Club 80-90 Forums

Hey Guys,

Couple of questions about leisure batteries if I may. I plan to install a nice leisure battery setup and was wondering what the current best buy is for these? I checked the wiki but could not find many of the recommendations so thought I would see whats hot at the moment.

On ebay I only found this advertised specifically for T25: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Volkswage ... XQKAtRJN1b

I do not have metal battery enclosure lids on my Autosleeper Trooper conversion and just a carpeted plywood cover which I could remove. The passenger seat has a Genuine VW swivel base I added but has had a rectangle shape cut out allowing full access to the battery compartment. Is 310 wide x 175 deep x 185 high my max dimensions or can I go upto 190 height as I have no cover?

Has anyone moved the starter to the rear and run 2 leisure batteries up front? Or does the starter battery act as a leisure on a split charge relay or is it issolated? I forgot sorry.

We have our starter and 2 leisure batts under our rear seat. Take up about half the width and the other half has our Eberspacher. Allows for bigger batts and also the split charger, fuses etc are all conveniently accessible. The space under the front seats now holds tools, spares etc.

Would second that. You end up paying almost twice as much trying to squeeze them in where VW put them, plus you'll always be limited by those dimensions. Works out more cost-effective (in the end) to alter the cables and put a leisure battery where size does not matter in the slightest. And I agree, the spaces left are much better utilised for tools or even cleaning materials.

Finally, this subject is on an equal with "what oil". Use the search feature - its been covered numerous times.

Some people put the whole lot in a rear cupboard so the starter battery is closer to the engine and has shorter runs.

On my underseat solution I put in a piece of rubber mat and wood to cover everything and still allow some storage on top - ensuring there is no risk of short circuits.

Thanks for the advice, I am interested in putting them in the rear seats but with a gas bottle. propex, speaker amplifier etc I wasnt sure there would be enough space.

I will have a nosey when with the van next and consider putting it there.

Cheers

Mine moved to the bottom of a cupboard at first. But, when I started altering the inside this year I pushed it back, right up against rear bulkhead as thats usually the least accessible part of the interior anyway, I just extended the cables accordingly and added a flap in case I did need to get in there. Theres enough space there for two whopping leisure batteries or whatever deal I strike on one at the time. Its hard to see how I could improve upon that position now and I'm not at all limited in space. Even a truck battery would go in there. Otherwise I have a propane tank, jack, tools etc under back seat. Mines a tintop so took some thought.

Just be careful.....Alpha use a different amp hour rating scale to everyone else! quote 12V 100AH 750cca @ 100 hr everybody else rates their batteries using the common 20 hour scale so that 100AH rating is actually something like 88AH @ 20 hr.

So the price is on the high side for what it is.

Martin