 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Dual battery woes |
 
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| jst Member Since: 14 Jan 2008 Location: Taunton Posts: 7682  
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I have a national luma In my 110, as you say connectors not good.
For my 130 build I used a blue sea setup. I picked it up 2nd hand. It has manual override but no voltage display. To provide this I just fitted USB chargers that had voltage readings. One on main batt and several on the leisure batt. Battery wise I run numax leisure batts for both starting and aux. Cvx 27s or 31s. Aboyne £80 each. Have had them 9n 110 for ten years. Cheers James 110 XS Utility 130 Puma Station wagon/camper (in the making) 90 Puma Hardtop |
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16th Aug 2022 11:03pm |
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| Mungopark Member Since: 08 May 2017 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 15  
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We run a NL system and had exactly the same scenario, with a Yellow top giving up after two years. I have replaced both batteries with an 80 and 100ah Enduroline batteries and I am persevering with the NL system for now. I was looking very closely at a Victron DC DC charger and running one of their bluetooth shunts to monitor draw (currently use a cheap/homemade one off ebay).
Andrew st Pierre white has 'strong' opinions on the drawbacks of solenoid split charging and merits of DC DC, principally Solenoid not achieving quite enough voltage to get a battery to 100%, which DC DC can provide. Although this seems to be a matter of debate across the tinterwebs. |
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17th Aug 2022 8:45am |
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| bear100 Member Since: 22 Mar 2010 Location: South Wales Posts: 1867  
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Thanks guys
The more l look the more Optima negative I see and the more DC DC is mentioned. I don’t know anything about DC charging, you mention mungopark a Bluetooth shunt is this an app that displays the vitals etc? 2016 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 TDV8 2010 110 XS Utility 2.4TDCI 2010 Range Rover Sport TDV8 (gone) 2007 Discovery HSE TDV6 (gone) 1993 110 csw 200 tdi (gone) 1994 90 HT 300 tdi (gone) 1994 discovery 300tdi (gone) 90 hybrid 3.5 v8 (gone) Range rover bobtail 3.5 v8 (gone) |
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17th Aug 2022 11:25am |
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| bear100 Member Since: 22 Mar 2010 Location: South Wales Posts: 1867
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By the looks of it an Orion Victron non isolated charger is ok to use with a non smart alternator, so this will open to allow the alternator to charge the aux battery and act as a charger too? 2016 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 TDV8
2010 110 XS Utility 2.4TDCI 2010 Range Rover Sport TDV8 (gone) 2007 Discovery HSE TDV6 (gone) 1993 110 csw 200 tdi (gone) 1994 90 HT 300 tdi (gone) 1994 discovery 300tdi (gone) 90 hybrid 3.5 v8 (gone) Range rover bobtail 3.5 v8 (gone) |
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17th Aug 2022 11:35am |
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| Jerry Member Since: 13 Nov 2015 Location: Cardiff Posts: 168 
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Have lithiums come down in price yet to be viable?
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17th Aug 2022 11:43am |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 3995 
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If you are using a standard split charge system (not dc/dc) you’d be better not using an AGM battery of any sort I reckon, instead use 2 matched wet cell dual purpose battery like the old favourite Varta LFD90 or it’s newer EFB replacement. I think Yuasa do them too. My reasoning for this is that an AGM has different charging requirements that I don’t think the Defender Alternator is designed for, so AGM never gets properly charged, resulting in not getting full capacity and a shortened life. A Dc/dc system can potentially help here, but it adds a lot of cost and the chargers themselves are quite bulky. I wouldn’t use an AGM as a starter battery at all, just unnecessary expense for no gain.
As a side note, a lot of car manufacturers moved to AGM starter batteries when stop/start systems came in as the battery gets discharged and cycled far more than in a regular car. There have been a lot of problems with batteries failing early and they are now switching to wet cell efb batteries instead as they are more robust. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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17th Aug 2022 12:01pm |
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| piechipsandpeas Member Since: 12 May 2021 Location: Albany, Western Australia Posts: 168  
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I also have a yellow top optima as a second (under seat) battery and Traxide DT90 dual battery twin isolator. No issues with the Optima after 3 1/2 years.
Traxide are very well regarded over here in Australia. Not sure if available from a UK supplier but you can buy from them direct (traxide@traxide.com.au). Looks like their website is undergoing maintenance / upgrade at the moment.  Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge |
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17th Aug 2022 12:17pm |
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| macfrank Member Since: 05 Nov 2015 Location: somewhere in the north Posts: 986  
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The "controller" doesn't control the solenoid's normal operation. You can unplug the controller and the soleloid will still do its work, i.e. open and close at voltage levels and after 5 mins. delay. Yes, that plug is garbage, so I have fixed the plug/cable, too. I've had no problems with it in 6 years, using two similiar lead acid batteries (original Varta and a 100Ah deep cycle gel Ective). |
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17th Aug 2022 8:19pm |
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| Mo Murphy Member Since: 01 Jun 2008 Location: Letchworth Garden City, Herts Posts: 2077 
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I do think Numax batteries offer best bang for your buck so to speak ! I've had several over the last few years, both leisure and starter, and none have really been looked after but all lasted at least 6 or 7 years.
Mo The Land Rover 90 - Many are called, few are chosen. |
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18th Aug 2022 2:20pm |
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| Bill1919 Member Since: 04 Mar 2017 Location: Dorset Posts: 47 
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Click image to enlarge As Bluest said if you are going to use an AGM it is essential you use a DC-DC controller. I have the original starter battery and an Odyssey AGM with a CTEX controller. Installed two and half years ago no problems so far. 1988 110 csw 2.5Td (19J) (gone) 1992 110 csw Tdi200 (gone) 1995 110 csw Tdi300 (gone) 2015 110 XS csw 2.2 puma |
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18th Aug 2022 5:43pm |
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| bear100 Member Since: 22 Mar 2010 Location: South Wales Posts: 1867
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Ive moved from Barcelona this morning and currently just outside Arén on the Pyrenees, the weather is much cooler here than in Barcelona and now the battery seems to be working a lot better, so the 10c difference has made a big impact!
Lost faith in it though. As mentioned lithium would be great but still that stretch to far! Macfrank how did you fix your controller? 2016 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 TDV8 2010 110 XS Utility 2.4TDCI 2010 Range Rover Sport TDV8 (gone) 2007 Discovery HSE TDV6 (gone) 1993 110 csw 200 tdi (gone) 1994 90 HT 300 tdi (gone) 1994 discovery 300tdi (gone) 90 hybrid 3.5 v8 (gone) Range rover bobtail 3.5 v8 (gone) |
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18th Aug 2022 9:04pm |
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| macfrank Member Since: 05 Nov 2015 Location: somewhere in the north Posts: 986
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I glued it to the side of the cubby box, but could be anywhere. The cable is secured by a cable tie through a stick-on cable-tie holder (don't know how it's called), around the plug. This takes the strain from the connector. Not perfect but could easily be removed if needed.
I couldn't find a picture where it is clearly visible, but in this earlier picture, before I fixed it, I drew a red line to show you where: Click image to enlarge |
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18th Aug 2022 9:42pm |
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| bankz5152 Member Since: 02 Feb 2017 Location: South London/North Kent Posts: 2063 
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Given that I used my 110 everyday, i just linked my batteries together without any VSR relays or split charge systems. Starter battery monitored off a dash voltmeter, aux off a bluetooth monitor.
Never skipped a beat in 4 years of use. Battery wise just the largest Ah that would fit from a decent brand. Think I had two 120ah Exide batteries. Instagram @defender_ventures Empire Tuning - Agent |
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18th Aug 2022 9:47pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 07 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1829 |
Like Bear100 I had a yellow top give up the ghost at the beginning of our trip this year. We were lucky that we were mainly planning campsites (quieter in the June off-season) so our answer was to buy hook up cables. We have a blue sea VSR system. But when I began researching solutions the quote above more or less reflects where I got to - considering a DC-DC controller which it seems would give a better charge for AGM batteries and allow a solar panel to be integrated. Or I could just go much simpler and revert to more basic batteries. I feel I've still a lot to learn, as well as more work to do to decide just what our requirements are. Mainly posting here so that I can get thread updates. Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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18th Aug 2022 10:34pm |
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