[a900]

Hi

I have just brought a new van and looking to kit it out and would like a split charge relay but looking for other people's experiences at charging up their leisure battery on a fairly compact round.

I do around 8000 miles a year using a pump 5 days. Anyone else found that they have been able to charge their leisure battery sufficiently with a split charge relay?

[Scrimble]

yes of course it is,  this one is ideal

http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/split-charge-kit-made-to-measure.html

[dazmond]

you ll still have to bench charge it every so often too.i dont see the point.

i do even less miles than you(around 2500miles a year) and always been fine charging up a separate battery every night after work.takes 2 mins.

[chris turner]

I do around 8000 miles a year and havnt had to manually charge my battery once.
With the split charge relay I normally get about a year and a half before the battery starts needing to be benched charged once a week, at which point I just buy a new battery.
Be clever with it, like when your eating lunch etc keep the van running. I also have a large commercial job to do every 5 weeks, it takes around 5 hours. As the van is parked in a secure car park I leave it running the whole time to give the battery a decent charge.

[AuRavelling79]

Yes. I have done 25,500 miles in 4 years 9 months. Averaging about 5400 miles per year started at about 6000 and now dropped to about 5000.

I changed to split charge relay about 18 months ago and used a four year old car battery which worked fine as long as I charged it on trickle once a week. 3 months ago  bought a new leisure battery (70 or 80AH) from Go outdoors for £50 (with their discount card) and probably trickle charge when I remember - about twice a month.

[Spruce]

Hi

I have just brought a new van and looking to kit it out and would like a split charge relay but looking for other people's experiences at charging up their leisure battery on a fairly compact round.

I do around 8000 miles a year using a pump 5 days. Anyone else found that they have been able to charge their leisure battery sufficiently with a split charge relay?

What new van did you buy?

If its a brand new one with a 'smart' alternator and regenerative charging then this means that an ordinary SCR will not work on your van.

Grippatank have a good technical write up about why.

https://www.grippatank.co.uk/full-kit-12v-30amp-smart-battery-to-battery-charger

Obviously cost is a issue if you need a battery to battery charger.

If its an older van, then I would say yes. It will pay for its once in its life. We had a leisure battery work fine the one day and then 'fail' whilst we were on a big job the following day. We were miles from home and with the engine left running we were able to finish the job. The wife was with us that day and she sat in the van whilst the engine was running.

I think of it as AA cover. You may never need it but you have it if you do.

I also have a volt and amp meter gauge 'across' my leisure battery. I can see what current is being drawn and what current the alternator is putting back into the battery when driving. That gives me a good indication if and when I must supplementary charge my leisure battery.

These days in winter I plug the charger in every night when I put the heater inside. In the summer I plug the charger in every second night or so,  which means the battery is always fully charged.

. 

[dd]

I do around 8000 miles a year and havnt had to manually charge my battery once.
With the split charge relay I normally get about a year and a half before the battery starts needing to be benched charged once a week, at which point I just buy a new battery.
Be clever with it, like when your eating lunch etc keep the van running. I also have a large commercial job to do every 5 weeks, it takes around 5 hours. As the van is parked in a secure car park I leave it running the whole time to give the battery a decent charge.

Leaving van running just to keep battery charged seems like a waste of money to me. I would rather charge it overnight. If your van is parked on drive overnight just run an extension lead out to it, easier than removing battery.

[chris turner]

I do around 8000 miles a year and havnt had to manually charge my battery once.
With the split charge relay I normally get about a year and a half before the battery starts needing to be benched charged once a week, at which point I just buy a new battery.
Be clever with it, like when your eating lunch etc keep the van running. I also have a large commercial job to do every 5 weeks, it takes around 5 hours. As the van is parked in a secure car park I leave it running the whole time to give the battery a decent charge.

Leaving van running just to keep battery charged seems like a waste of money to me. I would rather charge it overnight. If your van is parked on drive overnight just run an extension lead out to it, easier than removing battery.

Yea but it saves me running an extension out every night

[jonboywalton75]

I do 11000 a year in my transit custom  and my scr was the worst money I have spent recently
Older vans maybe its  worth it

[Spruce]

I do 11000 a year in my transit custom  and my scr was the worst money I have spent recently
Older vans maybe its  worth it

What was the problem Jon boy?

[Frankybadboy]

I do around 8000 miles a year and havnt had to manually charge my battery once.
With the split charge relay I normally get about a year and a half before the battery starts needing to be benched charged once a week, at which point I just buy a new battery.
Be clever with it, like when your eating lunch etc keep the van running. I also have a large commercial job to do every 5 weeks, it takes around 5 hours. As the van is parked in a secure car park I leave it running the whole time to give the battery a decent charge.

Leaving van running just to keep battery charged seems like a waste of money to me.

ever been stuck on a job and battery gone flat,jusst running the van can mean getting the job finished

[Don Kee]

I do 11000 a year in my transit custom  and my scr was the worst money I have spent recently
Older vans maybe its  worth it

What was the problem Jon boy?

I would imagine jon boy fitted an intelligent relay, which as your post above suggests, doesn't work

There is another way with Customs and mk8's, as you can code in a relay system via ford IDS

Only problem is dealers don't want to touch it, so it's finding the right people to fit the hardware and then code it in, which from experiance is an utter ballache!!!!
Any other way seems to throw up management lights due to the Canbus

I know Frankybadboy has had a relay fitted that works on a 65plate vivarro and I believe only cost around £100 fitted, but I don't know the full details as to what was done

[Tony dunmall]

I've got the new transit connect Ltd edition so it's got the auto stop start

I've opted for the new grippa src as I had no choice and it's really good so far no issues can park up for few hours at a time some time and I'm often about 5-10 mins from home

I run two electric hose reels and two pumps
Next week I'm adding the air heater from grippa for the pumps within the cabinet

I'm very happy with average about 8-10 k a year

[a900]

What new van did you buy?

If its a brand new one with a 'smart' alternator and regenerative charging then this means that an ordinary SCR will not work

'New' to me but a 10 plate Mercedes Vito. So a split charger should work with it.

Sounds like people that have split charge relays either have to use a battery charger some of the time in addition or there battery's don't last long. My last leisure battery lasted 4 years charging every other day with no scr. Charging this one end of every working day so should last longer.

I don't really want to shorten it's life and hoped a scr would avoid bench charging. Sounds like £100 could be better put toward something else. Electric reel maybe  . .

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

I do 11000 a year in my transit custom  and my scr was the worst money I have spent recently
Older vans maybe its  worth it

What was the problem Jon boy?

I would imagine jon boy fitted an intelligent relay, which as your post above suggests, doesn't work

There is another way with Customs and mk8's, as you can code in a relay system via ford IDS

Only problem is dealers don't want to touch it, so it's finding the right people to fit the hardware and then code it in, which from experiance is an utter ballache!!!!
Any other way seems to throw up management lights due to the Canbus

I know Frankybadboy has had a relay fitted that works on a 65plate vivarro and I believe only cost around £100 fitted, but I don't know the full details as to what was done

transit fourm is your best bet , or try vantuner  they  tuned my 3.2 transit for me meaning its sat with over 250bhp and better on fuel now doing 19 mpg now until you give it some beans

[dd]

I do around 8000 miles a year and havnt had to manually charge my battery once.
With the split charge relay I normally get about a year and a half before the battery starts needing to be benched charged once a week, at which point I just buy a new battery.
Be clever with it, like when your eating lunch etc keep the van running. I also have a large commercial job to do every 5 weeks, it takes around 5 hours. As the van is parked in a secure car park I leave it running the whole time to give the battery a decent charge.

Leaving van running just to keep battery charged seems like a waste of money to me.

ever been stuck on a job and battery gone flat,jusst running the van can mean getting the job finished

In over 10 years wfp no. Might happen one day, but it really takes  1 minute to run extension lead from garage to charge battery each evening. I am not saying scr are a bad idea, but if you can charge battery  as easily I do, it make sense to do it periodically even if you have a scr.

 Much better than running van while you have lunch just to keep battery topped up.

[Windy Miller]

I'd definitely go with the split charge, my relay switch quit working a few weeks ago and I only got a replacement fitted today.
I could tell instantly the difference in flow rate with the battery being topped off driving between houses.
I do work the majority of the time in the country so longer journeys between customers but I'd imagine it still makes a difference on compact rounds as well.

[stevejohn]

I've got a 15 plate transit custom had it from new and done 12000 miles in 17 months. Had the batteries from new and connected to the spring digital pump controllers with built in split relay charger. Been faultless from day one and the batteries are always fully/near fully charged and never been bench charged or topped up once, other than the relay chargers on board.

[matthewprice]

Running the risk of being shot down in flames .I have gone for a 180 amp battery and working 5.5 days a week 8 hours a day .my battery is lasting close on a fortnight ,then I charge it .

[capn sparkle]

13,000 Miles in 3yrs with Pure Freedom fitted SCR - never bench charged - use approx 350 / 400 ltrs per day with a sureflow 5.7ltr  per min pump.

Currently showing 12.6 volts after 4 hrs without use which equates to approx 80% charge.

This old thread might help

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=192817.0;all