Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 01:37:27 pm

Title: *Voltage drop case closed! fixed sorted feel good!*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 01:37:27 pm
You may have saw previous post about battery well..
So I had a window cleaning company install my second pump and controller I thought sod it I'll pay and get it sorted done nice and neat but I'm left with an electrical problem
From what I have cuducted and I did go back but the electrical side of things they are limited to help and I'm annoyed as when I took the van in,my side was working and charging fine of the split relay but to break this down

New controller and pump installed quote a lot of new wiring coming from the 100ah leisure battery for the new pump and controller which is on the other side so quite a lot of doubled up wiring

The lesuire battery voltage seems to be okay at 12.3 or more but it's not putting much out for long the controllers say 11.5 11.3 and goes right the way down pretty fast but the battery seems to be 12.3
The old relay which worked fine for 6 years decided to not do anything when I got it back so they had me buy a new that new relay seems to be showing 14.20 now but when I turn the engine off the output to the controller and pumps doesn't last long a few mins before it shows very low voltage but the battery is at 12.3
Can anyone sudjest some help at the moment I wired the main battery and the window cleaning battery together im working of both but terrified incase it messes up van battery some jobs take time and I have no choice oh also with both pumps tuberd up even when both battery's are joined the voltage drops something has gone wrong with power since he added that second system as neat as it is
It's got me in a pickle
If you're anywhere 30miles of north surrey and a wizard at these sort of things you'd be a legend to help me out I've spent a lot already and really annoyed that something obviously really simple if you know what you're doing is causing such problems I only got that second system to take someone on once or twice a month  now don't know if I can work normally myself :(



Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: P @ F on September 07, 2017, 02:03:14 pm
Sounds to me like either the battery needs a good bench charge or it could be the battery has had it , it will show you a high voltage until you start up a pump then you get the true voltage .
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 02:09:22 pm
Sounds to me like either the battery needs a good bench charge or it could be the battery has had it , it will show you a high voltage until you start up a pump then you get the true voltage .
Thx for the reply I do have a charger that I haven't had to use for 7 years honestly I do a lot of driving why on earth would the battery be knackard over them installing that ?
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 02:10:29 pm
Sounds to me like either the battery needs a good bench charge or it could be the battery has had it , it will show you a high voltage until you start up a pump then you get the true voltage .
Thx for the reply I do have a charger that I haven't had to use for 7 years honestly I do a lot of driving why on earth would the battery be knackard over them installing that ?
Bench charging it will be my first step but I feel maybe it's something else maybe all those new wires?
Currently it's giving nothing yet showing the correct voltage
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: P @ F on September 07, 2017, 02:34:59 pm
I know what you are saying ,  is the battery  6 years old ?
If this is the case then its just possible that the split charge has been giving you enough power back in to run the one man system , dont forget you have just doubled the amp draw , depending on what you have controllers set at the 2 pumps could be pulling as much as 12 amps an hour out of the battery .
I run mine at 80 and this draws 4 amps an hour .
I cant see that they would have wired things wrong by fitting a pump/controller .
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 02:45:36 pm
I know what you are saying ,  is the battery  6 years old ?
If this is the case then its just possible that the split charge has been giving you enough power back in to run the one man system , dont forget you have just doubled the amp draw , depending on what you have controllers set at the 2 pumps could be pulling as much as 12 amps an hour out of the battery .
I run mine at 80 and this draws 4 amps an hour .
I cant see that they would have wired things wrong by fitting a pump/controller .
Yes the battery is definitely 6 years old I understand the power has doubled but for example just did a 30 min job there while the battery live is connected without the relay and it went All the way down to 11.8 now back too 14 while engine is running is it meant to show 11.8 after 30 mins bare in mind this is the vans battery connected also

You think my battery as had it ? Maybe I'll give it a charge and see first tonight if it still can't output something tells me it can't be tho that thing was solid and that relay too when plugged it seems to actually drain it more the new one works but doesn't give output to accessories
Maybe go for the charge would you say battery first suspect ?
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: P @ F on September 07, 2017, 02:58:38 pm
I would always suspect battery first , give it a good charge , maybe go to a battery supplier and get them to check it , drop in while you are talking that you have a backup battery elswhere and you just want to get it checked , they will be less likely to tell you it has had it then if it really hasnt ! 
 
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Spruce on September 07, 2017, 03:24:49 pm
The reason why you install a split charge relay or battery isolator is that these relays only join or link the starter and leisure battery together when the engine is running and the batteries are being charged by the alternator. When the engine isn't charging then the batteries are disconnected.

When the engine is running the voltage meter should show a reading of between 13.9v and 14.5v. This merely means that the battery is being charged by the alternator, nothing more. The voltage across the leisure battery will start to drop the moment you switch the engine off.
You can only get an accurate state of charge after the battery has stood idle for 4 hours. So even although your battery is showing 12.3v  (12.4v is 50% charged and 12.2 v is 25% charged) it could be less once you allow standing time.

P&F suggests you bench charge your battery. I agree, but at 6 years old is probably needs replacing anyway as it will have reduced capacity.

It was once stated on an RV website that it would take a 750km journey for the alternator to fully recharge a flat leisure battery via a split charge relay.

If you invest in a combo amp and volt meter, you will be surprised at how much info you can get. As P&F says, an average wfp pump draws around 4.5 amps an hour. If your pump works 4 hours then that's 18 amps you have taken from your 100 amps of leisure battery. With 2 pumps running you've taken 36 amps. (If your leisure battery is only 25% charged then you can't take 36 amps from it as it only has 25amps left before its totally drained.)

My Citroen Relay 90 amp alternator will charge my leisure battery at around 8 amp after a full days work. Theoretically I need to drive for over 2 hours to replenish what 1 pump has removed.

Now things don't quite work that way. As the battery gets more fully charged it only accepts a lower rate of charge, so in reality, that battery will take much longer to charge than 2 hours. I see the battery charge drop to 1 or 2 amps after a reasonably long commute.

For me I have to bench charge my 110 amp leisure battery every 2 days to keep it fully charged. I do it every night in winter.
2 of us work from my van
.
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 03:39:01 pm
The reason why you install a split charge relay or battery isolator is that these relays only join or link the starter and leisure battery together when the engine is running and the batteries are being charged by the alternator. When the engine isn't charging then the batteries are disconnected.

When the engine is running the voltage meter should show a reading of between 13.9v and 14.5v. This merely means that the battery is being charged by the alternator, nothing more. The voltage across the leisure battery will start to drop the moment you switch the engine off.
You can only get an accurate state of charge after the battery has stood idle for 4 hours. So even although your battery is showing 12.3v  (12.4v is 50% charged and 12.2 v is 25% charged) it could be less once you allow standing time.

P&F suggests you bench charge your battery. I agree, but at 6 years old is probably needs replacing anyway as it will have reduced capacity.

It was once stated on an RV website that it would take a 750km journey for the alternator to fully recharge a flat leisure battery via a split charge relay.

If you invest in a combo amp and volt meter, you will be surprised at how much info you can get. As P&F says, an average wfp pump draws around 4.5 amps an hour. If your pump works 4 hours then that's 18 amps you have taken from your 100 amps of leisure battery. With 2 pumps running you've taken 36 amps. (If your leisure battery is only 25% charged then you can't take 36 amps from it as it only has 25amps left before its totally drained.)

My Citroen Relay 90 amp alternator will charge my leisure battery at around 8 amp after a full days work. Theoretically I need to drive for over 2 hours to replenish what 1 pump has removed.

Now things don't quite work that way. As the battery gets more fully charged it only accepts a lower rate of charge, so in reality, that battery will take much longer to charge than 2 hours. I see the battery charge drop to 1 or 2 amps after a reasonably long commute.

For me I have to bench charge my 110 amp leisure battery every 2 days to keep it fully charged. I do it every night in winter.

.

Thx for this mate
Okay so you're basically saying go home charge it see what happens the relay will disconnect the van battery and only use the  leisure battery  And maybe it always had enough to power one system but now both were connected it sucked everything out of it

I'll charge it will be home soon then 2 night  see how it fairs best case charge required worst case new battery

But pls answer me just this I ain't joking 6 years never had to bench charge what so ever perfectly working on high 99 everything long jobs some 2 hours now all of a sudden it's potentially dead cos we connected second system and ran it a while to test
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Spruce on September 07, 2017, 04:08:27 pm
The reason why you install a split charge relay or battery isolator is that these relays only join or link the starter and leisure battery together when the engine is running and the batteries are being charged by the alternator. When the engine isn't charging then the batteries are disconnected.

When the engine is running the voltage meter should show a reading of between 13.9v and 14.5v. This merely means that the battery is being charged by the alternator, nothing more. The voltage across the leisure battery will start to drop the moment you switch the engine off.
You can only get an accurate state of charge after the battery has stood idle for 4 hours. So even although your battery is showing 12.3v  (12.4v is 50% charged and 12.2 v is 25% charged) it could be less once you allow standing time.

P&F suggests you bench charge your battery. I agree, but at 6 years old is probably needs replacing anyway as it will have reduced capacity.

It was once stated on an RV website that it would take a 750km journey for the alternator to fully recharge a flat leisure battery via a split charge relay.

If you invest in a combo amp and volt meter, you will be surprised at how much info you can get. As P&F says, an average wfp pump draws around 4.5 amps an hour. If your pump works 4 hours then that's 18 amps you have taken from your 100 amps of leisure battery. With 2 pumps running you've taken 36 amps. (If your leisure battery is only 25% charged then you can't take 36 amps from it as it only has 25amps left before its totally drained.)

My Citroen Relay 90 amp alternator will charge my leisure battery at around 8 amp after a full days work. Theoretically I need to drive for over 2 hours to replenish what 1 pump has removed.

Now things don't quite work that way. As the battery gets more fully charged it only accepts a lower rate of charge, so in reality, that battery will take much longer to charge than 2 hours. I see the battery charge drop to 1 or 2 amps after a reasonably long commute.

For me I have to bench charge my 110 amp leisure battery every 2 days to keep it fully charged. I do it every night in winter.

.

Thx for this mate
Okay so you're basically saying go home charge it see what happens the relay will disconnect the van battery and only use the  leisure battery  And maybe it always had enough to power one system but now both were connected it sucked everything out of it

I'll charge it will be home soon then 2 night  see how it fairs best case charge required worst case new battery

But pls answer me just this I ain't joking 6 years never had to bench charge what so ever perfectly working on high 99 everything long jobs some 2 hours now all of a sudden it's potentially dead cos we connected second system and ran it a while to test

I can't answer that as I don't know how much charge you had in your battery to begin with and how much capacity your battery has left.

My van had a 115 amp hour battery which was a little over 3 years old when it failed. It was when we were cleaning an apartment complex with 29 flats. It took 2 of us around 3 hours to complete but one of the pumps died after an hour and a half and the second shortly thereafter. We ran the engine for the remainder of the clean and finished the job without further issue. We travelled the 10 miles home and the battery was virtually fully charged by the time we got back. It was reading fully charged on the volt meter after a few hours but only had a limited capacity left. So although it was a 115 amp leisure battery, it probably only had a capacity of 15 amps.

I guessing that your battery has been in a state of low charge for so long that the plates inside are well and truely sulphured up.

I have an 85amp leisure battery that came out of son in laws van when he sold it. It is 6 years old and fully charged. I am going to let a fellow windie take it out and use it to see how long it will work for. He swaps batteries over every day and whilst he is working with one charges the other.
But I believe that although the battery is an 85amp Numax and fully charged it will only last him a few hours at most.
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: CleanClear on September 07, 2017, 04:42:16 pm
But pls answer me just this I ain't joking 6 years never had to bench charge what so ever perfectly working on high 99 everything long jobs some 2 hours now all of a sudden it's potentially dead cos we connected second system and ran it a while to test

If you've added longer wires then you do get voltage drop. I'd say your battery has just about give up the ghost and you've just helped show it up by adding longer wires. A full charged batter should be showing 13 + volts, and maintaing it for a good bit whilst working.  12.4 volts is practically a flat battery.
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: P @ F on September 07, 2017, 05:24:23 pm
Yeah , wot they both said  ;D
I wanted to type all that earlier but my fingers didnt , i basically have been in your position lots of times , each time i wouldnt have it that the battery was shot , and it was every time , only ever used £50 85amp ones , i got fed up of buying them so i looked for alteratives to charge on the go , the higher you can keep a battery charged the better , it stop the sulphur which over time sticks to the plates and does not convert back to lead and acid , this is how memory is killed off , i think you have lost ya memory !

I was faced with either split charge or solar , split was an absolute no no for me , i do 10 mile to work , move maybe 3 or 4 times then 10 miles home , so i am dabbling with solar , if the sun is out i can pull in as much as i use and not have to charge .
The fun is starting now though , British winter and solar aint easy , today no sun at all but i still managed to come home having only used 1 amp in 4 hours cleaning , 95% charged .
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 08:24:19 pm
Ok guys thanks
I'm at home now been a long day had to claw back some of that money!
So the battery is now charging at home on the bench seems to be accepting quite a charge I remember when I had a duff battery years ago maybe 10 years ago it would only charge for 5 mins and show max voltage it's somewhat of a good sign that it's still charging I'll test it later and see how it fairs
It is warped tho that can't be a good sign can it ;)??? Havnt had to look at it for 6 years looks like Ive been lucky
But you lot are saying a 100 amp bat fully charged even with no relay active should comfortably run everything for one day working on medium power 50 on each switch
So step one get this charged up
Title: Re: Voltage drop? Can anyone help? South London
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 07, 2017, 11:09:53 pm
Batt took around 2 hours to charge up I'll test it out tomorrow
 its warped by the way lol never seen that before signs that it's fooked?
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: rosskesava on September 08, 2017, 01:53:50 am
Just buy a new battery. They don't last forever and my experience is that if everything thing else works ok, and there is still a problem, it's the battery.

You cannot go by the charge up time. It's the discharge time that matters.

What do you mean by 'warped'?
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Don Kee on September 08, 2017, 07:59:46 am
Whats the charging rate of your bench charger that it only took 2 hours to charge?!

Most tend to trickle charge mate and would take a fair few hours to charge a decent sized leisure battery....
I would say the battery has had its day as yours sounds like it has no more capacity
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: dazmond on September 08, 2017, 08:41:49 am
you ve had the battery for 6 years?ive never had a battery last that long and i bench charge mine every night!mine normally last no longer than 18 months.

just buy a new battery ya cheapskate or ill have to start calling you adam thompson! ;D
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: NWH on September 08, 2017, 08:42:10 am
Try charging for 12 odd hours
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Spruce on September 08, 2017, 08:49:37 am
If its a standard starter battery charger then Cyrstal-clear is never going to get the leisure battery fully charged up.

I agree with all you guys with the advice to just get a new battery and a good intelligent leisure battery charger.
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: NWH on September 08, 2017, 09:49:59 am
I've changed the battery's time and time again before I was told to check all wiring first and check it properly,I changed fuses once and when I looked they were slightly corroded it made a huge difference for just a couple of quid.
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: simon w on September 08, 2017, 11:21:39 am
I had two controlers from pure freedom once and no matter how often you charged the batteries after 10 minutes of working the controlers were flashing low voltage "bat"  turned out the problem was with their cheap inadequate wiring between controlers pump and battery.  I had the wiring upgraded professionally and this solved the problem
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: P @ F on September 08, 2017, 11:45:12 am
At the end of the day the battery is 6 year old , crystal has said its warped too , quite what is warped he didnt say , if its the plates inside its fooked , if its the casing its swollen and fooked , either way its fooked but has done very well to go 6 years.
Im not one to waste money but would rather get a battery before pulling the wiring out for sure .
We are getting into winter so are all going to need to re calibrate and turn up the flow a tad due to the water being thicker and hoses being stiffer , this will drain our batteries more .
Do yourself a favour and get yer wallet out Crystal  ;D

Rich 
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: nathankaye on September 08, 2017, 01:07:21 pm
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1504872323_Screenshot_2017-09-08-12-58-50-1.png)

Haha thought this post is appropriate from another forum.
Ones boast abouting earnings and then how they scrimp on equipment 😂
(Not directed at anyone, just a generalization)
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Don Kee on September 08, 2017, 01:30:22 pm
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1504872323_Screenshot_2017-09-08-12-58-50-1.png)

Haha thought this post is appropriate from another forum.
Ones boast abouting earnings and then how they scrimp on equipment 😂
(Not directed at anyone, just a generalization)

I think it is directed at someone, as if it was just a generalisation then it wouldn't be 'appropriate' now would it? ;) ;D
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: P @ F on September 08, 2017, 01:51:56 pm
Wish i earned 60k a year , thats my house on the left  ;D
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 02:13:54 pm
I meant swollen mate it's very swollen
So I took it out today and it was working kinda okay on one system once I tuned on the other system it didn't like it and   Generally after that the pressure was pretty low from the pump I have to turn it off quite a lot 
 I think everyone is right the battery has seen better days   Don't worry funny 60k photo there  lol
 And yes I am pretty tight   Time to dig deep I'll take note of the wiring but at this stage testing it all with new battery will be a start it seem it's able to last with the one system amaZingly
Also the charging rate when battery is fooked charges fast when it was new it used to take hours to charge it's a sign that it's done
Ps my charger is a good one smart but maybe 13 years old was around £100
To be continue thx all!
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 02:14:27 pm
I meant swollen mate it's very swollen
So I took it out today and it was working kinda okay on one system once I tuned on the other system it didn't like it and   Generally after that the pressure was pretty low from the pump I have to turn it off quite a lot 
 I think everyone is right the battery has seen better days   Don't worry funny 60k photo there  lol
 And yes I am pretty tight   Time to dig deep I'll take note of the wiring but at this stage testing it all with new battery will be a start it seem it's able to last with the one system amaZingly
Also the charging rate when battery is fooked charges fast when it was new it used to take hours to charge it's a sign that it's done
Ps my charger is a good one smart but maybe 13 years old was around £100
To be continue thx all!
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: P @ F on September 08, 2017, 02:29:22 pm
I reckon if it is that swollen then you have a massive build up of the sulphate stuff , this has buckled up the plates and forced them out swelling the battery , you have probably been charging close to minimum since day one with the SCR .
If you do buy new battery it would be a good idea to make the connections quick release giving you the option to remove and bench charge 1 or 2 times a week , it will keep the battery well maintained .
Either that or dont whinge in about 6 years time.   ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 06:31:35 pm
I reckon if it is that swollen then you have a massive build up of the sulphate stuff , this has buckled up the plates and forced them out swelling the battery , you have probably been charging close to minimum since day one with the SCR .
If you do buy new battery it would be a good idea to make the connections quick release giving you the option to remove and bench charge 1 or 2 times a week , it will keep the battery well maintained .
Either that or dont whinge in about 6 years time.   ;D ;D ;D

haha yeah its 6 years end of the day
so i can collect this http://www.halfords.com/camping-leisure/caravan-motorhomes/electrical-power/halfords-leisure-battery-115-ah
£99 a whooping 115 AH or the same guys that sold me the numax 100 ah selling now a numax 110 ah for £90 a tenners a tenner but 5 ah more and i need the extra power for Wednesday as i have a 2 man day set for then the numax will be posted so cant risk

what u think about the halfords one cant be bad ? has 2 years with it also
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: Spruce on September 08, 2017, 07:28:56 pm
I reckon if it is that swollen then you have a massive build up of the sulphate stuff , this has buckled up the plates and forced them out swelling the battery , you have probably been charging close to minimum since day one with the SCR .
If you do buy new battery it would be a good idea to make the connections quick release giving you the option to remove and bench charge 1 or 2 times a week , it will keep the battery well maintained .
Either that or dont whinge in about 6 years time.   ;D ;D ;D

haha yeah its 6 years end of the day
so i can collect this http://www.halfords.com/camping-leisure/caravan-motorhomes/electrical-power/halfords-leisure-battery-115-ah
£99 a whooping 115 AH or the same guys that sold me the numax 100 ah selling now a numax 110 ah for £90 a tenners a tenner but 5 ah more and i need the extra power for Wednesday as i have a 2 man day set for then the numax will be posted so cant risk

what u think about the halfords one cant be bad ? has 2 years with it also

As we have said numerous times on the forum; you are better going with the Halfords leisure battery as they do seem to be honouring their warranty.
Numax will not give or honour a warranty on a battery used by a window cleaner as they say we destroy them. We have had excellent service from Numax batteries but having a warranty that's worth more than the paper its written on is a good thing.
.
Title: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 08:54:55 pm
I had two controlers from pure freedom once and no matter how often you charged the batteries after 10 minutes of working the controlers were flashing low voltage "bat"  turned out the problem was with their cheap inadequate wiring between controlers pump and battery.  I had the wiring upgraded professionally and this solved the problem
i think this kind post has some relevance
so i drove down to Halfords around 40 mins ago.. stuck the 115 ah battery in and connected it exactly the same stuff voltage going low 11.9 etc pretty quickly infact the gent tested both batterys and he said altough mine looks like its done its showing as a good battery the voltage was 12.9 or something on mine and said it had 750 amps his which was brand new the 115ah showing less volts 12.3 and 600 amps ...

i really wish i could have plugged it in and seen the difference and paid for it but this wasnt the case this clearly isnt the problem the only fact remains is maybe that new battery requires a bench charge but they come fully charged
im now starting to think and been looking at the connector to the battery its a brass type thing which screws in and all the screws are kinda rusted which is making me want to tomorrow replace those screws Greece them up and see if i get better voltage ?>
what i think has happened is where he has un screwed the connectors and re put in the new several wires it may need a clean up replace screws and make sure its all touching correctly i think over the past 6 years its been touching that one place very tight which now he has re screwed it maybe to the rusted parts of the screw?

im tempted to call up a sparky ill try myself to sort those connectors but honestly ill pay someone if you can solve this riddle i feel its something about the above or those new wires
any ideas
p.s if im still stuck and i cant find help ill have to make the dreaded video  see if someone can spot something ???
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: P @ F on September 08, 2017, 10:15:29 pm
Umm , oops , maybe we led you in the wrong direction , but then the battery was old , but if you had of mentioned that the terminals were all corroded it may have been different , having said that , whoever fitted the secondary pump /controller must have seen that and chose to ignore it .
Clean up all connections and give that a whirl , look on the bright side , you can now run each system with its own battery , possibly even feed them both off the SCR , ok its cost £99 but its not yet wasted money is it ?
And it might be worth tracking the wire back to alternator and cleaning them connections too .
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: AuRavelling79 on September 08, 2017, 10:20:38 pm
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1504872323_Screenshot_2017-09-08-12-58-50-1.png)

Haha thought this post is appropriate from another forum.
Ones boast abouting earnings and then how they scrimp on equipment 😂
(Not directed at anyone, just a generalization)

However the Windie might own other properties and not feel the need to  have one bigger property to live in?  ;)
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Perfect Windows on September 08, 2017, 10:48:25 pm
I have a twin pump setup in my van.  One controller reads about 0.4v lower than the other.  Why?  It has thinner wires to the battery. Get some 10A wire and connect it well.  Solder the connectors if you can and avoid crimp fittings unless you have a ratchet clamp - the cheap ones are worse than useless. Even with a ratchet clamp you're putting your faith in friction; soldering will be better.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10M-Red-Black-electrical-cable-Car-Home-wire-10A-Meter-32-0-2mm-10-AMP-/280831104585

Vin
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 11:35:28 pm
Umm , oops , maybe we led you in the wrong direction , but then the battery was old , but if you had of mentioned that the terminals were all corroded it may have been different , having said that , whoever fitted the secondary pump /controller must have seen that and chose to ignore it .
Clean up all connections and give that a whirl , look on the bright side , you can now run each system with its own battery , possibly even feed them both off the SCR , ok its cost £99 but its not yet wasted money is it ?
And it might be worth tracking the wire back to alternator and cleaning them connections too .
Thx mate yeah this is my next point of call I didn't buy the battery managed to blag the orange jacket man to connect it when I saw it doing exactly the same thing my window cleaner cui senses kicked in
And said it isn't improving my problem holding on to that £99 mate it's very special to me lol
Jokes aside I will get a new bat but
I'm pretty sure I suspect it's something else wanna sort that first
I'm going to hussle a sparky tomorrow morning already found his little add on yell he told me bring it down tomorrow said he'll look at it I told him £20-£40 he seemed happy I already know what he's gonna do solder replace to 10a wiring clean up connections but he'll have a volt meter and check it all and has the experience that I don't and I wanna make sure it's solid for wenesday after seeing a similar problem and with the new halfords battery i hope I can close this off as solved tomorrow I really think it's connections
 I've been doing the job for so many years now I can actually remember this happening 2-3 different times it's just a blur
Hopefully this will be all sorted tomorrow and I can like my life again !
You would have thought the installation guys would have noticed and put it right but I can't be bothered to argue
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 08, 2017, 11:36:30 pm
I have a twin pump setup in my van.  One controller reads about 0.4v lower than the other.  Why?  It has thinner wires to the battery. Get some 10A wire and connect it well.  Solder the connectors if you can and avoid crimp fittings unless you have a ratchet clamp - the cheap ones are worse than useless. Even with a ratchet clamp you're putting your faith in friction; soldering will be better.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10M-Red-Black-electrical-cable-Car-Home-wire-10A-Meter-32-0-2mm-10-AMP-/280831104585

Vin
Thank you mate wish me luck tomorrow
Title: Re: half way sorted suspected battery fault
Post by: windowswashed on September 09, 2017, 01:12:01 am
I've changed the battery's time and time again before I was told to check all wiring first and check it properly,I changed fuses once and when I looked they were slightly corroded it made a huge difference for just a couple of quid.

Same for me, good battery, simple 7.5amp fuse corroded, changed it for a new one,  pump worked fine again after replacing fuse, so simple and always overlooked :)
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Busby on September 09, 2017, 05:33:48 am
Yes
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Perfect Windows on September 09, 2017, 11:16:09 am
Thank you mate wish me luck tomorrow

Good luck today.

Vin
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 09, 2017, 12:49:35 pm
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1504957473_image.jpg)

Well well Mr Holmes maybe just maybe lol look at the state of it these brass connectors are actually around 10 years old had it upgraded from simple clips back then in my first van (after the mondeo of course)!

So the sparky guy couldn't be arsed so I decided to go myself I placed the connectors directly on the battery and the voltage mainly stayed on 12.2 on the near pump and 12.1 on the new longer distance cable on the far pump
Before hand it was going to 11.8 11.6 even 11.2 or 10. Something
It's blatantly the connections I'm off to selco now to find some new connections some Greece maybe that helps the electric flow we got this guys I can feel it
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Spruce on September 09, 2017, 01:56:36 pm
Its the battery I tell you!  ;D

A fully charged leisure battery should read 12.7v or higher. If the Halford's battery was reading 12.3v then it was either flat or your voltmeter is faulty.
I would have asked them to get a fresh battery that was fully charged.
Title: Re: *been to Halfords amazingly it ain't the battery...*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 09, 2017, 03:37:07 pm
BINGO!
i drove to selco to find out they dont have anything what so ever related to batterys ! so i went to screw fix and found the same out was about to drive to maplin which i was avoiding asmy local maplin had no parking i purchased some new screws from srew fix 

and decided i will clean up those 10 year old clamps
raided my shed found some old connector cleaning wire mesh type stuff spent 1 hour cleaning them they came up pretty good can see the brass in them now then i screwed in the new clamps trimmed the wire more so now both screws were forcing them directly on the new cleaned clamps that now have a touch of brass on them
and case closed im getting good voltage
it isn't the battery honestly spruce i wish it bloody was lol the battery reads over 12.7v when nothing is happening mate and its running around 12.3 and 12.2 no lower then 12.1 and i tested it for a good 30 mins both pumps both switches once i stop drawing it returns up mate to 12.7 it wasn't doing this before it was going extremely low very fast 11.5 if i used both 11.2 or less amazingly my 6 year old numax is still working !!! and i shall look at a new battery but i knew when i saw the low voltage over night it couldnt have been you kinda see the battery die at work slowly

heres what happened in a nut shell :
so the chap added wires and i had my less wires properly touching those screws and if i remember the neutral wasn't actually screwed it was lodged in between as i must have had a voltage drop/power cut myself ages ago and i messed around with it
and it was working fine

but he tried to use those old screws to screw down the connectors and they didn't actually all reach properly the black was slightly touching and wasn't properly down

its fixed! this has now inspired me to not panic when it comes to the electrical side of things regarding our vans

i think i shall now extend my little 12 v whale sub pump to the battery and even add a switch so i no longer need to left those 25l barrels when i need extra water added to tank on the off day! i remember wanting to pay someone to do that but i think i have graduated now :)
Title: Re: *Voltage drop case closed! fixed sorted feel good!*update*
Post by: Crystal-clear on September 09, 2017, 03:38:33 pm
oh and a very big thanks to everyone for each and every post some of them extremely detailed that i have saved them incase i have simialr issues next time i don't think i could have done it with out you thx again! ;)