Leisure Battery not needed?

[Johncoopers123]

Hello members, i'm a newby here

im currently converting my T6 kombi into a more leisure style van by adding a forty winks shelf with a folding mattress
Electrically i already have a selection of low powered LED down lights installed running from the starter battery with no issues
im only going to be adding a night heater to the electrical load that i intend to use on hook up only pitches
I have installed the lower seat bases with swivel bases to maintain the head room
Rather than struggle to find a battery small enough or install under the van would it makes sense to just put a mains hook up on the van to link to a battery charger to maintain the starter battery
this will save a lot of weigh and keep things very simple

thoughts please, thank you in advance

 

[sparkzer]

What you say will work fine, your charger needs to able to cover the additional loads you will be drawing out of the battery and have some headroom to top off the battery also. You just have to be mindful of if you run your night heater for any reason with the hook up off (lets say a breaker trips in the night), then you might wake up in the morning with a flat starter battery so you will just have to be careful (and have a set of jump leads/starter pack handy!).

deepening on the age/condition of your starter battery, you could consider upgrading it to a larger one to give you the best possable chance.

 

[DXX]

If you do want to put a battery under the drivers side cill:

Under Body Leisure Battery Storage - New Wave Custom Conversions

Another vehicle specific product designed and developed by team NWCC. The T5-T6 under chassis battery housing designed to house two Leisure battery’s under the drivers side footwell fitting neatly under the vehicles chassis plastics. Manufactured using 2.5mm laser cut Galvanised steel, picking...

www.newwavecustomconversions.co.uk

The Odessy Xtreme 2x 45Ah batteries are another £500 approx’.

 

[Johncoopers123]

If you do want to put a battery under the drivers side cill:

Under Body Leisure Battery Storage - New Wave Custom Conversions

Another vehicle specific product designed and developed by team NWCC. The T5-T6 under chassis battery housing designed to house two Leisure battery’s under the drivers side footwell fitting neatly under the vehicles chassis plastics. Manufactured using 2.5mm laser cut Galvanised steel, picking...

www.newwavecustomconversions.co.uk

The Odessy Xtreme 2x 45Ah batteries are another £500 approx’.

Thank you, great advice
Looking at the batteries they use if I lay one on its side it will fit under the seat?
Tonight’s task to measure

 

[DXX]

Thank you, great advice
Looking at the batteries they use if I lay one on its side it will fit under the seat?
Tonight’s task to measure

There are far cheaper batteries that will do the job in the van. Odessy Xtreme are for designed for exposed conditions.

 

[Johncoopers123]

I installed the lower seat bases that reduce the height by 30mm so ideally a small battery would be good and avoid any further complications

 

[roadtripper]

If you have a small space and smaller loads then one of the more compact lithium based leisure battery would give a lot more storage than traditional lead acid, but the upfront cost is a bit of a hump to get over.

For light loads I'd try your plan first as none of that investment would really be wasted and if it works for your use, bonus!

I might be tempted to get one of the low voltage cut off devices and run your camping loads off that for safety. Something big like the Victron one is probably overkill, but potentially peace of mind if you are going to install it. If it's really only a few amps for lights there are a few generic modules around on Amazon eBay in the £10 ish range - definitely box them, fuse them both sides and only load them up to 50% of the rating on the relay.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Hello members, i'm a newby here

im currently converting my T6 kombi into a more leisure style van by adding a forty winks shelf with a folding mattress
Electrically i already have a selection of low powered LED down lights installed running from the starter battery with no issues
im only going to be adding a night heater to the electrical load that i intend to use on hook up only pitches
I have installed the lower seat bases with swivel bases to maintain the head room
Rather than struggle to find a battery small enough or install under the van would it makes sense to just put a mains hook up on the van to link to a battery charger to maintain the starter battery
this will save a lot of weigh and keep things very simple

thoughts please, thank you in advance

If you’re only going to use the night heater when you have EHU, you might as well save a bundle of cash & faff and buy a cheap 2kw fan heater. That’s what we use on EHU. The Webasto is only used off grid.

 

[Dannyb6467]

I run my heater for 2 or 3 nights no problems...then again I do move sites after that time so it gets a good charge in-between. Like said above though, a small 2kw electric heater is best if you're only using hook up.

 

[jimc91]

Or a small oil filled radiator, quiet to run with adjustable heat control

 

[Shaun Witts]

I also use a small 800W radiator (oil filled) when on EHU. It fits between the front seats (which are usually swivelled around) and does a great job of keeping the van toasty. I only ever use my Webasto when off-grid overnight.

 

[roooms]

Would something like an Ecoflow not be easier to use? I’ve just moved to that from a leisure battery.

Note that a single 45ah odyssey is going to give you very limited capacity hence the under van cage holding two.

 

[Shaun Witts]

Would something like an Ecoflow not be easier to use? I’ve just moved to that from a leisure battery.

Note that a single 45ah odyssey is going to give you very limited capacity hence the under van cage holding two.

There is certainly a strong argument for using something like an EcoFlow. If I was starting again, then I would probably do away with a leisure battery, but keep the EHU wiring, only with a dedicated hook up to either charge an EcoFlow when on EHU or power from it when off-grid.

 

[TrevorK]

If you’re only going to use the night heater when you have EHU, you might as well save a bundle of cash & faff and buy a cheap 2kw fan heater. That’s what we use on EHU. The Webasto is only used off grid.

https://www.anker.com/blogs/home-power-backup/how-to-run-diesel-heater-all-night-with-portable-power

Thought this might be useful.
I use fan heater on EHU, and have found my Webasto won't fire up from the leisure battery if I have been off-grid for more than a day.

 

[t6blo]

Ecoflow and other portable battery banks have definitely disrupted the traditional leisure battery approach.

Based on your use case I would just go as simple as possible - EHU and a 240v oil filled radiator.

I have a Kombi with very minimal 12v needs (Wi-Fi, CCTV camera, occasional iPad charging, 2x LED lights) and my EF Delta Mini runs this with ease and recharges daily from solar on the roof or 12v ignition feed when engine running.

I also use the EF inverter to power a Velvetiser hot chocolate maker and a portable camping kettle.