Buying Second-hand spare battery

[ChrisH]

Our new van has a Phantom Tracker fitted and I am told that the caravan battery must always be fitted for this to work.

As the nearest secure storage site is 22 miles away, I have always taken the battery out of previous vans, to keep the charge topped up at home. There is no hook-up available at the storage site.

Although we use the van quite often, there are sometimes periods when it will not be used for several months.

I have considered fitting a solar panel to keep the battery topped up, but this is expensive and I am advised may not be sufficient to keep the battery topped up in the winter.

So the only alternative appears to be to buy a spare battery, keep this charged up at home and drive down every 6 or 8 weeks and swop them over. Unless anyone can think of a better alternative....

In order to minimise costs, I might look for a second-hand leisure battery. Can anyone please advise on what to look for - how can I tell if a battery is in good condition (I don't have any sophisticated testing equipment). Are batteries usually marked with date of manufacture?

Any thoughts / advice appreciated - this must be a problem that others have faced?

Thanks

Chris

 

[Parksy]

We have a Phantom tracker / alarm fitted to our caravan which is kept in storage.

The power consumption of the tracker is minimal, our 110 a/hr leisure battery lasted from October last year and we used the caravan again two weeks ago with no problems.

If you don't want to risk the battery becoming discharged anyway why not look for a new leisure battery from a budget range, I've seen them from around

 

[ChrisH]

Well, that is interesting Parksy - thanks for the info.

When I spoke to Phantom I got the impression that 3 months was the maximum before the battery would be discharged.

I am aware that a battery will become damaged if it is allowed to run flat, but if you left your van from October to April, then we would have no problem because we would normally use the van within a six month period anyway.

Our battery is 110Ahr as well.

Thanks - that just shows the value of this Forum !

Chris

 

[bengibbons]

Buy a new good quality caravan battery. To keep my battery in tip top condition i have bought a solor pannel trickel charger from Maplin electronics whitch cost me