2nd battery to 2007 Symbol

I'm sure this question would have been asked before but I can't seem to find it. 

I'm thinking of fitting a solar panel to my 2007 Symbol. But before I do that, I'd like to start by fitting a second leisure battery to see if that alone, would suit our needs.
The obvious location seems to be under the offside bunk? 
Any advice please on: The second battery's location
                                 Things to avoid 
                                 Any alterations say to alternator our vehicle hab battery gauge.  
Any help would be appreciated or a pointer to previous threads on this subject.
Regards
P

After finding that the single 85amp fitted in my Symbol was totally useless, I decided to try to "shoehorn" in 2 110amp batteries.
I managed to get one under the driving seat & the other in the compartment housing the Truma & the Eberspacher.
These were connected using 5ft of extremely thick cables.
With 2 40amp panels on the roof this set-up is adequate for all my needs.

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here's the pic of the battery in the heater locker[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

mike
I could not see a breather pipe on your batteries

Neither could I and a very risky bare possible connection between the +ve terminal and the hold down strap/U bolts, any spanner dropped in there will be potentially dangerous. Insulating caps over both terminals is a very cheap option.

However, that's not the question!

I'd go totally the other route, fit the solar panel first, if the existing battery can be upsized to 100 or so Ah so much the better. That's all we have in a Warwick Duo, never get short of electricity  and virtually never use EHU. the panel is 100w, battery is 110Ah. If short of roof space, you can fit 2 or more panels of smaller sizes, google Photonic Universe for starters.

HI
No sure which shape Symbol you have as I think that 2007 was when the new shape X250 arrived which was the one I had.
I opted for 2 Varta batteries in BLACK battery boxes which fitted nicely across the back of the bench seat. 
Batteries
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Box
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Black box as they are lower than the white and yellow and have a flat lid so you can put light weight stuff on them. On mine there was a drop hole so venting was not a problem with a little pipe

Alternator no problem but check on board charger to make sure it can cope with extra
David

My point being, its much better to have one good battery in constant charge which is precisely what solar achieves.
Any lead acid battery is only truly happy and healthy when full!
So going solar first and, perhaps (probably) not needing the 2nd battery is the better option IMHO.
Also worth reading past posts on here related to the difficulties experienced re connecting two batteries simultaneously and having each taking an equal share of the load.

I will admit to being solar biased, but that's because it works. Where my truck is parked right beside my house here is a 230v external socket, which could be used to charge VB and LB, it never is as it doesn't have to be.

Your call though your toy!!

one advantage with the two large batteries is that they will both be fully charged when you arrive at your destination, giving you 220AH if available power (notwithstanding depth of discharge...).
for many people, depending on touring style, this might be more than enough for several days even without solar of any kind.
i know folk who move on after two or three days and a large, ready charged supply works better than a small(er) battery that relies on solar to top up....
obviously big batteries and generously sized solar is great....best of both?
however, getting the off grid supply 'right' is always going to be a balancing act between battery capacity, replenishment ability and usage....main touring area and season might well influence design.
UK in winter means little solar input, whereas Spain might mean solar tops up each day without issue.
we have 2x 95AH plus 100w solar and this is fine for us most of the time..
our main issue is charging ebikes via an inverter which is a whole different ball game.
good luck.

Just to add another thing to watch out for and you can take this as a plus or minus for both sides of the solution.
My current van (2015) purchased from the converters in 2018 (Ex mobility they bought back as it only had 3000 miles on) came equipped with two 120 batteries and a 150w solar panel.
The batteries were banner (said to be maintenance free so sealed top) anyway always has a good charge showing so left alone until I spent a week rally in Ireland with Motorhomecraic when I ran out of battery after 3 days of light use (in a pub most nights well you are if with MHC) 
3rd day had sunshine and batteries showed fully charged but died again quickly, the batteries on removal (Hidden in black battery boxes secured with screwed down clamps under one of the seats so a real sod to get at) showed they had only about a 50% liquid level and so in fact were only good for scrap.
Anyway the morale of this long winded story is that a solar panel can keep you going but unless you do regular checks on the battery they can dry them up much quicker than normal and unlike me (at 70 never to old as they say) need to get them out to check the levels.
I was lucky as I still had the two Varta batteries mentioned above  as I had put the AS back to original before trade-in

There are more questions then answers as the song goes. Our van, is one of the last pre X250 David so room on top is limited even if I were to remove the aerial (something I've not used in the 5 years of ownership) to fit 2 X panels. I've looked at the Phontonic Universe, Ian and you're right they do have a good range of stuff. Chris you make a valid point when it comes to touring style. We very rarely stay in one spot for more than a couple of nights and prefer to move around a lot but things do change and that may not be our style in the future. Solar energy is moving on in leaps and bounds. So for now, I think I'll go with Mike's idea, but with the added omissions and 2 X 90aH Varta batteries.
Thanks one and all you've been a great help.
Reece

Reece

As you've found, asking advice from others on this, and other, forums brings up all manner of answers, quite possibly things you may not have considered.
This is a genuinely helpful forum, as I hope you have found.
Good luck with whatever path you take, it's your toy!

Thanks Ian. All the replies have help to lift the fog. I think I'm going in the right direction for the time being. Who knows!

Heanorboy wrote:Just to add another thing to watch out for and you can take this as a plus or minus for both sides of the solution.
My current van (2015) purchased from the converters in 2018 (Ex mobility they bought back as it only had 3000 miles on) came equipped with two 120 batteries and a 150w solar panel.
The batteries were banner (said to be maintenance free so sealed top) anyway always has a good charge showing so left alone until I spent a week rally in Ireland with Motorhomecraic when I ran out of battery after 3 days of light use (in a pub most nights well you are if with MHC) 
3rd day had sunshine and batteries showed fully charged but died again quickly, the batteries on removal (Hidden in black battery boxes secured with screwed down clamps under one of the seats so a real sod to get at) showed they had only about a 50% liquid level and so in fact were only good for scrap.
Anyway the morale of this long winded story is that a solar panel can keep you going but unless you do regular checks on the battery they can dry them up much quicker than normal and unlike me (at 70 never to old as they say) need to get them out to check the levels.
I was lucky as I still had the two Varta batteries mentioned above  as I had put the AS back to original before trade-in

Heanorboy
 I fit lots of  solar panels and controllers for people but only fit mppt controllers and my own last camper the batteries where 10 years old and had never run out of power and where fully sealed tops
what make of controller did you have as it clearly was not controlling the charge to be boiling them dry as you have said
you say the batteries where sealed but then say they only had 50% fluid covering the plates .if you have got level caps you should be checking the levels even when the battery says sealed if it has caps I top up the levels.
to help with what was asked at the start of this post. yes 2 batteries is best and wired as I had explain in freelanders post solar installation has started . the reason is the more you discharge the battery the more you eating into the battery life. also by having solar will help top the batteries back up each day. with out solar will also be  discharging the battery very low and then when you start up and the vehicle starts charging will make the batteries gas more from the heavy charge and damage the batteries and is why you kit out your vehicle as to your use

Glyne thank you for your explanation very helpful. The batteries as I said were Banner said to be sealed but as I did not know unlike proper sealed batteries they did have level caps so were not really sealed for life.
I have found comments on several forums concerning Banner Batteries owners who had been thought the same and ended up with dead batteries.
So sorry not trying to mislead and appreciate that what I should have made more clear like you have to check your batteries often especially if you have solar as with the panels charging all the time you may get misreadings and think they are OK and are not
So thanks again Glyne

Mikemelson
This is what you could fit to make the + safe[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

glyne lock wrote:Mikemelson
This is what you could fit to make the + safe[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All my terminals are normally covered so I have no worries about shorting.