Mike Y
Member
Hi all - I'm after some advice...
The previous owner of my 2017 T6 Caravelle Executive had a leisure battery fitted by a conversion company... but they've used a wet lead acid leisure battery and a VSR under the driver's seat which (if I understand correctly) is not really best practice given the starter battery is AGM and has a smart alternator!
I'm not sure why they routed the wiring all the way over to the other side of the engine bay and fitted everything under the driver's seat, because under the passenger seat is pretty empty with just the standard OEM wiring/fuses etc...
Anyway, the starter battery I think might be original (Varta 75Ah AGM) and is beginning to struggle occasionally in the cold weather so I've ordered a Varta 95Ah AGM to replace this. Question is, would there be any befefit in removing the lead acid leisure battery and replacing it with the old AGM starter battery instead? - At least then both batteries would be the same chemistry (although different Ah capacities) when connected together by the VSR (altough I think the starter battery is a bit taller at 190mm vs 175mm )
It's a Caravelle not a camper, so it's only used for charging devices or plugging a powered coolbox in whilst travelling/day trips - we could probably manage without the leisure battery if I'm honest (and just have a 12V socket that's only switched live whilst driving), but seeing as the wiring is all there and the old starter battery would just be taken to the tip otherwise... obviously the ideal would be a DC-DC and small lithium battery - or even just a Eco-Flow/Bluetti power station and a way of charging it while driving - then we coud also use that camping - but can't really justify the cost at the moment!
Varta 75Ah AGM starter battery:
What would you do?!
The previous owner of my 2017 T6 Caravelle Executive had a leisure battery fitted by a conversion company... but they've used a wet lead acid leisure battery and a VSR under the driver's seat which (if I understand correctly) is not really best practice given the starter battery is AGM and has a smart alternator!
I'm not sure why they routed the wiring all the way over to the other side of the engine bay and fitted everything under the driver's seat, because under the passenger seat is pretty empty with just the standard OEM wiring/fuses etc...
Anyway, the starter battery I think might be original (Varta 75Ah AGM) and is beginning to struggle occasionally in the cold weather so I've ordered a Varta 95Ah AGM to replace this. Question is, would there be any befefit in removing the lead acid leisure battery and replacing it with the old AGM starter battery instead? - At least then both batteries would be the same chemistry (although different Ah capacities) when connected together by the VSR (altough I think the starter battery is a bit taller at 190mm vs 175mm )
It's a Caravelle not a camper, so it's only used for charging devices or plugging a powered coolbox in whilst travelling/day trips - we could probably manage without the leisure battery if I'm honest (and just have a 12V socket that's only switched live whilst driving), but seeing as the wiring is all there and the old starter battery would just be taken to the tip otherwise... obviously the ideal would be a DC-DC and small lithium battery - or even just a Eco-Flow/Bluetti power station and a way of charging it while driving - then we coud also use that camping - but can't really justify the cost at the moment!
Varta 75Ah AGM starter battery:
What would you do?!
