Hi All,

I am newbie here.

Thanks for accepting me into the collective and Happy New Year to you all.

Just bought a Hymer Starline 640 2001 vintage. It has Electroblock EBL 104-3. I don't see a switch for Gel battery charging. Am I stuck with lead acid batteries? I emailed Hymer but they couldn't assist.

Thanks in advance.
Deano.

I made a suggestion on the other thread,

A and N Caravan Services may well be the best people to approach for advice, they are a VERY sound and helpful company who know these units and their quirks.

http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.u...ektroblock.php

They are probably better than contacting the manufacturer directly since they service these units rather than just selling a replacement......

Thank Penguin will try them now.

Best Deano.

Any joy?

Thanks again Penguin. I emailed A and N and got a quick reply from Martin. It seems the 104-3 is obsolete and was designed for a single wet battery up to 100Ah. Martin says I could fit a gel battery but as there is no way to switch between wet and dry it would not reach its full charge and its end of life would come sooner than expected. So back to wet battery for me.

Thanks all.

Glad that you, me and so many others found AandNcaravan services to be helpful and VERY efficient, I have always been very impressed by the quality of their answers and tgeir speed with which they respond.

So, no gel batteries for you, like us, but that saves money since wet batteries are readily and fairly cheaply available whereas gel can be very much more expensive to buy.

We use Tayna Batteries to supply, once again, a company that is rapid and efficient and offers an excellent speed of service, coupled with good advice and great prices.

We are in France and using Tayna were able to change 2 wet batteries fully filled etc., and delivered to us here at a price of less than one such battery in France where you have to fill the acid yourself- a separate purchase. Tayna delivered them in 47 hours but, sadly I doubt that service is now available due to Br.... 😢

https://www.tayna.co.uk

Thanks once again Penguin.

Here in Bulgaria they seem to have many options for wet batteries and from what I can see, as you say, they are a lot cheaper at least than AGM and Gel. My camper seems to have 2 X 100Ah wet living area batteries fitted. I reckon they are about 4 years old but after a 20 hr mains charge the winter heating lasts only about 6 hours or so with almost no other things switched on, apart form the fridge (which seems to have stopped working from yesterday ... phew?). Ill get the batteries tested as I think they may be on the way out, hence my original question re use of another battery type with the EBL 104-3.

Anyway thanks for your most useful link to A and N !!

Deano.

I'd be reading the AandN site re having 2 x 100Ah batteries. It may be worse than having one.

Thanks I'll have a look.

I sent a faulty Electroblock to A&N about 5yrs ago.
Spoke with Allan (very sorry to hear of his passing) who explained in simple terms why my Electroblock had failed.
Sent it to them and got a Fully Reconditioned Unit back a few days later.
I cannot praise this company enough, they really are good.

I also use Tayna Batteries for replacements, difficult to beat on price & service.

I have nothing to do with either of these companies other than being a very satisfied customer.