Third leisure battery.

[garry55]

Any perceived benefit from installing a 3rd leisure battery? There is space in the battery compartment for a third battery and apart from the extra weight, I was hoping it would be beneficial to install the spare battery that I have.

 

[Lenny HB]

Any perceived benefit from installing a 3rd leisure battery? There is space in the battery compartment for a third battery and apart from the extra weight, I was hoping it would be beneficial to install the spare battery that I have.

First mod I did to my current va was fit 2 extra batteries very useful.

You say a spare battery that you have, if it has been well looked after and is the same age as the current batteries in the van it should be OK.

 

[garry55]

Thanks Lenny

How do I wire it in - the other 2 batteries have + and - cables that run under the floor but I do not know where they run to - can I just connect the 3rd battery to a + and - terminal of one of the existing batteries?
Spare battery is new and fully charged, but is only a 75 a/hr compared to the 100 a/hr of the existing batteries.

 

[Lenny HB]

can I just connect the 3rd battery to a + and - terminal of one of the existing batteries?

You can but once you have connected them in parallel it is more efficient to take the power feeds off opposite end, negative feed from the first battery and positive from the last one.
While you are at it it's worth replacing the power cables with proper size ones as Brit vans are wired with notoriously undersized cables.

 

[LithiumConvert]

Not the best explanation of what is meant here.

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[Emmit]

When I did it, I took advice and had a positive cable coming from the 'New Battery'
to each of the positives of the extant batteries and likewise a negative cable from the new battery
to each negative terminal of the old batteries.

 

[LithiumConvert]

Connecting two batteries in parallel

only worth worrying about if you need the last couple of percentage points of energy.

 

[andysam]

Any perceived benefit from installing a 3rd leisure battery? There is space in the battery compartment for a third battery and apart from the extra weight, I was hoping it would be beneficial to install the spare battery that I have.

If you are the type that uses sites and hook up, absolutely no point.

If an off grid user, you have every reason to install as much useable power capacity as you can. I've installed 2 x 100Ah LifePo4, Li PSU (charger) in the standard PDU, an extra 140w solar panel and last weekend another B2B charger. In the last 3 yrs we haven't used a formal site (of any description) and probably spent a solid 4-5 months in the van.

 

[garry55]

If you are the type that uses sites and hook up, absolutely no point.

If an off grid user, you have every reason to install as much useable power capacity as you can. I've installed 2 x 100Ah LifePo4, Li PSU (charger) in the standard PDU, an extra 140w solar panel and last weekend another B2B charger. In the last 3 yrs we haven't used a formal site (of any description) and probably spent a solid 4-5 months in the van.

When we started motor homing (March this year) we used a lot of sites on our outbound trip through France, Spain and Portugal. But we soon learnt that we could survive for 3 or 4 days off grid and stayed at fewer sites on the return leg. But then we had wall-to-wall sunshine so the solitary solar panel kept the leisure batteries topped up. And we never used the heating.
Here in the UK, we found it more difficult to keep the batteries up to spec. Our plan is to use the moho as often as possible - even through the winter - so an extra battery would be a bonus as we like to use pub stop-overs and car parks as our preferred choice.
I am seriously thinking of adding another solar panel to boost the charging capacity.

 

[andysam]

Yes, then in your circs a 3rd batt would help. We move locations daily and drive to sightsee, so the B2Bs charging at 40A easily keeps us topped up. I only have 240w solar but even now on an overcast day I can see some charge input (voltage not amperage), but I would like to add another 140w panel (no room for more!).

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[cyberyacht]

As a general principle, fit as much solar as you have room for and again as much battery capacity as will fit. The provisos on this are budget and payload. Another lead-acid battery will swallow 25-30Kg of your payload, about half that if it's a lithium one.