Which sized lesuire battery?

[spruce]

It's interesting that you say this, off the subject a little I purchased a new Victron blue smart charger I read from reviews that it was charging batteries really fast, the first time I used it my battery after a full days work charged battery in under 1hr, then since then it's taken hours to charge,

Up until yesterday, I had issues with the app so I was leaving the battery charger on all night but as of yesterday I was getting the correct data it's taking 8hrs 50 mins, my old Numax charger used to be done it about 3hrs.

I don't understand the difference in time, tbh. In the old days, if a battery clamp on the charger cable didn't make a proper connection at the battery terminal, the charger showed a premature green fully charged led.

The thing is that the resistance inside the lead acid battery is what determines charge rate. You can put a 100amp charger onto the battery, but it won't change the rate of charge the battery will accept. The fuller the charge in the battery, the higher the resistance and the lower the rate of recharge.

 

[spruce]

Just so everyone is aware Fogstar are now selling 'budget' lithium leisure batteries under their brand 'Drift ECO' these don't have battery heaters or bluetooth to the bms. I think they are mainly designed for motorhomes/campervans probably not for chilly vans .
Fogstar are fast becoming the premium brand for LiFePO4 batteries among motorhomes/campervan users. They do have a very good reputation. The problem with budget brands from the likes of Amazon are you have no idea what bms (Battery Management System) they are using. Some claim to have low temp cut offs to prevent charging at low temps when some youtubers have tested them there is no low temp cut offs - so you could be damaging the cells if you attempt to charge at low temps. Similarly the cell balancing, max charge discharge etc might not be managed correctly.

I will be looking very closely at the Fogstar Drift Eco when my van leisure battery fails as I'm not keen on the 'smart split charge relay' that I currently have so might disconnect it and just buy a lithium and lithium charger. So although the purchase cost would probably be double a decent lead acid it should last 6 to 10 years!

The trouble with no heating blanket is that the battery doesn't get charged at temps below 5 degrees. If your van's temp is below that, then you could be in trouble.
I have a full steel factory bulkhead installed, so any heat in the driver's cabin doesn't affect the cargo area much. So the cargo area is always cold.
Even when using the diesel heater, not much heat is radiated into the cargo area as I have a towel over it as a bit of insulation.

I agree that your best route is to rely on mains charging. Fogstar recommended we let the battery charge drop to 30% before recharging. They didn't specially answer the why question I asked, though they did say it was good for the battery's chemistry. However, I also feel that as the BMS counts the battery cycles, having an extended charge depletion helps with this figure.
I fitted this battery last December and have completed 12 cycles. Hopefully, if this means anything and doing the maths, the battery should still be OK long after I have passed away.

 

[ched999uk]

The trouble with no heating blanket is that the battery doesn't get charged at temps below 5 degrees. If your van's temp is below that, then you could be in trouble.
I have a full steel factory bulkhead installed, so any heat in the driver's cabin doesn't affect the cargo area much. So the cargo area is always cold.
Even when using the diesel heater, not much heat is radiated into the cargo area as I have a towel over it as a bit of insulation.

I agree that your best route is to rely on mains charging. Fogstar recommended we let the battery charge drop to 30% before recharging. They didn't specially answer the why question I asked, though they did say it was good for the battery's chemistry. However, I also feel that as the BMS counts the battery cycles, having an extended charge depletion helps with this figure.
I fitted this battery last December and have completed 12 cycles. Hopefully, if this means anything and doing the maths, the battery should still be OK long after I have passed away.

I tend to put an oil filled rad in the back if the temps are dropping below about 3 so I would just use that a little more. The rear of my van is insulated which seems to work as the ice doesn't melt on the roof with the rad on although that could just be that it can't raise the temp enough
To be honest I might just push the boat out a little and get the non ECO version to get the battery heater and the bluetooth stats as I do love stats and apps. I have a Victron solar mppt controller and Home Assistant on my solar at home and I do like looking at the graphs .

 

[spruce]

Seeing as this post is resurrected then. I’ve still been confused with most of what read. If I wanted a battery that I’d happily charge every night to cope with a one man system (no B2B or anything) working a 7 hour day (including travel) a 100a or over Numax would be a good buy?
Would an electric reel make a difference?

As per @Iron Giant .

The thing with a hose reel is the initial power surge at the moment before the motor of the hose reel starts turning. It is basically a direct short, albeit for milliseconds. A standard leisure battery doesn't like this.

Xline advertise their electric hose reel with a powerful 280 watt motor. That's 23 amps. That's a high current draw for a standard leisure battery. Hence the reason why we suggest using a combo battery that has a cold cranking amp capability.

 

[spruce]

I tend to put an oil filled rad in the back if the temps are dropping below about 3 so I would just use that a little more. The rear of my van is insulated which seems to work as the ice doesn't melt on the roof with the rad on although that could just be that it can't raise the temp enough
To be honest I might just push the boat out a little and get the non ECO version to get the battery heater and the bluetooth stats as I do love stats and apps. I have a Victron solar mppt controller and Home Assistant on my solar at home and I do like looking at the graphs .

So do I. The Germans were very good at interpreting graphs and data, so I learnt a bit from them when working for Bosch.

 

[spruce]

I will update this DIY post after this winter with added lithium experience. I felt that the battery was too new last winter for me to draw any conclusions.
This was totally new technology for me. I couldn't believe how a small, lightweight battery could supply our current needs better than the lead acid batteries we have used for years.

Split Charge Relay

Split Charge Relay. Most window cleaners who use the Water Fed Pole with a van mounted tank will, sooner or later, question whether they need to add an auxiliary charging method for their leisure battery that’s driven from the vehicle’s alternator or not. A Split Charge Relay (SCR) is now a...

windowcleaningforums.co.uk

 

[Iron Giant]

I don't understand the difference in time, tbh. In the old days, if a battery clamp on the charger cable didn't make a proper connection at the battery terminal, the charger showed a premature green fully charged led.

The thing is that the resistance inside the lead acid battery is what determines charge rate. You can put a 100amp charger onto the battery, but it won't change the rate of charge the battery will accept. The fuller the charge in the battery, the higher the resistance and the lower the rate of recharge.

Thanks for this I have a solid connection to the battery with the threaded terminals as I have the connections solid with some M8 wing nuts,

I did initially think that before I had bought the wing nuts and just had the the connectors were just placed over the terminals it might not have been solid connection, although the battery did show the correct voltage on my controller and lasted a full day.

 

[spruce]

It seems to indicate that the battery didn't get a full charge but there was ample left in the battery to last the day.
The residue voltage could have taken longer to dissipate, giving a false reading.

I don't know.

 

[Iron Giant]

It seems to indicate that the battery didn't get a full charge but there was ample left in the battery to last the day.
The residue voltage could have taken longer to dissipate, giving a false reading.

I don't know.

I have just checked my dates and it's helped me jog my failing memory, I only did half a day as it was a Friday and then the charger was left connected until Sunday as we weren't at home I think it was on float when we got back, I skived off on the Monday and purchased the wing nuts

No idea what had been going on with the app because until this Wednesday it was stating that only one charging cycle had been completed which wasn't the case at all, then all of a sudden10 charge cycles were completed, now the app is working as it should I'll monitor the charging cycle data and adjust my smart plug settings accordingly to ensure it is switched off.

 

[Iron Giant]

I have a Victron solar mppt controller and Home Assistant on my solar at home and I do like looking at the graphs .

I can send you some Victron graph data as I ain't got a clue what they mean