Nuevo ES changing leisure battery

Hi

I have a 2004 Nuevo ES and I need to get the leisure battery out to either charge it (no access to power where the van is ) or possibly replace it as doesn't seem to holding its charge (discharges quite quickly when the van is not in use)

I noticed that the panels under the drivers seat front and back are held on by velcro and was wondering whether it was possible to slide the battery out after removing the two clamps (one at either side) and wires from the terminals, or do I have to take the drivers seat off to get the battery out.

Someone out there must have done this before!!

Hi Flynn,
We have a 20004 Lancashire ES, the Marquis special version of the Neuvo, and the answer to your query is if it still has the origonal battery rather than a smaller one Yes. It helps in removing the seat bolts if you part rotate the seat so that you can get at the hexagan head bolts.


Brian

Hi Murph,

Thanks for the input will be doing it tomorrow will let you know how I get on.

Hi Flynn,
When changing the lesuire battery, if you spend much time without electric hookup, (rallies, wild camping, shows, etc) I would recomend fitting another battery of the same size under the passenger seat, mine is fitted in a plastic crate screwed to the floor, and connected to the origonal battery by wiring running down through a hole in the floor,( possibly the drain pipe hole, as not all batteries have drain pipes)and back up through another hole which you will have to drill under the passenger seat this will double the time you can spend without having a flat battery.


Brian

Hi,
Thank you all for the various advice.

I have now removed the battery and replaced the 85ah Green power battery with 100ah Elecsol battery which is a no maintenance leisure battery that I bought for a Bongo I used to have.

http://www.elecsolbatteries.com/products/Leisure-Batteries/Elecsol-100.html

The battery fits perfectly between the front and back floor mounted stays but is a fraction to long to go in=between the clamp bolts at either end. The solution was to simply "nibble" away a little bit of the lip on the bottom of the battery where the clamp bolts are. This is not part of the main battery body but an added bit to enable clamping.

It was a bit awkward getting the font seat bolts out and I had to invest in a ratchet driven 5mm alan key to get the rear alan screws out.


I can't put an additional battery under the passenger seat as this space is already occupied by some audio equipment. Not sure that we need one as we haven't been on many jaunts of more than one night without hook up so not sure how long battery would normally last on it's own.

Hi Chris,
Glad to see that you are aman after my own heart, if its feasible to make it fit do so, rather than saying the lugs are in the way, we will have get a smaller battery, as many would, Hope your elecsol serves the purpose for a long time.

brian