Club 80-90 Forums

As I said early..there is no doubt that trojans offer a good solution but again...nothing in that information leads me to the same conclusions as yours: this says to me trojan will last longer than a leisure, in life and sustained power.. fact.FACT? thats stretching it a bit isn't it......Why should stated capacity be taken to mean MORE than it is?Infact I draw the oposite conclusions based on your quote: They may be referred to as "Marine/Motorhome" batteries, or "leisure batteries". So WIKI classes TROJANS as MARINE/MOTORHOME OR LEISURE BATTERIES based in it's own description......nothing different there then.

The point is there have been mainy advancements is battery technology since Lead/Acid. Pretty much all the manufacturers have embraced these advancements and have their own product line ups competeing very well along side Trojan, Certainly not trailing behind in it's footsteps. Lets not forget: Those Americans are very good and talking themselves and their products up, they are the masters of marketting.

Again I say GREAT BATTERIES but nothing that can't be achieved using good quality leisures.

And purely an observation: but what happens when you are in the middle of knowhere and one of these fails? you are left with ONE unusable 6volt battery Unlike a traditional multi leisure setup...you just pull out the duff battery and you still have 12volts!

Martin

I think one advantage to Trojans is they can be run down to almost 20% of their capacity and happily be recharged. From my limited knowledge of Batteries, i have read that a leisure battery shouldn't be run down past 50-80%. For me thats not good enough as I wantt to run a compressor fridge when I go to festivals for 3-5 days. I have had a leisure battery run my fridge for this length of time, but after a summer of abusing the leisure battery it died – which is no surprise.

I am wanting 2 x 6v trojans so I can abuse them. If i am wrong on any of the above, please someone tell me because I wont bother with spending the money on Trojans.

Like I say.....other battery manufacturers have adopted the same technology as Trojan and have products that can 'run down' to the same levels.

I could look for a Lucas or Bosch quote from somewhere but I've really had enough now. (from memory: Lucas Ultra Deep Cycle range are capable of)
500 CYCLES 70% DEPTH OF DISCHARGE
Look......I am not trying to rain on anyones parade...Trojans are very, very good batteries but they are being talked about on here as if other much bigger battery companies (Bosch/Varta/Lucas/Yuasa) have been somehow left in the past......THEY HAVEN'T.

Martin

500 ... pathetic..
We disagree then .. I won't try convince the flat earth society that the earth is not even round

8 Volt batteries? eh!
Crown?
US Battery?
One make I recognise Excide.
When was the test done/against what other battery types
Manufacturers that we actually recognise
Products with similar technologies

Can you remember Kirby Cleaners....door to door salesman selling this absolutely wonderful vacuum cleaner at over a thousand pounds a pop?
Like I say...Americans are the best Salesman in the world.

Martin

Same technology within to compare.. but your not even looking
traction batteries compared to leisure batteries lol..what's the point everyone knows they would out strip them.

Ah but... as you say, a battery is a battery... or is it a sink

Is anyone else reading this and thinking ....................

BOXY wrote:Is anyone else reading this and thinking ....................

No....



No, I'm pretty sure it's just you...

kevtherev wrote:Same technology within to compare.. but your not even looking
traction batteries compared to leisure batteries lol..what's the point everyone knows they would out strip them.

Ah but... as you say, a battery is a battery... or is it a sink

I luv U man...........

You're not wrong kev.....but then you are also being a little bit bias me thinks.....

Good batteries them there CONDOMS. designed to keep things going for hours.

Martin

Hours!
In my dreams..

BOXY wrote:Is anyone else reading this and thinking ....................

The irony of a helmet.

In August last year, I asked fellow 8090 member and Trojan battery convert,'Nesty' about his set up. Here are some of his views on Trojans from the PMs he sent me.




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Yes I use Trojan traction batteries. The best purchase I made for my T25! They weren't cheap I paid £230 for the pair in 2008 (might be more now).

I quite rate these batteries. I have been away to Scotland (1month) & to Wales 3 weeks & didn't need pick up for any night!

They won't fit under passenger seat in usual battery box, so you lose some slight ""cock"" pit space. I have mine just behind the passenger sit next to the leisure.

I also have a usual 110ah Leisure in conjuction with the trojan. (Though the 110ah without the trojans only last 2 days). They power the additional auxlairy fuse box I installed & the trojans are charged by Raw compentants split relay.


The trojans are not cheap. Though doing the maths. They paid for themselves 3 times over, as I am not paying out extra £4 a night for hook up.



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My decison was based on the size of them, cost and the power output compared with one big 12v leisure battery.

My trojans combined are 550ah. To get a single 12v I would have to pay +£400 for the same output in 12v. Also it would be bigger size.

Everying is Auxlairy/leisure is powered by the trojans.

Radio with Amp
Gas Propex heater
water pump
Internal lighting
external lighting (big fog lights; when needed) Can just leave them on when camped up
All 12 V sockets (which I plug TV, laptops and other stuff into)

My decison was based on the size of them, cost and the power output compared with one big 12v leisure battery.

My trojans combined are 550ah. To get a single 12v I would have to pay +£400 for the same output in 12v. Also it would be bigger size.

This is the sticking point here surely.
He previously mentioned that his 110ah (standard) battery would last 2-3 days with his rate of consumption.
The Trojan set up he has lasts much longer, but that's because its an equivalent 550ah battery. (agreed, the discharge characteristics of a Trojan type battery are very good which will help to an extent)

But when it comes to comments about size, to compare this set up of 6v batteries linked in series with a 'single 12v battery is a little unfair. I say this because multiple 12v batteries of any size/dimensions could be linked up in parallel to create a battery bank equating to the 550ah's that is obtained from the Trojans.

I personally have a 300ah set up in my van made up of 3x100ah (8hr rate) telecommunications batteries. This provides me so much power i have also never 'needed' to plug my van in, i have recently installed a Ctek 25A charger (M300) just in case i ever run them down that they need a proper charge, but this charger also allows me to use it as a power supply, so if i am at a campsite with hook up, i can plug in, run all the equipment in the van as much as i like (including 240v stuff off the inverter) and leave the campsite with completely 100% charged batteries.

To be honest though, the Sterling alternator to battery charger that i have does it's job so well that i have only used the Ctek charger to see if it actually works.

So far my system:

Sterling a-b charger £130 (off ebay)
Batteries £150
Ctek charger £190
Cabling (estimate) £50

Total - £520

I know this price sounds high for the purpose of this conversation, but it's worth bearing in mind that this provides a completely automatic zero voltage loss split charge system and very intelligent 7 step 25A mains charger (that also comes with a 0.8A starter battery conditioner) as well as the batteries.

In terms of a decent electrical set up, i always think it is worth spending more money on the equipment you will be running from the battery (ie getting low consumption stuff such as a compressor fridge for example) as this kit will last for years and years, whereas batteries fail, fact!
Also, with a multiple 12v set up in parallel, you can remove a duff cell from the bank if and when one of them does fail.

If anyone is interested i can get hold of the 100ah telecommunications batteries for £50 each....

Vlux....I'm not in the market for any batteries but that sounds very good to me..£50 a pop for 100ah batteries is brilliant, a couple of these would be ideal for most setups I would of thought, Power against physical size of storing etc.

Martin

The batteries i can get are used, ie second hand.... however...

They have spent their life to date sat in a cabinet on constant charge and have almost never been discharged. They are used for mission critical back up systems for telecommunication set ups.
Basically meaning they are only there for if there's a power failure, which there very rarely is.

Periodically these batteries are replaced as part of a maintenance schedule, there's absolutely nothing wrong with them but they have to be replaced due to legislation.

So this is why the batteries are available at this price, which is a MASSIVE saving over what they would cost if you were to try and buy them brand new. (they're not all that far off the price of the trojans at retail)

In case you're wondering, the reason i can get these is because it's the job i do. I work with battery testing, maintenance and install for utility companies.