Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: g.brookes on April 30, 2014, 09:14:48 pm
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Evening chaps. Do you have any advice on how to fit these? how best to make use of them? I have no electrical knowledge. cheers
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Auto electrician, save time, aggro and skinned knuckles.
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Ebay number - 141000076411
Spruce from the forum recommended this one and its been great (although you need to know the amount of drive time you approx do in a week to know if it would charge your battery up enough)
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SMARTCOM, VERY EASY TO FIT AND WIRE UP
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hApXZCaEUfo
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I get them from Pure Freedom. All the wires come labelled as to what fits where, they're easy to fit as well.
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Auto electrician, save time, aggro and skinned knuckles.
Have to agree, auto electrician, one came out to me supplied and fitted in half hour for £40, 5 years now and trouble free.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hApXZCaEUfo
Mark's video is on the other type that need a tigger wire - the small thin one.
The Smartcom one is an intelligent unit so doesn't have the trigger wire, so as Bob says, is much easier to fit.
Wiring is;
one wire from battery + of van to Smartcom with a fuse close to battery. Another wire from smartcom to Leisure battery + also with a fuse. One wire from Smartcom to the van body and another wire from the leisure battery - to the van body.
Full instructions come in the packet.
Simples.
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ok cheers chaps.
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further to this, what the norm, to have one battery for a two man set up or two batteries?
i will have two pumps and two controllers, just not sure how many batteries i need
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further to this, what the norm, to have one battery for a two man set up or two batteries?
i will have two pumps and two controllers, just not sure how many batteries i need
We use a single 110amp Leisure battery for a two man set up. It has worked fine for us this way for the last 6 years.
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How do you connect 2 pumps to 1 battery?iv wondered this for a while now
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Very interesting. Could you explain your set up in detail for me please? Currently just have one 24ah battery like in the trolley systems so I guess this won't suffice for two pumps and controllers?
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How do you connect 2 pumps to 1 battery?iv wondered this for a while now
Each controller will have a wire that must be attached to the positive termainal of the battery and another that must be connected to the negative terminal.
They would be connected with eye lugs.
They look like these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-X-YELLOW-6MM-CABLE-CRIMP-LUGS-RING-TERMINAL-CONNECTORS-/290666098304?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Terminals_Cabling_ET&hash=item43ad0cae80#ht_717wt_1399
Most leisure battery batteries will have a standard terminal post and a terminal 'stud' next to it. If it doesn't have this stud then these eye lugs can be bolted to the tightening bolt of a battery terminal. You obviously need an eye lug thats hole is big enough. I solder the wires into this lug rather than crimping them.
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Sure i read somewhere that most pumps draw around 3-4amps (ish) an hour so for 2 pumps a 24ah battery wouldnt be the best
Especially if your split charger will charge your battery at around 8amps per hour, chances are if you last the first day, it'll die on the second
The higher the ah on the battery the less you'll need to bench charge (if at all depending on your split charge rate and driving time)
If you dont drive much (giving the split charger less time to charge the battery, the higher ah battery you will need)
You may need to still bench charge your battery to top it up (put an inline voltmeter in so you know how much charge you have) but with a 110ah battery being charged with a split it'll be more like once a week rather than every night
(Although i know someone who has rarely bench charged his 110ah battery and he uses 2 pumps doing minimal miles)
Fitting 2 pumps to one battery is the same as fitting 1 to a battery
Possitives to positive terminal
Negatives to negative terminal
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Ok thanks for that. So providing the amps high enough there's no detriment to just having one battery?
Also to run two pumps is 110ah the minimum or can you run one a bit lower than that?
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Very interesting. Could you explain your set up in detail for me please? Currently just have one 24ah battery like in the trolley systems so I guess this won't suffice for two pumps and controllers?
Don Kee got in first. :)
No it wont be sufficient.
Most trolleys have a small low amp motor. You will need the bigger Shurflo pumps (or equivalent) that are powerful enough to push a flow of water down 100 meters of small bore hose and then up to height. These pumps under load can draw anything up to 6 amps although ours run at around 4.5 to 5 amps.
Asking a 24 amph battery to do that is expecting a bit much.
In theory you will get 5 hours of pumping from this battery before it is flat drawing 5 amps per hour. However, most batteries won't tollerate being flattened and work well if they aren't run down below 50% discharge. This means that a 24 amph battery will drive your pump for 2.5 hours. From our own experience, I believe we spend about 50% of our time actually pumping water and washing windows on residential. By extension, a 24 amph battery will last around 2/3rd of your day just powering one pump.
Using a split charge relay to charge a 24 amph battery will probably damage the battery in the same way my son cooked his Honda motor cycle battery when he decided to stick an 8 amp car battery charger on it.
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Ok thanks for that. So providing the amps high enough there's no detriment to just having one battery?
Also to run two pumps is 110ah the minimum or can you run one a bit lower than that?
I wouldn't go lower than an 85 amph leisure battery, but I would still recommend a 110 amp battery. There isn't that much of a price difference.
We use 85 amph batteries on both the single operator vans and a 110 amph on the bigger van that is a twin operator system, all no split charge relays.
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Sorry spruce, i only saw your post once i'd already posted :)
G.brookes - id stick to 110ah if using 2 pumps off it
As spruce has said there isn't much difference in price and theres less chance of it dying out
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190603406688?redirect=mobile
3year warranty as well (although not sure what it covers)
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Thanks for the really great replies. I've bought the shurflow 100psi pumps. Are they the ones you mean for 100metres hose reel. From the purefreedom site
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That eBay battery looks perfect. Final question for now haha as I'm useless at electronics. What charger would I need for this? I'm thinking I'll leave the split charge relay for a while
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I think this is the one i have : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190631297256?redirect=mobile
Although i had mine given to me so you may be able to get it cheaper?
I'd fit the split charger as well mate, especially for the amount it costs (the one i posted above spruce recommended and ive not had to charge my battery since i it fitted)
Edit : your shuflo pumps are spot on
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I think this is the one i have : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190631297256?redirect=mobile
Although i had mine given to me so you may be able to get it cheaper?
I'd fit the split charger as well mate, especially for the amount it costs (the one i posted above spruce recommended and ive not had to charge my battery since i it fitted)
Edit : your shuflo pumps are spot on
I haven't one of these chargers but they have a good reputation as a quality charger.
They are only trickle chargers so you they will take a while to recharge a battery. If you have 2 pumps running for a total of 8 hours drawing 4 amps, then you can expect that charger to take all night to fully recharge your battery. If you didn't recharge it that night and used the same current the following day, then your charger wouldn't recharge the battery fully that night.
(A 5 amp charger will take just over 6 hours to return 32 amps to the battery. However, the fuller the battery is, the lower the rate of charge it will accept, hence the reason why it would take so long.)
We have run this for 4 years now. It is bigger than the C-Tec charger. The only thing I've had to do it put a drop of 3 in 1 oil on the cooling fan bearings as they became noisy.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Numax-12V-10A-Leisure-Battery-Charger-Caravan-Campervan-Motorhome-Marine-Boat-/321156058628?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item4ac6648e04#ht_1283wt_994
Numax recommend that the charger doesn't charge your leisure battery at anymore than 10% of the battery's capacity - ie 10amps is fine for a 110 amph battery. We haven't had an issue using this charger on the 85 amph batteries.
I plug the battery charger in when I get home and leave it overnight. I'm fortunate to have a driveway and the van is parked on that each night.
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Guys your knowledge is saving me a fortune! cheers! one more question haha
http://www.purefreedom.co.uk/12v-4amp-battery-charger-white-p-650.html
This is the charger is currently have, would this be sufficient for a 110ah battery to be charged overnight?
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In a word mate...no :)
Id probably go for a higher amp per hour otherwise (as spruce said above) you'll be there forever waiting for your battery to charge
Also, reading the description it isn't suitable for anything over a 24ah battery (trolley batteries)