When we were away in the South Island the batteries that were installed in the van began to fail. I require the 12 volt power to be available all night for a piece of medical equipment and the inverter was screaming flat battery at about 3am and after that no more sleep for me. So on arrival in Wanaka the local Auto Electrician installed new wet cell deep cycle batteries. This was all well and good except extra batteries had to be sent up to Wanaka from Dunedin and the ones delivered were slightly different from the one on stock.
The net result was one marine grade battery and one industrial grade battery. What is the difference you ask. Well the marine battery has screw caps over the cells and is sort of sealed as a consequence. The industrial battery has push type cell covers and is not sealed at all. During charging batteries are designed to boil, it is how the electrolyte is mixed. However, the industrial battery wept slightly and the design of the case allowed electrolyte to leave the case and where it is situated meant the electrolyte is leaking into the wooden locker space (not recommended).
The new battery box
The way to fix the problem is to install a battery box to contain any leakage. This now created another problem in the some of the cables are now not long enough. To overcome this dilemma, is to install an intermediary connector block (or Buzz Bar). The cables that were too short were the negative cables because the battery box for the industrial grade battery by nature of its design had to be moved further away from the other battery. I have the positive cables on one battery and the negative cables on the other so that current flows fully between the two batteries. When they were both on the same battery they were OK for length but not now.
The new BUZZ BAR
The full layout can be seen below. I am happy with the end product. At least on the negative side of the circuitry there is the minimum number of cables on the battery terminal. I am not a fan of lots of cables hanging off battery terminals. I will tackle the positive side at a later date as that side will need to have a fuse in the circuit and maybe a on/off switch. Had to do to day’s exercise as wood and sulphuric acid don’t mix so a remedy was urgent.
The complete arrangement
From the above picture it can be seen all of the positive cables terminating on the positive battery terminal. The black box on the front of the right hand battery is the OZ Charge 21amp multistage battery charger. The white object to the right of the battery box is the Attwood hot water heater.
The original batteries that were installed in the van were AGM 100amphour X2 and one would not hold a charge but when ever it was taken back to the supplier it performed faultlessly. I could not get it to hold a charge however they could and to date it is still holding charge but I have lost faith in these batteries so I will stick with the Wet Cell Deep Cycle batteries currently installed. I approached the local agent to change the industrial grade battery for a marine grade battery but as it was some 2-3 months since it was installed it could not be exchanged as it is now second hand. I wish I knew all these details at the time.
Original Installation of AGM Batteries
Oh and the AGM Batteries above are just over 12 months old. The other benefit to all these changes is our amp/hour rating has increased from 200 amp/hours to 250 amp/hours.
BATTERIES I’ve HAD THEM!
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