Buying a suitable caravan battery

[Acejase]

We have a Bailey Senator Carolina twin axel caravan seris 5 with an all wheel drive powrtouch motor mover. We feel that our battery is failing. The motor mover stops periodically and according to powrtouch when the battery drops below 12v the unit cuts out as one of its safety features. We were told by powrtouch that we need to buy a good quality 110 battery something like a varta. My problem is that the Varta will not fit the battery box. We purchased a £75.00 110 battery from our local caravan centre to fit our battery box but when fully charged only shows 12.5v on the amp meter in the van thus not showing the near 14v which is what I understand a good 110 battery should read. Can anyone suggest a suitable good quality battery to power the mover, to fit a senator battery box and to still be used as a leisure battery. We bought the cheaper battery not through choice but for the fact that it would fit in our battery box.

Any help would be much appreceated.
Thanks

 

[waffler]

You need the advice of a reliable dealer. We had the same problem last year. I previously bought a modern battery with a 5 year warranty only to find that when it shed a pile of lead sulphate over the negative terminal the warranty meant the maker collects it and if they find a fault fix it. Hence weeks with no battery!!!! This time I bought a Numark 100 amp hour. There are three types of battery. Starter batteries, leisure batteries and leisure batteries with a high cranking value. the latter is ideal for motor movers. It is capable of giving a steady current over a long time and also the 60 amps needed for the mover. Again my dealer explained that the 110 amp hour version might not fit in the box. Ours also has double terminals- ideal for a solar panel. Paid £99, 3 year warranty- return to dealer.

 

[waffler]

Sorry forgot to mention that when we had a series 5 senator i thought the on-board meter read about a volt low. Buy a digital voltmeter from maplins for about £10 if you need to check accurately.

 

[Damian]

First thing is NEVER rely on the volt meter in the van.
They are notoriously inaccurate. The only way to check battery voltage is with a multimeter across the battery terminals.
The van charger will only charge to 13,8v. It is advisable to charge the battery off the van with a multi stage charger to bring it up to full charge, and in winter to keep the battery at home and fully charged.

 

[Acejase]

Thank you very much for your reply. I think that there is more to buying a battery than i first anticipated. I will now look out for a leisure battery with a high cranking value. A good suggestion also to get a battery tester and not rely on the meter in the van.

Thanks again
Jason

 

[JohnGriffiths]

I fitted our first mover a few years ago and thought my 100 ah lesiure battery should cope OK as the van only weighed 1100kg full up. However it always struggled, cutting out every few yards etc. so when I changed to a 1500kg caravan I changed the battery.
As we always use electric hookup, and never use the battery for lighting or whatever I just bought a middle of the range car battery. It was cheaper than a 110 lesiure battery and much cheaper than dual purpose one and works perfectly every time. So IF you don't really use the 12v supply, just consider there may be another option.