[matty72]

my battery for pumps is not charging up, it runs off the battery in the front of van off a split charger, all fuses seem ok, I have a multimeter battery says about 10volts, advive on what to test next to solve whats wrong would be great, cheers.

[bobplum]

battery knackered?

[matty72]

why do you say that, anyone know how to test if the voltage is coming through to the battery, i have a multimeter but not sure if im testing it right

[mikecam]

why do you say that,

Assuming its a 12 volt battery, if its reading 10 volts its almost certainly knackered. Mine conk out just below 12 volts, when fully charged they read about 13 volts. Thats going off the info in my relay charger. How old is your battery?

[matty72]

1 to 2 years old, but wouldn't the battery have a reading like that because for the last two days I've used it and it's run right down, any ideas how i test to see if the split charger is doing its job

[andyM]

At least one if not two cells of your battery are dead.
Time for a new one.  

[matty72]

I here what everyone is telling me it's the battery but just in case its not i want to cancel out the fact that the charger from the front battery is still sending a good charge, how do i test this though, if it is then i know the battery is the problem, but how do i test it.

[simon w]

At least one if not two cells of your battery are dead.
Time for a new one.  

Yes time for a new one, if your not sure pop it into a local auto electrician and ask them to test it for you, but if the cells are dry sounds like it's time to replace.

[andyM]

You could try checking the electrolyte levels of each battery cell and top up if necessary.
Then bench charge the battery and check with the multi-meter.
Ideally you should get 13+ volts from a fully charged battery.

[matty72]

ok ok ok, everyone seems sure it's the battery, fair enough, lets say the battery is not even in the back of my van how do i test if the split charger is doing it's job any ideas

[stuart mc]

not sure matty but I imagine the positive terminal on the split charge should be giving a reading with the engine running

[matty72]

a mate says i can use one of his batteries to test the split charger, if it works on that one i will know it's definately my battery and the charger is fine, all good, cheers everyone.

[Spruce]

Do you charge the battery seperately or only with the split charge relay? We need to bench charge our batteries every so often as we don't do enough mileage to fully charge the batteries going to and from work.

As I mentioned on a seperate thread recently, each pump uses 3.4amps per hour. So with 1 pump working say 4 hours per day, the battery will have delivered 13.6 amps. My van alternator charges my leisure battery at +- 7.5 amps. So, as we usually drive 10 minutes to and 10 minutes back from work the battery would only receive 2.5 amps, a deficient of 11.5 amps per day. In theory, my 110 amp leisure battery would need to be charged once a week to be safe. The van I use is a Citroen Relay hdi with a 150amp alternator.

You can check to make sure the split charge relay is working by using your multimeter. On the dial of the Multimeter you should have a voltage tester. Test the leisure battery voltage first and make a note of the voltage across it. Then start your van and the voltage should be higher when the engine is running, something around 13.5v or maybe a bit higher. If it isn't then the first place to check is the fuses followed by all connections. If they are OK suspect the split charge relay itself. Obviously, the battery will need to be in vehicle to do this.

I would charge your leisure battery overnight and see what the situation is. If the battery charges up and holds a charge, then you will need to supplement your van charging every few days. It's difficult to test a leisure battery these days as most of them are sealed. In the old days a battery was put on a charger with it's filler caps removed. A load was then put on the battery and you could tell the suspect cells as the water in them would start to bubble. They were also the cells that needed to be topped up with water regularily.

Nowdays if a battery won't hold a charge and its a couple of years old, best replace it anyway.

We have experienced failure of several leisure batteries over the years. You can charge them up and they will read 12.7v when fully charged, but each time they haven't the capacity and last no more than a couple of hours. Replacement was the solution.

Spruce

[CRYSTAL1984]

Inline fuse

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

Matty, do exactly what spruce has just said! it will tell you if your charging system is actually submitting a charge to the battery. you are right to think that the battery would read low i.e10v after a couple of days use IF the charging system was not working correctly. It may be a lose wire. dont buy a new battery till you know either way. A decent new battery will cost you £100+ and you may not need one.
If you do need to buy a new battery DO NOT buy budget buy the best you can afford.
hope this helps
regards
Dave (ex autoelectrician)

[bobplum]

my battery for pumps is not charging up, it runs off the battery in the front of van off a split charger, all fuses seem ok, I have a multimeter battery says about 10volts, advive on what to test next to solve whats wrong would be great, cheers.

you can pick up a good battery from a srapyard for £20.00

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

You can also enter the lottery tonight and WIN but your chances are slim 

[matty72]

Cheers spruce all good advice that, i charged my battery last night reading of 13v all good seems to go up with split charger on to about 13.8v, i think what happened was the earth connection came loose and my battery run right down as split charger doen't work if earth not connected, will see how it all goes in next few days but if that was the problem it's a good result thanks for the tips.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

dump it m8
replace wiv two 

[Spruce]

Cheers spruce all good advice that, i charged my battery last night reading of 13v all good seems to go up with split charger on to about 13.8v, i think what happened was the earth connection came loose and my battery run right down as split charger doen't work if earth not connected, will see how it all goes in next few days but if that was the problem it's a good result thanks for the tips.

Glad to hear you have got that one sorted. I had a similar issue with mine once, but it was the main wire from the split charge relay to the battery that had come loose at the relay terminal.