Show us your Driver/Pax Seat Leisure Battery setups

[T6DSGChris]

everyone going roamer seatbase?

guys at 12v planet really dont speak highly of thee for some reason?

think i need to put a few coins together and do..

 

[Salty Spuds]

everyone going roamer seatbase?

guys at 12v planet really dont speak highly of thee for some reason?

think i need to put a few coins together and do..

Personally I think the Roamer seat base battery is too big, both physically & capacity wise. It needs a whole dedicated seat base to fit it in, which I don’t have. And for most people, 230Ah is overkill. We have a 100Ah lithium and only on a couple of occasions have we run it down to below 20%. And that was skiing in the Alps in February. I think 150Ah would be the sweet spot for a small camper such as ours. That would leave space under the seat base for the MPPT & B2B.
Obviously just my opinion for what it’s worth.

 

[Dellmassive]

I had twin AGMs on the cotek 1500w inverter and constantly had issues with low voltage warning from the inverter, so I had to run the engine on high loads.

I swapped those out for a 138ah Valence lifepo4 which solved the volt drop issues.(but they had no internal BMS in that configuration)

So I swapped that out for twin Poweroad heated 100ah lifepo4's but only fitted one. Due to space to issues.

Then I swapped for twin Renogy 100ah,s . But again only fitted one.......

I was looking at building a battery box in the back.... To add the second lithium.

Then the Roamer 230sb was announced..... That gave me the 230ah to play with and 250/500A to enable the 2k inverter.

..


For us, run time was an issue with one 100ah lithium. (We tent camp, but was using the van as a EHU point)

We was doing 5day off grid. Running twin compressor fridges, led camp lighting, charging usb devices, running a bit off telly and some wifi etc.

And found the 100ah dead after a couple of days....so had to add solar to try to top it up.

Running 400w Mobile solar wasn't enough to stay powered. (Due to UK summer weather conditions)

So the only options was to run the engine.... And let the DC-DC charger put some power back in.....but not ideal having the van running for 3hrs on the campsite.

My next option was to increase battery capacity..... Ie twin battery setup.

Or the Roamer 230....


That's my ride, and yes I'm a power user compaired to a standard campervan.


.......


For ballance I've run the Bluetti ac200max which is 2000wh... With the same camping setup and had thr same result..... Flat after two days.

 

[Dellmassive]

Also worth noting that the bigger inverter you to have the bigger it's standby power draw is.. .

The Bluetti will loose 1%/h just sitting there doing nothing.

That's 12% overnight, 24% over a day... And flat after 4days.

So again we have to use solar to try and top it up.



...
We now also take the spare 100ah lifepo4 battery boxes with us to add to the mix ..... The incase the solar is poor .

 

[bobbybasic]

everyone going roamer seatbase?

guys at 12v planet really dont speak highly of thee for some reason?

think i need to put a few coins together and do..

what do 12v Planet say about Roamer?

 

[Dellmassive]

Personally I think the Roamer seat base battery is too big, both physically & capacity wise. It needs a whole dedicated seat base to fit it in, which I don’t have. And for most people, 230Ah is overkill. We have a 100Ah lithium and only on a couple of occasions have we run it down to below 20%. And that was skiing in the Alps in February. I think 150Ah would be the sweet spot for a small camper such as ours. That would leave space under the seat base for the MPPT & B2B.
Obviously just my opinion for what it’s worth.

@Salty Spuds

( @RoamerBatteries ) they offer a 160A version too . .

Lithium LifePo4 12v Batteries - Time For An Upgrade?

and a B2B charger a solar panel an MPPT some cable some heat shrink bus bars chrimper cable cutter stripper( we'll talk about that one later :rofl: ) mega or midi fuses..........it don't matter which type of van you have a combi a camper what ever.....there always gonna be a whole host of...

www.t6forum.com

 

[T6DSGChris]

invertor only goes on at the time of use, never on standby tbh.

12v planet just mentioned do some research they dont seem as clever as people make out.. but maybe thats just so you buy theirs?

 

[ThreeBridgeT6]

Inverter, if switched on but not pulling current, still uses power. Mine (3kW) pulls about 10% in 24 hrs. (Sorry @T6DSGChris - I think I misunderstood your point that you only put it on when you want to use it)

 

[T6DSGChris]

no worries im just trying to understand everything... it was simples on the old school system..

i need to throw some money at the job... I will...im just in house move money hell at the moment.. (even borrowing out of my company) so once this settles we'll go balls deep and sort...

im thinking lithium and I seem to think from lots of research and chatting amongst us that the smartpass will drag the extra amps when needed..
even 12 volt planet got this wrong...it takes what it requires as and when not force fed...checked as i was bemused..

if im well out or being daft feel free to let me know. I'm ex tech but 15 years out of touch..

 

[Dellmassive]

The CTEK 120 smartpass is basically a glorified relay.

It's rated at 120A, or 350A for 10sec.

But as above,, it doesn't generate or push 120A..... It just allows a max throughput to be drawn from the alternator.

That's not the issue here....

It's the energy management system on the T6 van that runs the smart alternator....and keeps the battery @ 80% SoC and deals with regen braking...it meters out the voltage and power from the shunt on the vans neg battery terminal.

The alternator mostly freewheels when the engine is running keeping a system voltage just above the static battery voltage.

We've found that you can force the alternator to a higher voltage by drawing a large load....IE heated seats,

The problems were evident with relays and VsR,s that most of the time the voltage wasn't high enough to properly charge an AGM leisure battery.

Let allone a lifepo4.



........

Official CTEK 120 spec:

Input
11.5–23 V, 120 A (350 A temporarily for 10 seconds)
Output
120 A (350 A temporarily for 10 seconds)

..

 

[Dellmassive]

More info here....

Stop/start...regen...smart Alternator... Dc-dc Charger For Leisure Battery Or Not?

So With all the talk regarding the Bluemotion thing and regen breaking and leisure batteries our T6 has finally arrived. The first thing we done was to checkout the factory fitted setup,...... Stop/start=check, Regen Braking=check, AGM starter battery=check leisure battery under passenger...

www.t6forum.com

And here....

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

DC-DC Charger (for Leisure battery) -- How I Done It -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[T6DSGChris]

think I've read through a lot of these.

i did some tests and likewise... got more from the front if you loaded her up, air con, heated front and rear screens, heated seats etc...

Im just wanting off grid oomph when needed now and then... not to be...christ its going to take hours just to charge her u p and then its reaaaally not going to like the amp drain..

 

[Dellmassive]

Renogy 50A DC-DC charger any good to you?

Sold - RENOGY DCC50S 50A DC-DC charger + BT2 Bluetooth adapter

RENOGY DCC50S 50A DC-DC charger + BT2 bluetooth adapter +++ i was running a couple of these, this one now available for sale, as its been sitting about for ages. £190 + UK shipping or delivered to Busfest-22. +++ 50A dc-dc charger, but can be set to 10/20/30/40/50A via APP has all...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Salty Spuds]

@Salty Spuds

( @RoamerBatteries ) they offer a 160A version too . .

Lithium LifePo4 12v Batteries - Time For An Upgrade?

and a B2B charger a solar panel an MPPT some cable some heat shrink bus bars chrimper cable cutter stripper( we'll talk about that one later :rofl: ) mega or midi fuses..........it don't matter which type of van you have a combi a camper what ever.....there always gonna be a whole host of...

www.t6forum.com

View attachment 171381

@Salty Spuds

( @RoamerBatteries ) they offer a 160A version too . .

Lithium LifePo4 12v Batteries - Time For An Upgrade?

and a B2B charger a solar panel an MPPT some cable some heat shrink bus bars chrimper cable cutter stripper( we'll talk about that one later :rofl: ) mega or midi fuses..........it don't matter which type of van you have a combi a camper what ever.....there always gonna be a whole host of...

www.t6forum.com

View attachment 171381

That’s more like it

 

[Goodwin3122]

This may be of interest…

Roamer 230SEATBASE4 - 12V 230Ah Seatbase LiFePO4 Lithium Battery

The Roamer 230SEATBASE4 is a low profile 12V 230Ah LiFePO4 battery for install under a campervan seat. Includes 300A continuous discharge, active balancing, Bluetooth and plug and play integration with Victron. Free delivery, Roamercare, 10 year warranty and 5 star support from the UKs leading...

roamerbatteries.com

Does anyone know if this would fit under t6.1 seat base ??

 

[Deaky]

Does anyone know if this would fit under t6.1 seat base ??

Yes, @Dellmassive has one

 

[RN7]

120ah agm under my passenger seat with a ctek. Pretty tight fit but there’s enough room for the wiring etc and I have a swivel on top.

 

[adnsuz]

Hi @adnsuz have you run a live cable from the vehicle battery to the driver's seat yet? Can I ask you how much cable you used please? Also what size cable? Have you run the neutral also or connected the battery negative to the vehicle chassis?

Cheers, Dave C

Hi Dave,
sorry for the tardy reply, but only just completing teh above work now.
We did not measure the length of the wire, but it was 10mm standard battery cable, running from battery tray, thru the bulkhead, to drivers seat, I would suggest that buying about 4m should be plenty with a little left over, and remember that you might well find a use for some of the left over before you've finished the project or associated items.
I'm afraid i was not available when my brother in law did some of this work for us, so i cannot advise regarding the negative side of the circuit.
Ad

 

[EcosseExile]

12V 105AH Jenox AGM Leisure Battery - Alpha Batteries

Made in Europe and Exclusive to Alpha Batteries Designed for a wide range of purposes, for long-term discharge applications and […]

www.alpha-batteries.co.uk

I need to replace the battery under my driver's seat. It is mounted side to side at the back of the seat box due to heater and B2B kit.

I know the max height available is 190mm which this battery meets, but is it suitable for this application and does anyone have one?

Cheers in advance,

Martin

 

[Horsewhip]

Heya folks.

Another battery size question I’m afraid. I’m looking and putting a Renogy DCC50S 12V 50A DC-DC On-Board Battery Charger with MPPT, fuse box and bus bars under there too.

Has anyone got any tips on what battery will fit? My next step is to mock up the sizes with cardboard boxes and play a bit of underseat Tetris, but figured I'd ask.

I'm not going to be running anything too heavy, but would like to go for the highest AH possible and Lifepo4 chemistry.

Also, would temperature possibly be an issue?

I'd love to see some pictures of folk's setups too.

Ta!