Van Conversion Guide : Including UK & USA parts by Nate Murphy

Author:Nate Murphy [Murphy, Nate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2018-10-06T06:00:00+00:00

If all you were running were these LEDs you could go 20 days without charging the battery. However, you will probably be powering more than just some LEDs.

Here are the calculations I used for my latest van: Component Watts Hours of a day Watt Hours LED Strip 3.6W/meter - 4m 14 6 84

LED Lights 0.6W each 3.6 6 21.6

12v Cool Box - cycles on/off depending on temps. 60 6 360

(25% of 24hrs)

Laptop charger 45 5 225 Heater Propex HS2000 1.4Amp - when cycling on. 16.8 4 67.2

(30% of 12hrs)

757.8

757 Watt Hours / 12V = 63.08 Amp Hours will be used per day

So, if I want to be able to run for 2 days with nothing charging the battery, I would need to have 63 x 2 = 126 Amp Hours.

Based on going no lower than 50% of charge I just multiply this by two. On this basis I will need a battery with approximately 250 Amp Hours of battery.

What type of battery? On my latest van I went for a 260 AmpHr AGM battery – AGM batteries are more suitable for off-grid set-ups (if you plan to spend more time hooked-up to mains then normal LeadAcid leisure batteries are suitable.)

As my calculations were a little worst-case, there is rarely 2 days with no solar or using the engine (split charge charging this will be enough for my needs.

This is the battery I installed; http://bit.ly/30TlVwl

If you are building in the UK,the guys at Alpha Batteries are very helpful and can alsohelp you determine what is right for yourneedsshould you need some extra guidance.

Why not cheaper normal car batteries? Leisure batteries have a longer discharge cycle to normal car batteries and are therefore much more suitable for charging appliances. They do tend to be a bit more expensive but they are the right batteries for the job.

Non-fully sealed batteries / vented batteries

Personally, I would not bother considering non-sealed batteries because they need external venting and periodic maintenance. See later in this guide for more info.

Lithium Ion batteries

These are pretty cool if you have the cash to burn. However, the reality is most batteries come with a three-year warrantee but should last at least 5 if looked after. If my battery cost £390 and is 260 AmpHrs (therefore 130 AmpHr useable due to not discharging under 50%). The equivalent for Lithium Ion batteries would cost about £1500 (You only need 130AmpHrs because Lithium batteries can be fully discharged).

On this basis, if my battery lasted 5 years each – you could buy 4 batteries for the cost of the Lithium equivalent; so 20 years of battery use. For sure, Lithium batteries are lighter and better on space – but for now (in my mind) the economics do not yet stack up.

Keeping check on your leisure batteries

Here is a useful table to tell you how charged your Leisure Battery is based on it’s voltage. Voltage Charge %

12.7 100%

12.5 90%

12.4 80%

12.3 70%

12.2 60%

12.0 50%

11.9 40% 11.75 30%

11.5 20%

11.31 10%

10.5 0%

Note that the voltage that displays on

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.