Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: davids3511 on January 08, 2013, 07:19:20 pm
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I bought a new 110ah leisure battery in August. I've never run it down to nothing and I've never overcharged it.
Today, after about 4 hours I had to drop the flow rate down as the battery wouldn't supply enough power to keep going. The pump was cycling every now and then.
The thing is, the battery was 13v this morning going on the van and when I connected up to recharge this evening it was 12.5v. According to the volts I should still have had plenty to keep going. The flow controller reads the volts as about 12.5v when the pump is dead ended but once the pump is running the volts are in the range of 11.5v to 11.1v.
I've checked all the cells, none are dry and none are furring. The electrolyte seems clear (from what I could see in the semi dark).
What's going on?
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Check your wiring and any connections, there may be corrosion limmiting current flow.
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Check your wiring and any connections, there may be corrosion limmiting current flow.
I had though that but wasn't sure. I'll replace the wiring and see if any different. Cheers.
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check your wiring and connections, fit a split charging relay in your van and you wont have to take it out or re charge it again
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I bought a new 110ah leisure battery in August. I've never run it down to nothing and I've never overcharged it.
Today, after about 4 hours I had to drop the flow rate down as the battery wouldn't supply enough power to keep going. The pump was cycling every now and then.
The thing is, the battery was 13v this morning going on the van and when I connected up to recharge this evening it was 12.5v. According to the volts I should still have had plenty to keep going. The flow controller reads the volts as about 12.5v when the pump is dead ended but once the pump is running the volts are in the range of 11.5v to 11.1v.
I've checked all the cells, none are dry and none are furring. The electrolyte seems clear (from what I could see in the semi dark).
What's going on?
You may be seeing volt drop along the cables. Ensure all the connections are good replace worn or corroded connectors and any damaged wiring. Also ensure the wiring is a short as possible.
I suspect the issue is volt drop along the cable
Have a look at this link as it has more info.
http://www.springltd.co/node/42
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You are overdoing things. It's nature's way of telling you that four hours is more than enough. Go home, put the kettle on and have a few biccies.
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You are overdoing things. It's nature's way of telling you that four hours is more than enough. Go home, put the kettle on and have a few biccies.
I know, I know. I'm working to hard again. Biccies - MmmmmmYUmmmm
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Could be the wires are too long. I left them long to give myself options of moving stuff around the van but I will chop them tomorrow and see how we go. They must be about 12 foot long, if not more.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
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which flow controller are you using , i am using a varistream which has no low batt warning on it and i know that once my battery drops below 12.8v the varistream does just the same as yours.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
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which flow controller are you using , i am using a varistream which has no low batt warning on it and i know that once my battery drops below 12.8v the varistream does just the same as yours.
It's a basic digital spring controller, the one that's rebadged all over the place.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
How about from the battery to it? And from it to the pump.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
How about from the battery to it? And from it to the pump.
All the same wire apart from pump to controller. That came with the pump.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
How about from the battery to it? And from it to the pump.
All the same wire apart from pump to controller. That came with the pump.
Strange then,
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
How about from the battery to it? And from it to the pump.
All the same wire apart from pump to controller. That came with the pump.
Strange then,
I bet its the length of wires. i'll know tomorrow and report back.
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Could also be the type of wire you are using too,
What wire are you using? What amp is it?
I'm not sure the spec, it's the wire that came with the flow controller. It should hopefully be in the right size.
How about from the battery to it? And from it to the pump.
All the same wire apart from pump to controller. That came with the pump.
Strange then,
I bet its the length of wires. i'll know tomorrow and report back.
Yer could be
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this is the kinda stuff that was happening to me but i think my problem is the battery , went for the 85ah £55 inc delivery from ebay
your batt seems way to young to go wrong i got 3 years out of mine and i was treating it quite badly letting it run down often
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Choped 10ft off the wire today and everything improved. The flow rate was better, where I used to have it on 50 now 42 gives the same flow. The battery was still showing 12v tonight when under a load or 12.6v with pump off.
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That sounds good then!
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That sounds good then!
Yeah, result. Though I was going to have to bring the battery back.
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Let's hope it stays good!!
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I had all these problems and also shortened all my wires. In the end I bought another leisure battery, and that worked okay for a short while and then I had the run about again.
Then my flow controller packed up and I have worked ever since without it and I still use my original battery and it easily pumps 1000 litres before I charge it again.
Flow controllers are too temperamental and are over-engineers pieces of rubbish which messes us about, cause stress and cost us money.
Well, that's been my experience of them. There's cheaper and simpler controllers on the market; I'd advise people to go for those.
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Firstly when checking the voltage it would give you a more accurate reading if you checked it at the end furthest from the battery so you can see the voltage your equipment is getting i mean its ok to say your batters is providing 12.5 v but if your equipment is only getting 10.5v then there is an obvious problem.
Voltage drop along your cable run could potentially be the source of your problem an this can simply be rectified by shortening your cable or increasing the cross sectional area (getting thicker cable).
Then again the fault may lie in the battery itself even if it is new the battery could have a dead cell which whilst connected to a simple voltmeter will show the battery as healthy and almost full charged but in reality under load conditions the battery fail. In order to check if your battery is the cause you could have it load tested (some garages will have a battery load tester) or while your problem is occurring connect your voltmeter to the battery then turn on the equipment and if for example you had 12.5 volts but when you turn on your equipment it drops to 9v then it is the battery if not look elsewhere.
First post please be nice.
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I had all these problems and also shortened all my wires. In the end I bought another leisure battery, and that worked okay for a short while and then I had the run about again.
Then my flow controller packed up and I have worked ever since without it and I still use my original battery and it easily pumps 1000 litres before I charge it again.
Flow controllers are too temperamental and are over-engineers pieces of rubbish which messes us about, cause stress and cost us money.
Well, that's been my experience of them. There's cheaper and simpler controllers on the market; I'd advise people to go for those.
totally agree
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I had all these problems and also shortened all my wires. In the end I bought another leisure battery, and that worked okay for a short while and then I had the run about again.
Then my flow controller packed up and I have worked ever since without it and I still use my original battery and it easily pumps 1000 litres before I charge it again.
Flow controllers are too temperamental and are over-engineers pieces of rubbish which messes us about, cause stress and cost us money.
Well, that's been my experience of them. There's cheaper and simpler controllers on the market; I'd advise people to go for those.
totally agree
How's yours going?