Solar powered battery charger

Jul 31, 2010
1,285
0
19,180
Visit site
As I use a Powertouch mover to park the van in storage, which entails a lot of manoevreing to get in a tight space, the battery tends to run down very quickly. Has anyone tried these solar powered charger, if so any comments please.

Steve W
 
Mar 14, 2005
120
0
0
Visit site
I am convinced that leisure batteries are not up to the job of driving a Mover. I use a fairly small standard car battery (from a Metro) and have absolutely no problems. I use the mover a lot - in fact it would be impossible to park my van on my drive without it. I very rarely use sites without hook up so can't comment on how well this battery would perform under "normal" caravan conditions, i.e low load over a long period. (Having said that, I used to have a van in the 70's and always used a large car battery. This lasted 2 weeks in Cornwall driving lighting, pump and a B&W TV). If you think about it my arguement makes sense - the mover requires a high current for short periods, exactly what a leisure battery is NOT designed to do. Hope this helps. I have had no problems for 4 years touring France for 6 weeks each year.
 
Mar 14, 2005
17,557
3,051
50,935
Visit site
Hello Bill,

I agree with you about a car battery coping with the demands of a mover, but they do not like modest discharge currents over long periods as you might require to run a caravan where there is no mains hook up available.

Where I disagree with you is that "leisure" batteries are modern name for "Traction" batteries. These batteries are designed for battery powered vehicles, (milk floats, fork lift tucks, motorised wheelchair and invalid carriages). They can cope with the peak demands of a caravan mover which last for a fraction of a second whilst the motors start to spin. Under normal running conditions the motors typically only draw a maximum of about 25A under heavy load. These magnitudes of current are within the capabilities of a properly maintained leisure/traction battery, and the battery should be able to go to provide adequate power for the rest of the caravan for a few days at least.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts