leisure battery question is 50ah enough?

[justicewhittle]

I have read the Wiki and done some searching but i have a quick question to see if anyone can help, one of the previous owners of my van has put a cigarette lighter socket which sticks into the area for a leisure battery, because of the bad placement of this it only leaves me with enough room to fit this battery below,

http://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/buy-on ... d_103.html

Is 50ah enough to run eber and a couple of items such as 12v light or portable dvd player.

Thanks for advice

[dwayne]

Don't have an ebber (yet) but don't think this would run it for long as well as other things , I would be tempted to move the lighter to somewhere more convenient so you can put larger in there

[justicewhittle]

I thought that too but is quite handy right by the door, i just wondered if getting a 50ah battery was a waste of time or better to get a bigger battery,

[ringo]

Obviously, it depends how much you want to use it.

I would have said its fine for occasional use - but when you get to think about heating (and powering eberspachers in particular) then it wont last for more than a night or so unless you dedicate the battery solely to the eber.

However, if you run the van every day and only want to run the eber for the odd night then i imagine it would be fine. I say "imagine" because i have a 110ah leisure dedicated for the eber and two 55ah (one under each front seat) for the lights, tv laptop etc.

I hate nothing worse than the eber not starting in the morning.....

Give it a go and find out...

Ringo

[Cazz]

To find out how long the leisure battery will last, you neeed to work out the ah, (Amps used per hour) to do this you divide the watts of the electric item by the volts.

e.g. a 8 watt light, 8 divide 12 = 0.66ah
which means if nothing else was plugged into your fully charged 50ah battery, it would last for about 75 hours.

Most electrtic items have the watts on them somewhere, usually the back. It's just a case of working out what you will use and how long for.

[justicewhittle]

Thank you the advice has been really helpful I have decided to get a bigger 110ah battery and relocate the cig lighter.

[kevtherev]

get the biggest one that will fit in the battery compartment... I don't use leisure batteries just normal starters (cheaper) for weekend use they work well
A European code 096 will fit in very snugly and at 75 Ah is plenty for me with my DVD TV Stereo lights and Propex over a weekend (two nights) without Hook up

[kentishvanman]

Hi,
I have a 100amp Elecsol battery in the compartment behind the passenger seat.
This probably will not help but I have a new/unused Elecsol 110amp for sale at the moment.
Don