Evening all. I have a Swift Challenger 408, 2003 caravan. The battery has given up the ghost, I'm looking for a new one, but unsure which is a good brand, or where to look for a good one?
you ought to look at what you are going to need out of it , do you have a motor mover fitted to your caravan? if so do you have to go a decent distance , or up hill regularly.
do you go on electric hook up or do you rely on battery for weekends etc
what size is your original battery?
much more information needed, to provide any reasonable answer
We have no motor mover, we have a generator to top up the battery as we don't do electric hook up.
We normally only go away for 4 nights at the most.
The original battery was a 95AH.
Keep a careful eye on the dimensions of your battery box. We used to have a Bailey and changed to a Swift caravan and found that the battery box in the Swift was not as tall as the one on the Bailey and our battery from the Bailey only just squeezed into the Swift battery box.
As mentioned Tayna batteries online supplier is probably cheapest ime. Search online for their website & click leisure batteries. If you do off grid then go for at least what you have 95a/hr. Tayna website gives dimensions of the batteries so measure up your battery box before ordering. Tayna normally deliver within 2 days.
Biggest issue with buying Online to save a few bob is if there is an issue with the battery, it is very difficult and nearly impossible to return the battery plus the cost of returning it. We now pay the extra and buy local.
Not always correct.
I had a faulty one within a few weeks of purchase, got in touch with supplier, they said let us know when it's packaged and we will have courier pick it up.
After a few days replacement battery arrived, no problem.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
The outlets mentioned above are reliable, but beware of 'bargains', especially on some online outlets/auction sites, there are still poor quality (usually obscure brand) car starter batteries (falsely!) re-labelled as leisure batteries out there, they are false economy as they will fail prematurely compared to a proper leisure battery, especially with your kind of off grid usage. Proper leisure batteries have different construction to car starter batteries and a greater capacity/durability for the kind of deep cyclic duty they are put too.
As mentioned, check ALL dimensions carefully and allow a little bit extra for the terminal connections, and for the cabling to run to the locker exit point. The same capacity rated battery from different manufacturers can have different dimensions! - some may fit, some may not if nearing locker max size capacity!
Second hand batteries are generally not worth the risk even if 'nearly new'! It only takes one excessively deep discharge, or a period left discharged to seriously damage/compromise the battery beyond recovery to it's claimed capacity.
Quote: Originally posted by blueexpo97 on 29/12/2022
Not always correct.
I had a faulty one within a few weeks of purchase, got in touch with supplier, they said let us know when it's packaged and we will have courier pick it up.
After a few days replacement battery arrived, no problem.
Our issue was with a well known supplier mentioned in this thread and they wanted us to arrange the courier, pay the courier and once they had tested the car battery they would refund us. A place local to us tested the battery and it was them that said something had gone wrong.
Mine was also with a well known supplier, maybe you just got them on an off day.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Our last battery was a 110ah NUMAX which lasted a bit over 8 years. This included loads of use of the motor mover and the majority of our trips were off-grid using solar and refillable gas.
Current battery is a 110ah X-PRO made by the same people but around 25% cheaper.