Upgrading but sticking with lead acid batteries.

[GeoffnDee]

Thornebt ,If it is any help www.apuljackelectronics.co.uk do a modification to your EC325 charging system which may allow a better choice of batteries etc. The details are described in their catalogue.

 

[oldiesontour]

Your most economic way is stick with lead acid..as big AH as you can fit ...physically,weight and budget.
Maybe consider additional folding solar(rigid
preferred but flexible ok) no real fitting involved ,

 

[PhilandMena]

I too have the Sargent system, including the EC325. With respect to your Solar Panel the sargent system is limited to 10 Amps, even though dealers state a 100 W maximum S.P. I have a 125W S.P. fitted and fed into the sargent system via a 10 Amp Mppt regulator. (I have by passed the regulator in the P.S.U. which i leave in situ as a spare). The sargen control panel works well with this and both sets of batteries still get charged via the Sargent system. I have also fitted a 250 W. S. P. which I have connected directly to my Leisure batteries via a 20 Amp Mppt regulator and this works very well.
I have fitted 2 x 105 A.H. Pure lead carbon AGM batteries and the charging profile for these batteries is the same as the Sargent charger and will provide thousands of cycles. I attach a data sheet and charging requirements for your information.

12V 105AH Leoch AGM Lead Carbon Deep Cycle Battery (LDC12-105-G27-DT) (SLCA-12115 DT) - Alpha Batteries

12V 105AH Leoch AGM Lead Carbon deep cycle battery – LDC105-G27-DT What Makes Lead Carbon AGM Superior to other AGMs? Positive […]

www.alpha-batteries.co.uk

 

[Lenny HB]

Thornebt ,If it is any help www.apuljackelectronics.co.uk do a modification to your EC325 charging system which may allow a better choice of batteries etc. The details are described in their catalogue.

Cheaper and better to fit a Victron IP22 charger.

 

[autorouter]

Already my electrical expertise is struggling! . I will probably go for 12v - just need to ascertain if I should go for batteries higher than 100Ah. I understand that higher Ah batteries take longer to charge but last longer. With one EHU stop every four or five days higher Ah batteries might make sense.

A 100 amp-hour (Ah) battery will provide for example 5A of current for 20 hours. Or 2.5A of current for 40 hours. Or 10A of current for 10 hours. Etc.

That's in theory. In practice it's best to not discharge the battery until it is very low. It's common to avoid discharging below 50%, for the best long-term battery life. Some types of battery, like gel, are OK to discharge down to the 20% level. They cost more, but you get more usable Ah than standard 'flooded' lead-acids.

There are two types of 'flooded' lead-acid batteries: vented and sealed. The vented type are the old technology, with a screwed vent cap on each of the 6 cells, and they produce small amounts of gas as they charge and discharge. They need to be topped up with distilled water periodically.

The sealed type use different technology, which doesn't produce gas during normal charge and discharge. They are sealed, with a pressure release valve in case things go wrong. They don't produce gas and don't need topping up.

The calculations are simple. 300Ah of battery will take 3 times longer to charge than 100Ah, but will last 3 times longer. If you have discharged a 100Ah battery to 50%, you need to put 50Ah back into the battery, so with a 20A charger that will take at least 50Ah/20A = 2.5 hours, probably more like 4 hours as the charger slows down as the battery fills up. 300Ah of battery would take 3 times longer.

To find the maximum charging current, divide the Ah by 5. So for a 100Ah battery the maximum recommended rate is 100/5 = 20A, which is about what your charger pushes out. However 300Ah of battery will take up to 300/5 = 60A, so you could get a bigger charger if you want.

Usually when you are on hookup, you are there for 12 hours at least, so even 300Ah of battery would be fully charged by then with a 20A charger.

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[The Wino]

I think the ops idea sounds perfectly reasonable if the current set up matches well with what they need. Every time anyone mentions batteries and solar a lot go off on a fit as much solar as possible and lithium and a b2b and a new charger etc but why would you if the current set up matches what you need?

 

[autorouter]

I think the ops idea sounds perfectly reasonable if the current set up matches well with what they need. Every time anyone mentions batteries and solar a lot go off on a fit as much solar as possible and lithium and a b2b and a new charger etc but why would you if the current set up matches what you need?

It's not difficult to do the calculations, to see if you would benefit from more solar or more battery. Suppose that, without solar, a 100Ah battery is down from 100% to 50% in 24 hours. That means you have used 50Ah of charge.

A 100W solar panel can yield about 30Ah to 40Ah on an average day, more if the weather is very good. So after 24 hours the battery would be down by 10Ah to 20Ah. On that basis you could last two or even three days without needing to hookup or a long drive to charge up the battery. With 300Ah of battery you could probably last a fortnight if the weather was good.

An extra 100W solar panel would mean the yield is up to 60Ah to 80Ah on an average day, so that will easily refill the battery back up to the 100% level, every day. So you could last indefinitely, at least while the weather was OK.

The problem with electrics is 'mission creep'. Since electricity's not a problem any more, just add a laptop charger, a TV, what about electric bikes, maybe an inverter to run a hairdryer or microwave or coffee machine. It's a rabbit hole once you start...

 

[The Wino]

It's not difficult to do the calculations, to see if you would benefit from more solar or more battery. Suppose that, without solar, a 100Ah battery is down from 100% to 50% in 24 hours. That means you have used 50Ah of charge.

A 100W solar panel can yield about 30Ah to 40Ah on an average day, more if the weather is very good. So after 24 hours the battery would be down by 10Ah to 20Ah. On that basis you could last two or even three days without needing to hookup or a long drive to charge up the battery. With 300Ah of battery you could probably last a fortnight if the weather was good.

An extra 100W solar panel would mean the yield is up to 60Ah to 80Ah on an average day, so that will easily refill the battery back up to the 100% level, every day. So you could last indefinitely, at least while the weather was OK.

The problem with electrics is 'mission creep'. Since electricity's not a problem any more, just add a laptop charger, a TV, what about electric bikes, maybe an inverter to run a hairdryer or microwave or coffee machine. It's a rabbit hole once you start...

But in the ops case the calculation is a lot simpler. Before the battery was knackered was there enough battery to use the MH in the way they wanted if so get like for like. If yes but they want a bit longer off grid lead acid again with an increased capacity would probably be enough . If they want to get an inverter, air fryer, etc it's a different matter.

 

[Barchetta47]

I think the ops idea sounds perfectly reasonable if the current set up matches well with what they need. Every time anyone mentions batteries and solar a lot go off on a fit as much solar as possible and lithium and a b2b and a new charger etc but why would you if the current set up matches what you need?

I’m in agreement. I’ve just replaced two LA batteries with slightly larger, 115ah v 95ah, ones to give us slightly more amps from the same under floor battery space. We don’t use a TV, hairdryers, microwaves, electric kettles, remorskas etc so our demands are quite low I suspect. The last batteries, Banners from memory, lasted over 10 years. We are just finishing off two months in Morocco and didn’t plug in once, we have a 100w solar panel. We cook and heat water with gas, our gas bill for the two months using local gas was £6.

We will tour for two times six weeks in Europe later this year and the only need to plug in will be to recharge the eBike, perhaps once a week.

As is often said we are all different and have different needs. However there is still a place for the lower cost and lower tech solutions if they meet your needs.

 

[VXman]

I know there is someone on here who is very anti AGM but my AGM's have worked well for 3 years. Most motorhome manufacturers fit AGM's (if not doing lithium) so they must think they are suitable.

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