Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dazmond on September 09, 2013, 07:14:16 pm
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75 ah leisure battery died on me today after an hours work after charging it up overnight with an intelligent smart charger(halfords £40). >:(
luckily i had a car battery on charge and nipped home to swap it to allow me to get my scheduled work completed.
the reading on my flowcontroller said it was 12v(fully charged)is this too low?after swapping it for the car battery it was reading 13.2.is this about right?
my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!
could it be a case of it sitting on the shelf for a couple of years which would of effected its life?
not happy as the battery cost me £80.
anyone else have a short life out of batteries?
thanks in advance guys
dazmond
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75 ah leisure battery died on me today after an hours work after charging it up overnight with an intelligent smart charger(halfords £40). >:(
luckily i had a car battery on charge and nipped home to swap it to allow me to get my scheduled work completed.
the reading on my flowcontroller said it was 12v(fully charged)is this too low?after swapping it for the car battery it was reading 13.2.is this about right?
my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!
could it be a case of it sitting on the shelf for a couple of years which would of effected its life?
not happy as the battery cost me £80.
anyone else have a short life out of batteries?
thanks in advance guys
dazmond
Have you let it run dry I top mine up with pure every so often.
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Mine is similar daz , dont have a smart charger or anything , but ive noticed its dying quicker than normal...
Was a cheap battery though so you get what you pay for i suppose , i think mine is similar age
I have found in the past when my flow controller struggles it was because the wiring was rusting at contacts like the spade connectors and after re doing it there seemed to much better performance
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no i didnt let battery run dry and sean its a fairly new pumpbox(10 months old)
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A lead/Acid battery only has a number of cycles then the plates suffer from sulphurisation this can be remedied, you need a c tek charger these can regenerate the plate
Also yo can shorten the battery life if you fully discharge .
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"my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!"
Thats brilliant. never had one yet that lasted much over a year. Worst i had was 7 months :-\
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most battery stockists give one year warrenty,
I,ve had to us it once
ray
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Same here bought a £60 varta professional 75 amp battery 16 months ago, bloke at the shop told me at the time I bought it it would last 2/3 years, but it started letting me down so I took it back,he tested it and said it was over its cycle life and I had done well for it to last this long! He tried to sell me an AGM battery which he said was the future and would last years . Anybody use one of these? Quite pricey and special charger required
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I don't use a leisure battery, I used to, but was advised by another windy that it wasn't necessary unless you were using a 2 man set up. I have a ford transit connect tdci, had it for 3.5 years now and no probs re battery going flat and I do have some streets where I am parked up in the same spot for 3-4 hours. When I was setting up my current van, I bought a pump controller, this had wiring to connect up with the van battery, and leisure battery, but as I say, no problems, so why carry the extra weight.
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Dazmond, that's normal none of my leisure batteries ever got past the warranty period and none ever got replaced by the suppliers either because they still took a charge even though they wouldn't hold it.
Having said that it doesn't seem right that you have suddenly dropped from a full day to only one hour - maybe borrow another charger?
The last pillock told me it was because I only had a £40 intelligent charger - his marine batteries were no problem because his charger cost £500!
You'll probably get them to last longer if you charged every two days instead of every night.
I run off the van battery now.
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Dazmond,
Try a different charger if you have one sometimes smart chargers can misjudge the level of charge in
a battery and not charge it to full capacity.
A battery shouldn't go from being perfect one day to dead the next you should have noticed a gradual loss
of performance.
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Maybe alex g should start selling batts!
Or maybe put a gardiner sticker on the batt,might make it lighter and work better ;D
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Take a look at this.
It will work if the cells are not dead the place to work one a sealed battery is under the paper label on the top of a battery and look at the youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEnErs68XM
If not send it to me so I can fix and use it.
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Also watched a vid about batts being revived by using an arc welder.
Dont fancy trying it though!
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you need to have it load tested to prove whether its good or duff . most garages /battery shops do it for free,takes 2 seconds with a surefire result one way or another with a load tester - dont waste your time by any other method
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my 110ah still going strong, nearly 2 years now. split charger on it and solar panel for trickle charge.
never been on a mains charger either, well I haven't put it on one,
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i should of said from the start lads that this battery has been gradually getting worse lasting 4 to 5 hours down to 3-4, then an hour.gradually getting worse.
ive got a brand new car battery so no problems working.i dont want a split charge relay as i hardly do any driving at all.mainly cleaning with minimum driving in between jobs.
as my pure freedom battery lasted so long i was expecting this one to last at least 2 years but no joy! ;D ;D
i always charge my batteries every night to minimize being stuck on a job with a flat battery as im not getting the ladders off!im too lazy for that after 3 and half years wfp! ;) :) :)
i just forgot to take my other battery with me this morning!
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you would be very surprised on how much a split charger will put in a battery even driving a mile!
I have a volt reader on mine and after cleaning a house it drops down to about 12.4v then drive to the next house and its back up to around 12.6v.
the spit charger can put 13-14v in the battery.
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I agree I have a split relay fitted by Grippa tank when the done my van last month, I work in a 3 mile radius and its never ran out, to be honest its never been took out since and I sometimes don't move the van all day. Best thing I bought that make my life easier. Don't get a cheap split relay get a good one and I doubt you will ever have to charge it again.
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I fitted a smart split charger and week ago and can see the difference.The problem with smart charger if used to often will force the water out of the battery and a dry battery with not perform well/ Daz take the paper stuck over the lids of the battery end you look if they are convected or concave.This can tell you what ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JIzSxqWidss wrong with a battery. All a smart charger is a charger able to force a higher volts into the battery at short bursts.This will de-de sulphates the battery.As a small sideline business recondition rechargeable tool batteries E G drills.I have also removed the ni cad batteries for all my battery tools and fitted them with LI ion which are far better.I am thinking of building Li ion for my pump.Wich if bought would cost a grand. They already have them for a bikes, but 6v and one could joint 2 up to make 12 volt.
They Li ion batteries are far better a lead acid will only allow YOU access 33%of of the power in the battery. The lead acid will charge +- 12,3 volt and will cut out at about 9.6 volt left in the battery. Li ion will allow you all the a/h at full tilt.I hope this will clear up some myths about 12 volt batteries. ;D ;D ;D
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smithie ive got a lion car battery im using at the moment and it reads 13.2 when fully charged on my digi flowcontroller.is this ok for now?
cheers
dazmond
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Yes its spot on fully charged it will service your pump needs untill it drops to 9 volt.
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I fitted a smart split charger and week ago and can see the difference.The problem with smart charger if used to often will force the water out of the battery and a dry battery with not perform well/ Daz take the paper stuck over the lids of the battery end you look if they are convected or concave.This can tell you what ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JIzSxqWidss wrong with a battery. All a smart charger is a charger able to force a higher volts into the battery at short bursts.This will de-de sulphates the battery.As a small sideline business recondition rechargeable tool batteries E G drills.I have also removed the ni cad batteries for all my battery tools and fitted them with LI ion which are far better.I am thinking of building Li ion for my pump.Wich if bought would cost a grand. They already have them for a bikes, but 6v and one could joint 2 up to make 12 volt.
They Li ion batteries are far better a lead acid will only allow YOU access 33%of of the power in the battery. The lead acid will charge +- 12,3 volt and will cut out at about 9.6 volt left in the battery. Li ion will allow you all the a/h at full tilt.I hope this will clear up some myths about 12 volt batteries. ;D ;D ;D
Everytime I read a post like this I smile as Smithie is a true South African. Everything can be stripped, repaired or made better. One of the reasons why we at Bosch were the largest buyer of Bosch Power Tool spare parts "in the world" (said the Jeremy Clarkson way) 20 years ago.
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The leisure battery on my trailer didn't last long. I always presumed that it was because it was exposed to the elements.
Since I've had the van my first leisure battery lasted over 3 years and this battery that replaced it is now nearly 3 years old. I found when the first battery failed, it showed a full voltage reading on the voltmeter, but had no capacity as it appears with yours.
On my son's van I wired in a change over switch so if his battery went flat he could swop over to the van's battery for the rest of the day. I did this because of the trailer experience, but he has never had to use this. We did his van in 2007 and he also on his second leisure battery.
Maybe the reason why they have lasted is that the last batch were each ordered especially by our local motor factors from Numax for us as they don't carry leisure batteries in stock and so would be 'fresh'.
A local cleaner alternates his batteries, 1 is a leisure battery and the other is a car battery. Both od these batteries has served him well.
It may also be a idea to raise the battery off the van's floor by putting a piece of thick rubber matting or wood under it. Cold is a killer of batteries.
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You are quite right Spruce cold is a killer on most batteries.I have read so much on here about batteries been killed by the by there owner who have no idea what they are working to with .When I became a window cleaner I researched every piece of equipment I have to get the most out of it. My van battery is raised off the floor. Let what and see the response to this information.I bet very little will even respond. I would like to see how many charge the leisure placed on there garage floor.
Repairing everything in South Africa which became en more entrenched after sanctions were applied in many ways made South Africa a more inventive Nation. There is not chuck away society in S A consumerism buying there. So often you will find a black South African stuck next to the road with a broken down engine of an mini bus taxi with the engine out repairing its.
Maybe we need sanctions here to change our spoilt ways. Our economy would correct it self in one year.
I do quite a bit of home maintenance because I repair most jobs without parts.
I get peed of when I am told on here so often that I am not correct in my advice, yet I know I am experiencing that I am correct as I research every problem I dont know anything about. I dont understand coming on here as the first stop and not there last resort.I had read every page of this archived pages on this forum before I became window cleaner. I bet there is not many who could make that claim .Some ties this forum should change its name ti Nanny forum.
So often chaps come on here and ask advice and get opinions which is worthless information which lead to a expensive mistake. Now if you know nothing about anything about the subject how the hell do you discern the truth to tackle your problem which makes this forum worthless as a place of good advice. To be creditable all you need is a BMW on your website or speak to big success lines. To all new to CIU need to understand this valuable fact.
I for one only take advice from a small handful of chaps on here and only as a last resort. But when those few respected ones write I am all ears. I think 90% of all thats on here is absolute cra p.
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I guess this above remark will be a fine example of how to" LOOSE FRIENDS AND Not INFLUANCE PEOPLE. But hay,rules are there to be broken and I have always been a rule breaker because I can. Its always paid me more to do it.Yet am no rebel just someone who pushes the envelope a bit. My biggest aim on this forum is to be hopefully one day be a credible member of this forum.