Battery Advise Please

Submitted: Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 17:52

ThreadID: 56514 Views:2293 Replies:3 FollowUps:6

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Member - barry F (NSW)

Howdy Folks, We have just purchased a van that has a compartment under one of the beds for a battery.
In the past when on trips we mostly stayed in caravan parks with the odd roadside overnight stop.
Our "new" van has a few more creature comforts so we intend to get a bit more use out of it by finding a few spots to stay for a couple of nights close to home & away from caravan parks.
We were told by the dealer to stick a 100 AMP hour Gel sealed battery in the compartment.
Alls we need to run off this battery is the van lights, there's only about 8 or 10 bulbs total @ 15 W each & a water pump.
If we put such a battery in how long could you run the lights for before discharging the battery. Any help would be appreciated.

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Reply By: Member - Cruiser (NSW) - Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:18

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:18

Barry,

We have an 80 Amp/Hr battery in our van and it has 14 x 12V lights (5 x halogen and 9 x flouro), 1 x CD Player, 1 x 12V Sureflow pump and 1 x 12V exhaust fan (with a 12V halogen in it) plus 1 x 12V TV outlet.

We have been camped in the one place for 5 days/4 nights (and had not run car or solar panel or generator to recharge) and in that time we used the TV for about 3 hrs per night and the battery still had enough stored power to run the lights etc (not all at one mind you) on the 4th night.

I have a volt metre attached to the battery and after that time and use it still read 11.2V

Hope this helps

Cheers,

Cruiser

AnswerID: 297816

Follow Up By: Member - Tony W (VIC) - Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:27

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:27

I strongly advise that you don't run it below about 11.8 or 11.9v as that is about 50% capacity which is the lowest you should run a battery for long life.

FollowupID: 563875

Follow Up By: Member - barry F (NSW) - Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:28

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 18:28

Thanks for that Cruiser, So heaps of power for the lights, pump, exhaust fan etc.
We had not considered the TV as I am ignorant as to how you do that or what you need in order to run it off the battery. A bit more info please & my wife will be your friend for life!!

FollowupID: 563878

Follow Up By: Member - Cruiser (NSW) - Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 19:00

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 19:00

Tony,

You are correct, but it was a one off. Not something I would normally do. As a matter of fact, I rarely stay in the one place more than 3 nights when off 240V mains power.

Barry,

We have a 240/12V TV.

Cheers,

Cruiser

FollowupID: 563887

Follow Up By: Member - Mark H (VIC) - Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 21:16

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 21:16

I bought a Commander gel battery from Battery World and the owner told me they can be taken below 50% discharge without fear of damage, as opossed to other batteries. I can't remember the exact voltage he said should be minimum and I'm fully aware of what's stated above but does it still hold for gel batteries?

Mark.

FollowupID: 563925