Battery Type

[Obanboy666]

A proper leisure battery should be of the deep cycle type, less likely to be damaged by a deep discharge but not capable of the higher currents needed for engine starting. A proper 100Ah leisure battery is likely to weigh nearer to 30kg than 20kg.

It’s been mentioned often about a decent leisure battery should be 1amp @ 300grams so a decent 100 amp battery should be 30kg.
I went through most of the leisure batteries Alpha had and didn’t find one that met the above criteria.
The Trojan deep cycle we’re the nearest at approx 275gms per amp.

 

[wildebus]

just done the maths on mine ... 320g/Ah

(you'd be very hard pushed to find a normal battery hitting 300g/Ah. Only the very heavy duty Backup/Telecom Batteries manage it)

 

[nabsim]

It’s been mentioned often about a decent leisure battery should be 1amp @ 300grams so a decent 100 amp battery should be 30kg.
I went through most of the leisure batteries Alpha had and didn’t find one that met the above criteria.
The Trojan deep cycle we’re the nearest at approx 275gms per amp.

The pair of my 100ah batteries weigh less than that lol

They are Lifepo4 though but shows weight doesn't always mean a lot

 

[in h]

just done the maths on mine ... 320g/Ah

(you'd be very hard pushed to find a normal battery hitting 300g/Ah. Only the very heavy duty Backup/Telecom Batteries manage it)

My batteries are all heavier than that.

 

[wildebus]

My batteries are all heavier than that.

Excellent. Why not share what you have fitted to help others select.

 

[wildebus]

The pair of my 100ah batteries weigh less than that lol

They are Lifepo4 though but shows weight doesn't always mean a lot

I always thought you were a lightweight

 

[Obanboy666]

My batteries are all heavier than that.

Come on then what are they !

 

[in h]

Excellent. Why not share what you have fitted to help others select.

Two reasons:
1. The big batteries I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy. They're Fullriver DC240-12. Excellent batteries, but at just over 75Kg each, they're just too difficult to handle.
They were too good a bargain to pass up, but anything over 60Kg is just too heavy.
2. The smaller (only 95Ah) batteries seem to be labelled with codes which I suspect mean something to US Military but I can't find any reference to them anywhere, let alone find anywhere they are sold.

 

[in h]

A proper leisure battery should be of the deep cycle type,

Isn't that another way of saying there is no such thing as a leisure battery? It's just a marketing term.
A battery is either a deep cycle battery or it isn't.

 

[Okta]

Isn't that another way of saying there is no such thing as a leisure battery? It's just a marketing term.
A battery is either a deep cycle battery or it isn't.

Perhaps but I suspect there are degrees of deep cycle, with proper leisure being at the lighter end but heavier than engine batteries. I prefer LiFePO4 but that is a different discussion for another posting.

 

[craig9760]

This may seem a very silly basic question but how do you know if your batteries are leisure batteries?

I have two 'Oldham AGM115A' start/stop batteries in my van as leisure batteries. Am I right in thinking these are just large batteries the previous owner has used as leisure batteries but they actually arent? Would it be best to replace these with 2 actual leisure batteries?

The reason I am asking is the batteries do not seem to charge very well or hold their charge very long. Is this likely to be because they are the wrong type of battery or just that they are too old or may have been misused (run flat) previously?

they may need a very good charge