Batteries

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orangemikey

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I am currently looking at replacing both of my leisure batteries and if i cant source some used ones in the next couple of months i am going to buy new.
Looking at new batteries is it better to buy one big leisure battery around 140-180ah or buy 2No smaller 80-90ah batteries and why?
Assume that both batteries are same manufacturer with same spec and warenty etc. Only going to be used for leisure as i have seperate starting battery.

Thanks
 
2 smaller easier to physically handle
i have 1 engine 3 domestic`s all the same 115Ah battery from Batterymegastore free nxt day del


orangemikey said:
I am currently looking at replacing both of my leisure batteries and if i cant source some used ones in the next couple of months i am going to buy new.
Looking at new batteries is it better to buy one big leisure battery around 140-180ah or buy 2No smaller 80-90ah batteries and why?
Assume that both batteries are same manufacturer with same spec and warenty etc. Only going to be used for leisure as i have seperate starting battery.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
if you try the caravan shops they are usually good on prices. They seem to sell a lot of 85 amp hr leisure batteries. When you look at the cost per amp hr these worked out cheapest for me. I installed 3 of these for as domestic bank
 
orangemikey said:
I am currently looking at replacing both of my leisure batteries and if i cant source some used ones in the next couple of months i am going to buy new.
Looking at new batteries is it better to buy one big leisure battery around 140-180ah or buy 2No smaller 80-90ah batteries and why?
Assume that both batteries are same manufacturer with same spec and warenty etc. Only going to be used for leisure as i have seperate starting battery.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You should always buy new, and you can buy whatever size you want provided it fits the space, I've seen a lovely 240amp battery on a bus, and they are only £140, depends what you want though, if a single battery dies you have nothing if you have 2 or 3 then you can remove one without losing power.
 
I removed 4 x 110Ah Tudor batteries from my boat in May last year as I was going on an extended cruise for a few years. I replaced them with 4 x Trojan T105s.

They are still in my garage and have been kept on charge so should be in reasonable condition. I did capacity checks about 12 months ago and have the figures somewhere but think they were approx.
ex. Engine 100% capacity
ex. domestic bank 95%, 70% and 68%

I was reluctant to sell them for scrap and figured a friend might use them but he'd just bough new batteries. PM your rough location if you are interested. I'd be happy to get scrap value for them and am driving to see relatives in England soon, so delivery might be possible.

It's a long shot for you but I imagine that they'd get you through another season if you already have a much smaller bank.
 
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Thanks for the replys and links,
So it seams that there is no real difference between having 1 large battery or 2 seperate batteries. There may even be an advantage to having 1 because it involves less wiring and you dont have the problem of charging the 2 at the same time.
Mistroma, many thanks for the offer but i see you are in scotland and i am in southampton so probably a bit far!
 
No problem, I'm going to be driving to Norfolk and possibly Oxford then Bristol so thought I might be passing if you were anywhere North of London. They would have been a nuisance to lug around but I thought I might be able to help. Southampton would be a bit too far out of my way.

Good luck. Try Tayna as well for batteries, prices are usually similar to BatteryMegaStore but you can often get another 2.5% discount via their Facebook entry (don't know if that's still on offer but I might still have the code somewhere if you want to try).
 
geem said:
if you try the caravan shops they are usually good on prices. They seem to sell a lot of 85 amp hr leisure batteries. When you look at the cost per amp hr these worked out cheapest for me. I installed 3 of these for as domestic bank
Click to expand...

I agree with one proviso. Smaller outlets may have batteries on the shelf from who knows when. At least ask when the stock came in.
(I've tried deciphering battery date codes without success-)

Nick
 
orangemikey said:
Thanks for the replys and links,
So it seams that there is no real difference between having 1 large battery or 2 seperate batteries. There may even be an advantage to having 1 because it involves less wiring and you dont have the problem of charging the 2 at the same time.
Click to expand...

There's no problem charging both at the same time; you just wire them in parallel. My preference would be two batteries, simply because I find very large batteries extremely heavy and unmanageable to lift on to and in to the boat. You'll also find that it's usually much cheaper to buy two 90-110Ah batteries than one 180-190Ah battery!
 
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With one battery, you are stuffed if you get a cell failure. With two, even if the duff one brings the good one down, you can disconnect it and charge the other with the engine (assuming you have a separate start battery) and keep on sailing. In engineering terms it's called "redundancy" and this is a good thing.
 
sailorman said:
http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/products/group/?c=Battery&a=Boat

UOTE=geem;4022561]if you try the caravan shops they are usually good on prices. They seem to sell a lot of 85 amp hr leisure batteries. When you look at the cost per amp hr these worked out cheapest for me. I installed 3 of these for as domestic bank
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]

Ordered 2 x 110ah plus link leads and connectors from battery megastore last night. They arrived about 10 this morning, no charge for delivery, good service! :D
 
I would have thought two separate batteries would have been better, so that you can use one for domestic and one for engine starting, that way you won't suddenly find that you cannot start your engine.
 
chrisjrob said:
I would have thought two separate batteries would have been better, so that you can use one for domestic and one for engine starting, that way you won't suddenly find that you cannot start your engine.
Click to expand...

The original post said "Only going to be used for leisure as i have seperate starting battery."
 
orangemikey said:
Thanks for the replys and links,
So it seams that there is no real difference between having 1 large battery or 2 seperate batteries. There may even be an advantage to having 1 because it involves less wiring and you dont have the problem of charging the 2 at the same time.
Mistroma, many thanks for the offer but i see you are in scotland and i am in southampton so probably a bit far!
Click to expand...

Ferneaux Riddall in Portsmouth have a good deal on 115AH Exides at the moment
 
KellysEye said:
A leisure battery sould be a deep cycle battery as used in golf carts. Trojan T180s are an example, they are six volts so require two in series. That's what we had. They may sell 12v.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Trojan T-180 batteries, I've only seen T-105, T-125, T-145 etc. in 6V. Note that Trojan 12V batteries tend to have much lower predicted lifespan vs. 6V range.

Their 12V range seem to be what most people call "leisure" batteries i.e. Suited to the odd bit of deep-cycling and also engine start duty.

The 6V range tend to be deep-cycle batteries commonly used in golf carts. i.e. Not leisure batteries and not really suited as engine start. Good for cheap deep-cycle use though.
 
I need to order new batteries soon, one for house, one for starter, on the verge of ordering 2x Enduroline EXV90 deepcycle/starter batteries £175 but maybe a specific starter battery might be better. I think both batteries have to have the same amps/AH!? They have different positives through a 1,2,Both switch but share a negative lead.
 
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