Class A - Higher capacity batteries for those who frequently spend extended time away from an electrical hook-up. Firstly, it's a great idea to line up your most-used electrical items and find out how much power they'll use up. Obviously, if you're topping up your onboard heating with a portable oil-filled radiator in the winter, you'll need to have factored that into your battery requirements. Caravan Motorhome has put together a handy equation that should help guide you to which leisure battery is best for your needs: This is why a caravan’s 12V accessories should not be run directly from a charger – i.e. without a battery installed in the supply system. Battery anatomy

We offer a range of batteries that vary in terms of size and capacity including various types of car batteries. All of our batteries are graded according to the NCC Leisure Battery Verification Scheme which classifies them into three categories according to their capacity and intended purpose. Class A batteries are suitable for frequent off-grid usage and power-hungry appliances like kettles and TVs; Class B and C batteries are better for limited off-grid use. Leisure batteries are mostly used for motorhomes and caravans, and marine use. They sit at 12v - and only 12v (except for power stations with built-in inverters for mains power). They release their charge in a controlled, smooth flow. Standard leisure batteries are typically used with low-power devices. Depending on their Class rating and capacity, they can be used with kettles and TVs, fans and lights. Your leisure battery needs to be maintained in good condition to give consistent performance. In fact, running a leisure battery down until it’s empty could cause unnecessary and permanent damage. It’s safe to use up to 50% of your leisure battery’s charge, after which it’s advisable to recharge it. Moreover, in a genuine leisure battery, these envelopes also contain glass fibre sheets to press against the lead oxide paste held in each plate. This combats the tendency during constant re-charging for the paste to become loosened and then completely detachedfrom the lead grid.Category C is for users that require a lower capacity battery to cover basic operation of their habitation equipment for short periods away from a hook-up From this information decide what size battery will likely be needed depending on how long you are away from a charging source. It is likely that this is not enough to meet your needs and will have to consider a top up charge. This will be covered in more depth in the Battery Charging guide. Scottish Highlands - AB36-38, AB55-56, FK17-21, IV1-39, IV52-54, IV63, KW1-14, PA21-40, PH19-26, PH30-41, PH49-50 Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4) batteries are another form of very deep cycle battery. They're self contained units with their own on-board charge manager. Having elminated lead they typically weigh half as much as an equivelant output lead-acid battery so the weight saving is a benefit. They can also be fully discharged and recharged and during the discharge cycle they can retain a stable voltage level and they can be rapidly recharged.

The 12V equipment in a caravan or motorhome relies on a leisure battery. This important item is not normally supplied with a new caravan whereas most new motorhomes have one as standard. Batteries that are designed to start a vehicle are made differently from batteries specifically intended to run caravanning appliances. This is because their operating requirements are different. For instance a vehicle battery has to provide a high current surge to start an engine, but once that has been achieved, a vehicle’s alternator immediately replenishes the power it provided. So bear in mind that conventional lead-acid batteries are not able to perform both starting functions and accessory supply functions with equal effectiveness. However, products called AGM batteries, described later, are better at performing both operations. Leisure batteries’ two-fold tasks

Best leisure batteries of 2023

Whereas a 12V battery is unlikely to cause electrocution, if the terminals or their couple cables are shorted-out, it can cause a fire. An AGM battery has lead plates in each cell and the manufacturer uses a machine to add highly compressed glass fibre into each compartment. The fibre then absorbs the acid electrolyte. During manufacture, air is also drawn from the casing and a pressure relief valve is fitted. These processes render the finished product more costly than a conventional ‘wet lead-acid’ leisure battery but AGM products can generally achieve many more recharging cycles – thereby achieving a longer working life. Apply a thin film of grease or petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, to a battery’s terminals (see right).

As with any battery, the elements of a leisure battery degrade over time and the performance will decrease. We recommend you replace your battery after five years, even if the battery is holding up well. Can I use a car battery? In Japan, battery failure is the largest complaint among new car owners. The average car is only driven 13 km (8 miles) per day and mostly in a congested city. As a result, the batteries will never get fully charged and sulfation occurs. The batteries in Japanese cars are small and only provide enough power to crank the engine and perform some rudimentary functions. North America may be shielded from these battery problems, in part because of long distance driving. Standard starter batteries (sometimes referred to as calcium batteries, cranking batteries, lead-acid batteries, wet batteries).For example : If a light bulb used only 1 ampere in an hour then a 50Ah battery could light up 50 light bulbs for an hour. Alternatively it could power 1 light bulb for 50 hours* Temperature– The stated capacity of a battery is expressed in Amp hours (Ah) but the quoted figure is only applicable when the ambient temperature is 25C. In reality, there are many occasions in the UK when it’s much colder than 25C and for every one degree drop in temperature, there’s an approximate one per cent reduction in a battery’s Ah capacity. The average car battery will have an Ah rating somewhere around 50Ah. The 50Ah means that it can push 12 volts out at a rate of 50 amperes in an hour.