[8weekly]

My controller cuts out when my 8 month old battery gets to 12.3. Is the problem the battery or the controller would you say?

[steven ainger]

sounds like the battery to me, 

[8weekly]

sounds like the battery to me, 

The battery used to drop to 11.9 before the controller cut out which is why I'm confused.

[elite mike]

try it without the controller , see what happens.

[Ian Sheppard]

My controller cuts out when my 8 month old battery gets to 12.3. Is the problem the battery or the controller would you say?

Can I ask is the 12.3 current displayed on the controller? or are you putting a volt meter on the battery?
Also how long have you had the control and how old is it?

What is the Flow rate and calibration set to?
How long into the working day is this happening?
Have you a split charge relay or do you bench charge the battery
Lastly
what is the AH size of your battery?

I would also suggest checking all your connectors and the fuse + fuse holder replace any rusted or damaged connectors.

My fell it is unlikely to be the controller dependent on where the voltage is being checked. My initial thought is volt drop

[8weekly]

My controller cuts out when my 8 month old battery gets to 12.3. Is the problem the battery or the controller would you say?

Can I ask is the 12.3 current displayed on the controller? CONTROLLER
Also how long have you had the control and how old is it? ABOUT 18 MONTHS FROM PURE FREEDOM

What is the Flow rate and calibration set to? FLOW RATE 86 NOT SURE HOW TO CHECK CALIBRATION
How long into the working day is this happening? 3 HOURS TODAY. UNTIL LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS BATTERY WOULD LAST 3 DAYS
Have you a split charge relay or do you bench charge the battery BENCH CHARGE
Lastly
what is the AH size of your battery? 100

I would also suggest checking all your connectors and the fuse + fuse holder replace any rusted or damaged connectors. CHECKED AND APPEAR FINE

My fell it is unlikely to be the controller dependent on where the voltage is being checked. My initial thought is volt drop

Hi Ian,

Thank you. I have answered your questions in capitals.

Steve

[Ian Sheppard]

Hi Steve

Thank you for the additional information. You likely have a V9 controller which were produced up to November 2012.

I am basing the comments below on the assumption you have a deep cycle leisure battery.

A car battery has different discharge characteristics

Now the V9 measures voltage at the controller so dependent on the length and condition of the cables you may see a different voltage at the control and at the battery if using a hand held volt meter.

A 100 AH battery running your pump at a flow of 86 means you are likely drawing 4 - 5 amps an hour now assuming your battery is 100% charged at the start of the day with 13V or more You can expect 8 - 10 hrs work to run the battery to 50% capacity or 10.5V as recommended by Battery manufacturers. http://www.progressivedyn.com/battery_basics.html

I feel you are seeing two effects
1. The battery is not holding a charge as well as it used to
2. Volt drop along the cable

Have a look at this link http://www.springltd.co/node/133

You will tend to get quite a rapid and sudden fall off in the battery as it loses its ability to hold a charge.
The controller is sensitive to quite small changes in voltage. This could mean that as the battery charge falls the pump will want to pull more current to maintain the flow rate this could lead to a sudden drop below 11v. Even if this drop was for a second or less the control would see the drop and stop the pump.

Once the pump is stopped drawing current the battery voltage will recover. The control would not instantly restart the pump.

I would suggest a long bench charge to get the battery up above 13.5V ideally as close to 14V as possible and then see what happens
Charging a battery to near its maximum will take some time possible 24 - 36 hrs. If the battery still falls away quickly then replacing it would be the answer.

[8weekly]

Hi Steve

Thank you for the additional information. You likely have a V9 controller which were produced up to November 2012.

I am basing the comments below on the assumption you have a deep cycle leisure battery.

A car battery has different discharge characteristics

Now the V9 measures voltage at the controller so dependent on the length and condition of the cables you may see a different voltage at the control and at the battery if using a hand held volt meter.

A 100 AH battery running your pump at a flow of 86 means you are likely drawing 4 - 5 amps an hour now assuming your battery is 100% charged at the start of the day with 13V or more You can expect 8 - 10 hrs work to run the battery to 50% capacity or 10.5V as recommended by Battery manufacturers. http://www.progressivedyn.com/battery_basics.html

I feel you are seeing two effects
1. The battery is not holding a charge as well as it used to
2. Volt drop along the cable

Have a look at this link http://www.springltd.co/node/133

You will tend to get quite a rapid and sudden fall off in the battery as it loses its ability to hold a charge.
The controller is sensitive to quite small changes in voltage. This could mean that as the battery charge falls the pump will want to pull more current to maintain the flow rate this could lead to a sudden drop below 11v. Even if this drop was for a second or less the control would see the drop and stop the pump.

Once the pump is stopped drawing current the battery voltage will recover. The control would not instantly restart the pump.

I would suggest a long bench charge to get the battery up above 13.5V ideally as close to 14V as possible and then see what happens
Charging a battery to near its maximum will take some time possible 24 - 36 hrs. If the battery still falls away quickly then replacing it would be the answer.

Thank you Ian. I will give it a long charge and see how I get on. I must admit would expect a battery to last longer, but hey ho.....

[Ian Sheppard]

You are welcome Steve. How long the battery will last will come down to how low it gets prior to being recharged.

I found the link on the progressive dynamics site very informative. certainly worth a look. Giving the battery a long charge will tell you pretty quickly if its getting to the end of its useful life.

[8weekly]

Ironically, I ordered a new battery this morning and my battery lasted all day... but actually I remember the last one being the same with a couple of "false dawns" only to die in the middle of a job.

On the battery charge front, I have a Halfords charger that has a "ready and maintaining" state. I am guessing that it won't continue to charge once it gets there?

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

I used to have trouble with power a few years back, found out it was the positive cable that wasn't the correct grade. Changed it for one that was & the difference was like night & day!!

[Ian Sheppard]

Ironically, I ordered a new battery this morning and my battery lasted all day... but actually I remember the last one being the same with a couple of "false dawns" only to die in the middle of a job.
Hi Steve

On the battery charge front, I have a Halfords charger that has a "ready and maintaining" state. I am guessing that it won't continue to charge once it gets there?

The battery will continue to take a small charge even when the charger shows maintain, The amount of amps going in will be quite low at that point.
Winproclean makes a good point re cable grade, Most stuff is 1mm you could uprate this to 2mm. The thicker core will mean there is less volt drop along the cable as the conductivity improves.

[8weekly]

UPDATE: New battery installed today, but the problem persists.

I have done the following:

• Checked for loose wiring/rust. There are a couple of tiny rust patches on the crocodile clips connecting to the battery.
  Removed about 3 foot of wire from controller to battery (I bought a pumpboard and it came with long coils of wire.

[Dave Willis]

Try a new fuseholder and fuse, cheap worth a try. my fuseholders tend to melt a tad now and again for some reason.

[Viktor]

I have the same problem, have bought two new batteries and that did not help, so assumed its the controller.

Have tried a new controller and had no problems, now back to the old one.

it seems to cut off on two occasions mid of the day, or when I put the flow up.
 

[8weekly]

Try a new fuseholder and fuse, cheap worth a try. my fuseholders tend to melt a tad now and again for some reason.

Good idea. Do you have a link to one?

[Ian Sheppard]

You could also consider uprating the cable to 2mm. This will improve the conductivity and reduce the effect of volt drop

[8weekly]

You could also consider uprating the cable to 2mm. This will improve the conductivity and reduce the effect of volt drop

The problem is that I lack a bit of confidence around this stuff. I nearly had a coronary when I realised I had to remove the fuse holder to shorten the cable.

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

You could also consider uprating the cable to 2mm. This will improve the conductivity and reduce the effect of volt drop

This is what I would do for definite. You'll get it from Halfords for a couple of quid!

[Ian Sheppard]

Hi Steve

Before we go down replacing cable route, I am going to ask you to check a couple things.

When you switch the control on in the morning turn the flow rate down to 0 and look at the voltage displayed while the pump is effectively off and under no load.
Then turn the flow up to you normal rate and again check the voltage.

I would expect to see quite a drop when the pump is under load.

I would also ask you to check the calibration rate the control is on. This video link cover that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kKoskb7l7c&list=UL
Run the auto cal and see what the cal rate is.

Can I ask how old is the pump? plus what is the liter per min flow rate PSI and max current?