Hi all I have a coleman campervan just purchased and I called into a local battery shop to ask a question they say that they could sell me a battery about 90 amp but where the battery has to go has to be vented the batt only is required to run radio and lights and fridge while traveling. They say that if it is not vented then I would have to buy an agm battery the people we bought the camper from only used a normal battery and had no problem. I am looking for a bit more advice before I purchase a expensive battery 1 batt is worth about $160 the other is worth about $300
Hi Coyotte Thank you for your help it does help however the batt would have to be charged seperate from the car i would have to buy a batt charger for charging from the house. Thank you en Chris and Vina
Hi Coyotte Thank you for your help it does help however the batt would have to be charged seperate from the car i would have to buy a batt charger for charging from the house. Thank you en Chris and Vina
For common lead(and/or cadmium)/acid batteries you should can not discharge them by more than 20% of their rated capacity without shortening their life significantly. Even the so-called "deep cycle batteries" are affected, though less so than automotive starter types.
Gel batteries suffer from this significantly less than the 'wet cell' ones and can also be mounted on their sides if necessary. "Absorbed Glass Mat" (AGM) construction allows for more rapid charging, longer 'stored charge' life, and is generally less affected by road vibration, especially the 'helical coil plate' variety. They too, can be mounted on their sides if necesssary. These "Sealed Lead/Acid" (SLA) types should still be in a ventilated area when being charged as any over-charging might cause the recombination of the gasses produced to be inadequate and some explosive hydrogen and oxygen released. All SLA batteries have valves to allow this to occur. It's a very explosive mix: Even hydrogen in plain air is dangerous.
AGM batteries can withstand discharging to quite low levels without damage, but even so, to obtain longer service from them it is generally advised not to repeatedly discharge them more than 50%. The depth of discharge (DOD) is usually determined by measuring the voltage of the battery, without load, after 'resting' for 12 hours or more.
So, when you are considering charging your batteries at home for use away from a charging source, think about the fact that rated ampere-hour (Ah) is what the battery is capable of doing, but not necessarily surviving long term. For ordinary wet-cell batteries 100Ah represents an effective reserve of only 20Ah, for deep-cycle types consider 45-50 Ah to be practicable and for SLA batteries, 50-60Ah. Battery capacity is rated differently at different rates of discharge and the manufacturer supplies chart/figures accordingly. Most commonly this is at a 20ampere current, but often at a 5ampere rate, which will give an apparantly bigger reserve.
As good batteries are expensive and all of them have a finite life, it's worthwhile doing your homework over this topic.
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Hi Rolly Nice to have your info thank you since I posted this this morning we have actually decided to do away with the fridge and have purchased a elect fridge we only do our tripping to caravan parks at the moment purly for the few comforts my beautiful wife Vina. So the batt will only be needed for the batt lights when not yet connected to elect and the radio in the van. Once again thank you all for your input en Chris and Vina
