards the charge cycles? I would also like to fit a solar panel if I can ever find exactly what I'm after!

I could get 4 cheapy batteries for the price of a decent one, so ignoring the inconvenience of changing them, I would potentially get 12 years worth of cheapy batteries for the same price as a decent battery.

What did you go for in the end?

I've bought several batteries from these guys and been happy:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/Leisure-Batteries-C45.html

Eurocarparts can be competative, too.

Yes I use Tayna as well next day delivery if your early getting the order in. I always measure the tray depth width and height and then choose the largest capacity battery that fits, don't always rely on previous version numbers I've known them to change in size! This time they didn't have the same type anyway so had to choose another one.