Leisure Battery Help, does it have to be manually charged?

[Sean Keenan]

Hi Sam. I use a Ring Smart Charger with mine. no messing just plug and go

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[Sean Keenan]

Hi Sam. I use a Ring Smart Charger with mine and charge once every three days no messing just plug and go

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[Julian Noddy Dean]

Through the winter you need to bench charge your battery every night then through the summer you can get away with charging once every 2 nights a Halfords smart charger will do the job. The battery voltage really shoudn't be allowed to drop below 12.5v 

need ???? maybe in your world but in my world ive never charged a battery with a charger in over 5 years ! we couldnt get to them even if we want to as there hidden under the drivers seats ,

the thought of me undoing 4 batterys every night to charge them would drive me nuts ! 

 

[Sam Hodgson]

Really odd how this seems to differ, I have ordered a ctek smart 5A charger as I liked the O rings and the easy click in system so I don't have to remove my battery. Will be interested to see how long my battery lasts once its fully charged.

 

[spruce]

Thoughts about putting a solar panel on top of the van or would that just not give enough power?

http://www.photonicuniverse.com/en/catalog/full/185-100W-12V-solar-charging-kit-10A-controller-5m-cable-for-camper--caravan--boat.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw-XT0--Q2AIV0hXTCh0TrQaOEAQYBiABEgLt7vD_BwE

There's a windie called P&F on the south coast who is on the other forum. He's fitted his in Autumn. Its started off well but the winter sun is an issue.

He also is using a decent MPPT controller by Victron, not the cheap one your link sells.

He will be well in during the summer but I think in the last report post of his all he got on a typical winter day was 1 amp an hour.

If you are seriously thinking this is an option then Cruising the Cut on YouTube will add a lot of insight into narrowboaters solar experiences.





Whilst we don't need the same amount of power as windies, you will be able to see a pattern.

 

[spruce]

One last question, I'm looking at a leisure battery charger and wondering whether to get a 5, 10 or 20A one.

I have a Numax 105AH leisure battery.

I want to look after the battery but I also don't want it to take 20hours to charge.

Mines a 10 amp Numax leisure battery charger for my 115 amp leisure battery. 10 amp will push to a battery size of 135amps.

 

[Iron Giant]

need ???? maybe in your world but in my world ive never charged a battery with a charger in over 5 years ! we couldnt get to them even if we want to as there hidden under the drivers seats ,

the thought of me undoing 4 batterys every night to charge them would drive me nuts ! 

I am speaking more from my own experience, I have a diy set up so don't have a split relay and wouldn't consider one as I only travel around 2 miles to work