Newbie couple with F Ducato Granduca Pegaso 63

[Kimcurlysmith]

Thanks for including me. We bought Duchess, our 1998 2.5 MH in July this yr. Haven't been out in her yet . Discovered a lot of the wiring was burnt out, cut off or held together with sticky back plastic! Luckily my husband is an electrical/ mechanical engineer & almost finished completely rewiring her. Hoping 12v will then work, although the leisure battery is 80AH, which I gather is not too good. Planning on a solar panel at some stage. Will probably need lots of advice as we move along.

 

[Figaro]

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[Geistguy]

Welcome 80 ah is very small unless you are going to use hook up each trip. If you can then choose lithium, if not the biggest ah battery you can fit.

 

[David and Sally]

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[Brize]

Welcome

Hope you get on the road soon!

 

[Mohawk Mo]

 

[ambulancekidd]

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[Go_buddy_go_]

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[PlacidoD]

Thanks for including me. We bought Duchess, our 1998 2.5 MH in July this yr. Haven't been out in her yet . Discovered a lot of the wiring was burnt out, cut off or held together with sticky back plastic! Luckily my husband is an electrical/ mechanical engineer & almost finished completely rewiring her. Hoping 12v will then work, although the leisure battery is 80AH, which I gather is not too good. Planning on a solar panel at some stage. Will probably need lots of advice as we move along.



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80 AH is indeed quite modest but I cope on a 100AH flooded lead acid battery.

I suggest the order of priority is to minimise output then turn to increasing battery size and type. So swap to LEDs
to replace current tungsten etc bulbs and limp along with the 80AH over the winter.

I very much doubt that your 80AH battery is in its first flush of youth. It has got to make sense to upgrade to lithium sometime soon given your hubby's profession. How much of an upgrade that is will be depend on your intended use.
I am likely to replace my (almost new) 100AH LA battery with a 100AH lithium when it begins to flag. I can maybe get by with that without upgrading anything else but a B2B is advised. I am usually on a site with EHU or overnight without one but doing a fair bit of driving so 100 AH lithium will work for me. My aim is to cope comfortably without EHU for two/three summer nights. If you want to stay mainly off grid and to stay several nights without moving a bigger lithium battery would likely be needed. That will likely involve a new bigger mains charger and bigger/better solar charger etc, etc. No doubt, unlike me, your hubby can likely do all the electrical work!

Lithium battery prices keep coming down. Prices on items like a B2B, solar charger and mains charger are broadly stable. So I would suggest your order of priority might be

Sort your 12V bulbs
Fit a solar panel and charger
Fit a B2B
Look for a new lithium battery
At your leisure fit a larger mains charger for swift recharge of the lithium

There are loads of threads on this site giving advice on a move to lithium. Unfortunately my LA leisure battery showed signs of being past its best too soon after purchase for me to have completed a learning curve regarding lithium so I simply replaced like for like with just a slight upgrade in capacity. If your 80AH is a dud it might be worth looking for a used replacement from a member of this site while you sort other things over the winter. You could have mine for free but the diesel cost to Bolton will put you off!

P.S. Good to note you can fit the Moho on your drive. I can do the same with about 20 cms to spare!! That makes it easy to use EHU over the winter and "tinker" and improve bit by bit!
P.P.S. Mine is on ramps to get it almost level on the drive.