Adding 2nd lesuire battery

[Sarah]

Fabulously, thanks! It's a great country in which to live, the Scots are very friendly, supportive and helpful, and I have been able to swap a 2 miles walk to Worthing sea front for a 100m walk to the Firth of Forth and a view across to Edinburgh Castle and those 3 iconic bridges! One of the very few downsides is that I now have to drive a little more than 500 miles to reach a Cross Channel Ferry, instead of the 37 miles to Porstmouth ... But, if I had everything I could wish for, there would be nothing to motivate me to get of bed in the morning!

Steve

You can't have everything I guess!

 

[deleted79651]

You can't have everything I guess!

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs has a lot to answer for ... All being well [COVID & Flu Jags [Scots term!]], it'll be 'Have Motorhome, will travel' in the next month or so, as we head for the Newhaven ferry, and then pootle through France and onto Spain for some Winter Sun and daily walks along the Med [there's a sea theme emerging here ...]

There are advantages to old gitdom, and, once you have the M/Home payload uprated to cope with all the medication, the Winter breakout is certainly one of them!

Steve

 

[claude et maude]

Is there an idiots guide to leisure batteries, I’ve done a search sans the word idiots but came up with nothing. I have one leisure battery plus solar at the moment and I think the battery it’s on its last legs so think it may be a good time to replace the dying one with a matched pair. Having spent a fortune on sorting out stuff on the Hymer and adding an electric scooter to the garage during these lockdowns I’m definitely not going the lithium route but I’d like some late night reading so I can figure out the best battery set up for my circumstances, TIA.

 

[ChrisL]

The hot pan is a good idea. My smev grill/oven has always been slow but I do believe there is an issue with the gas coming in (or lack of it!). I think it is my ignorance in thinking that with the inverter, solar panels and decent batteries I could use my 240volt appliances. I was thinking of replacing my oven/grill with a microwave also but now realise that it would be a mistake.

The Smev grill is pretty poor, but I've found the oven to be quite good, however you need to understand how it works, the flame does not go up and down with the control knob, once it's lit it is on full until it reaches the setting that you've set the knob at when it will decrease the flame to match the temperature you've set and it will try and maintain that temperature. Using an oven thermometer I've found on mine that mark 4 = about 175 C and flat out it gets up to around 210 C so okay for casseroles, roasting (i even got cracking on my roast pork last Sunday) heating ready meals and baking bread, cakes etc. Not so good for chips and roast potatoes.

 

[Sarah]

The Smev grill is pretty poor, but I've found the oven to be quite good, however you need to understand how it works, the flame does not go up and down with the control knob, once it's lit it is on full until it reaches the setting that you've set the knob at when it will decrease the flame to match the temperature you've set and it will try and maintain that temperature. Using an oven thermometer I've found on mine that mark 4 = about 175 C and flat out it gets up to around 210 C so okay for casseroles, roasting (i even got cracking on my roast pork last Sunday) heating ready meals and baking bread, cakes etc. Not so good for chips and roast potatoes.

That is interesting. I expected the flame to increase as you turn the control knob in the oven so that makes sense. My grill though! I have had the same smev oven and grill in the last to vans I have owned so this is my 3rd (obviously don't use the oven much!). The grill has never been great in any of them so I know what to expect but last weekend my toast was under the grill for 10 - 15 mins and whilst slightly golden was just rock hard. It has got worse in the last two outings so I really think something is wrong with it. It lights easily and stays alight so no problems there but just doesn't get hot.

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[autorouter]

Is there an idiots guide to leisure batteries,

This is a good one to start you off.

Leisure batteries - Leisure Battery Guide from 12 Volt Planet

Leisure batteries - A guide on deep-cycle leisure batteries for use in Campervan, Caravans, Motorhomes, Boats & other leisure vehicles from 12 Volt Planet

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

 

[claude et maude]

This is a good one to start you off.

Leisure batteries - Leisure Battery Guide from 12 Volt Planet

Leisure batteries - A guide on deep-cycle leisure batteries for use in Campervan, Caravans, Motorhomes, Boats & other leisure vehicles from 12 Volt Planet

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

Thanks, that looks like it will be a good start for me.

 

[acropolis22]

You could run your engine whilst using the inverter thus mitigating the load on the battery????

Cheers James

Your neighbours would love that......

 

[Ian Bosman]

Fabulously, thanks! It's a great country in which to live, the Scots are very friendly, supportive and helpful, and I have been able to swap a 2 miles walk to Worthing sea front for a 100m walk to the Firth of Forth and a view across to Edinburgh Castle and those 3 iconic bridges! One of the very few downsides is that I now have to drive a little more than 500 miles to reach a Cross Channel Ferry, instead of the 37 miles to Porstmouth ... But, if I had everything I could wish for, there would be nothing to motivate me to get of bed in the morning!

Steve

some advice pleas. I have a Eurasmobil with a CBE electrical system, a 120 watt solar panel, two 110Ah batteries or leisure. The sCBE system has the tab and vehicle batteries charged from the solar and the EHU, solar is currently set to 70%hab, 30% vehicle charge. The internal charge split equally. I wish to add a 1500 watt inverter, not our sine wave, which I have been given. Will this set up, in your opinion be OK to run a small Quest 1000watt oven and a small microwave, not simultaneously?

 

[Marty Gilly and Pup]

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs has a lot to answer for ... All being well [COVID & Flu Jags [Scots term!]], it'll be 'Have Motorhome, will travel' in the next month or so, as we head for the Newhaven ferry, and then pootle through France and onto Spain for some Winter Sun and daily walks along the Med [there's a sea theme emerging here ...]

There are advantages to old gitdom, and, once you have the M/Home payload uprated to cope with all the medication, the Winter breakout is certainly one of them!

Steve

Mazlows hierarchy of needs indeed! That takes me back. Set my mind going with “Blooms taxonomy of the cognitive domain”. A riveting read lol

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[Ian Bosman]

some advice pleas. I have a Eurasmobil with a CBE electrical system, a 120 watt solar panel, two 110Ah batteries or leisure. The sCBE system has the tab and vehicle batteries charged from the solar and the EHU, solar is currently set to 70%hab, 30% vehicle charge. The internal charge split equally. I wish to add a 1500 watt inverter, not our sine wave, which I have been given. Will this set up, in your opinion be OK to run a small Quest 1000watt oven and a small microwave, not simultaneously?

Should have said that my tab batteries are wet acid type

 

[deleted79651]

some advice pleas. I have a Eurasmobil with a CBE electrical system, a 120 watt solar panel, two 110Ah batteries or leisure. The sCBE system has the tab and vehicle batteries charged from the solar and the EHU, solar is currently set to 70%hab, 30% vehicle charge. The internal charge split equally. I wish to add a 1500 watt inverter, not our sine wave, which I have been given. Will this set up, in your opinion be OK to run a small Quest 1000watt oven and a small microwave, not simultaneously?

Sorry, Ian, I am a total technical numpty [my Physics Teacher, Roger Conibear, told me not to take the subject at 'O' Level because I'd be wasting the Examiner's time ...]. I ask for advice on the Forum, including details of Supplier/Installer, and then open the wallet. autorouter is infinitely better qualified than me to answer your query

Steve

 

[Ian Bosman]

This is a good one to start you off.

Leisure batteries - Leisure Battery Guide from 12 Volt Planet

Leisure batteries - A guide on deep-cycle leisure batteries for use in Campervan, Caravans, Motorhomes, Boats & other leisure vehicles from 12 Volt Planet

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

See my post #39 seeking advice

 

[ChrisL]

some advice pleas. I have a Eurasmobil with a CBE electrical system, a 120 watt solar panel, two 110Ah batteries or leisure. The sCBE system has the tab and vehicle batteries charged from the solar and the EHU, solar is currently set to 70%hab, 30% vehicle charge. The internal charge split equally. I wish to add a 1500 watt inverter, not our sine wave, which I have been given. Will this set up, in your opinion be OK to run a small Quest 1000watt oven and a small microwave, not simultaneously?

As Marchie has said, autorouter is probably the best person to answer, however my school boy maths say a 1000W draw from a 12 volt system is over 80 amps so i wouldn't think that your batteries wouldn't last very long and you would need serious cables to the inverter. The same draw over a 240 volt system would be only around 4 amps so maybe just use it on hookup.

 

[autorouter]

I'd not be very optimistic it would work to meet your expectations.

First there's the total energy stored in the batteries. 220Ah of 12V batteries stores 220 x 12 = 2640 watt-hours of energy, of which about 50%, ie 1320Wh is available. In theory that would run the oven or microwave for about an hour. That would be OK for a microwave, which is used in short bursts, but maybe not for the oven, depending on how you intend to use it.

Next there's the maximum amps that the batteries can take at any time. That is usually said to be C/5, where C is the capacity. So for these batteries it would be 220/5 = 44 amps. An inverter outputting 1000 watts will be drawing 1000/12 = 83 amps from the 12V battery, or more like 90 amps to allow for some inefficiency. So it's really going to hammer the batteries. You might get away with it for short bursts like the microwave, but longer sustained times might be causing damage to the batteries.

Then there's filling the batteries up again. The 120W panel will probably produce about 40Ah on an average day, or 60Ah on a really good day. So it would take 2 days at least to refill your 50% discharged batteries.

And to top it all off, there's the possibility that the microwave won't work very well on a modified sine wave inverter. I know mine didn't, it used to take twice as long to heat anything up. The 1000W oven should be OK though, unless it's got digital controls.

Having said all that, I'm one of those that really likes microwaves, and wouldn't be without one.

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[Ian Bosman]

I'd not be very optimistic it would work to meet your expectations.

First there's the total energy stored in the batteries. 220Ah of 12V batteries stores 220 x 12 = 2640 watt-hours of energy, of which about 50%, ie 1320Wh is available. In theory that would run the oven or microwave for about an hour. That would be OK for a microwave, which is used in short bursts, but maybe not for the oven, depending on how you intend to use it.

Next there's the maximum amps that the batteries can take at any time. That is usually said to be C/5, where C is the capacity. So for these batteries it would be 220/5 = 44 amps. An inverter outputting 1000 watts will be drawing 1000/12 = 83 amps from the 12V battery, or more like 90 amps to allow for some inefficiency. So it's really going to hammer the batteries. You might get away with it for short bursts like the microwave, but longer sustained times might be causing damage to the batteries.

Then there's filling the batteries up again. The 120W panel will probably produce about 40Ah on an average day, or 60Ah on a really good day. So it would take 2 days at least to refill your 50% discharged batteries.

And to top it all off, there's the possibility that the microwave won't work very well on a modified sine wave inverter. I know mine didn't, it used to take twice as long to heat anything up. The 1000W oven should be OK though, unless it's got digital controls.

Having said all that, I'm one of those that really likes microwaves, and wouldn't be without one.

would running the engine with the oven help for say, 15 minutes?

 

[cyberyacht]

The big issue with inverters is the current draw. Anything other than a lithium battery is going to struggle with the current flow for any appliance with a substantial wattage. i.e. >300w