AutoSleeper Rienza vehicle battery issues

roli wrote:Well ours is under the offside seat base between the front panel and the inner wall of the gas locker (hope the gas locker is safe) It was originally fitted with a little 85AHr battery, not a lot of good for ralliers ok if you spend your life on hook ups.

You have me wondering if yours is done like some of the Rienzas where A-S didnt actually fit a habitation battery they used the auxilliary battery. Its no good Tony we shall have to see your van on a rally or somewhere and see the differences.

Roli - I was just wondering what you do for battery power at the rallies please? The reason we are looking at horizontal underslung gas cylinders is to free up the gas locker for a generator as we only have the small battery under the driver's seat, not much good for the Mrs hairdrier

I replaced the standard AS fit 85Ahr hab battery with an Exide 120 Ahr one after about 3 years when it failed.

I have an 85w Solar Panel that feeds through a regulator and battery master switch which charges a) The habitation battery, b) the Ford Auxilliary Battery and the c) the Ford Starter Battery

This is normally ok to keep us going without mains power. We have just returned from a trip where 4 nights without mains power at Peterborough Lakes (oops sorry Show) we then went on to a CL 4 nights and then a no power rally at Newark 2 nights and whilst there has been little sunlight during this period there has been sufficient light to keep the habitation battery topped up.

We dont overdo the TV and I run my Amateur Radio equipment from a 5in1 Power Pack Battery. This can also be used to charge the lappy and shaver via its invertor function

You are quite right to be cautious regarding the bosses hair dryer on battery I would steer my bosses via the pwer pack

As a matter of interest on the gas side I took out my 2 x 6 kg cylinders and fitted a 13kg refillable (GasIt)cuts off at 11kg and it has given me half the gas locker for storage without the expense of an underslug tanks

Firstly I would like to thank you for all the advice you are giving me. To give you a little background, it's nearly 20 years since I sold our caravan, which we used when the boy was a baby and we only went to sites with electric hook-up, so I have no experience at all on how long batteries will last and how much power I need for various things. I'm learning fast by using the websites, reading numerous magazines and, of course, the Forum. The locker on our Rienza is tight for the 2 x 7kgs gas bottles so I'm not sure if a bigger one would go in but worth a try. You mention that you have 3 batteries whereas I can only find 2, which are both under the driver's seat, being starter and habitation batteries. Would you mind letting me know where your auxiliary battery is please, I have looked under the lounge seats but there isn't anything under them, not even the pump, which I still have to locate! I have just had a look at Maplin's 5 in 1 power pack jump starter (as I didn't know what a power pack was) and it says 11 amps max for 12v socket whereas a 12v hair-dryer said it needs 15 amps so I don't think that would work - is yours a different power pack? Thanks again, Colyn

The third battery Or 2nd on some models (fitted by Ford) on the Mk 7 Transits is under the drivers seat.Regarding the Rienza / Hampshire, there has been extensive posting on here and other forums over the fact A-S seem to have used this Ford fitted battery as a habitation battery. If you are using 7kg cylinders you are using Butane most motorhomers use Propane (6kg) as this allows use most of the year and not just in the warmer weather.
My power pack is the Maplins 5in1, and to be honest I have never looked at its rating but it will run Liz's 12 hair dryer and also my 100watt Tranceiver (not at the same time!!)
A small generator if you feel you need additional power is ok but get a decent one that isnt too noisey and dont use in the evenings if you wish to remain popular (Honda are quiet and also market leader in compacts)

Hi Roli - we have had a chat and it looks like we're back to solar panels, our original idea, and not a jenny. We thought of these first of all but was thrown off by the hair dryer. Jill has always worried about the noise of a jenny as the reason we would be going to cl sites ourselves is for the peace and quiet. After looking on the net and reading what people have said about 12v hair dryers Jill is going to forego the vanity, have her hair cut and let it go au naturale I am now also going to look into having 2 habitation batteries so as not to run low if solar cannot top up quick enough if it's a dull day.

We were going for propane gas but they wanted £30 odd deposit per bottle where we bought the van so went with butane because someone else had given us a couple of empty bottles free of charge. As we no longer need the gas cupboard for the jenny we no longer need to go for the underslung gas bottles so we will look at the refillables when ours run out.

We're off to France in 5 weeks time, just for a week, but will probably go some somewhere with a hook up as we won't have time to get it all sorted before then! We realised this year was going to be a learning year but just didn't appreciate how much there is to learn so thanks for your help Colyn