[pjulk]

I have 2,  85 amp lesiure batteries and they last 1.5 - 2 days with 2 pumps going then we swap over batteries.

I don't use a varistream or bypass so when i turn the flow off on the pole it shuts the pump off.

If you have a bypass the batteries are not going to last to long
as the pumps going all the time.

I have a split charge relay but its not fixed in yet so hopefully when thats done i will never have to charge the batteries again

Paul

[neil100]

I don't use a varistream or bypass so when i turn the flow off on the pole it shuts the pump off.

Same here Paul.

Nel.

[jeff1]

Nel
The correct voltage for a leisure battery is 14.40, if your charger switches off when this voltage is reached then fine but then it must keep switching on and off to keep the battery  topped up and this I doubt it will do correctly.

The best charger to buy is the Intelligent charger this is a little bit more in cost but will keep your battery in tip top condition, this type of charger charges to within a couple of volts of the required charge then it switches its self to trickle charge for the remainder of the charge,  once full charge is reached it then turns its self off and monitors your battery condition if the voltage was to drop even the slightest then it turns its self back on. the intelligent charger can be left connected to your battery all over say the weekend with no worries.  This can't be said for a car battery charger, you would have to check the voltage with a multi-meter and once it reached 14.40v you would  have to switch off manually and keep checking it for voltage drop.

Nel  all the above information is for keeping your batteries in tip top condition many of the guy's on here are happy to charge there batteries with car charges and seem to get no trouble but I can assure you it does shorten the life of the battery. If you email me I have a link you can have on how to build your own split charge relay or you can buy one from maplins and are cheap again my link will show you how to install them.
Can you let us know how your battery tests went?

[neil100]

Will do Jeff.

I dont think a split charge relay would be any benefit to me, I do not drive that many miles for it to be benefical. We have done 6 hrs work today, I have done less then 4 miles from jumping in my van this morining and jumping back out on my drive when I have finnished.

I have used all three 85amp batteries today. First lasted 2 1/2 hrs, Second battery 2hrs. Last one 1 1/2hrs but that had a little bit left. Good job I was useing my backpack as well.

I am going to ring round my local caravan dealers this afternoon and see if anyone sells a good charger.

What did you think of the photo of my charger Jeff. Also can anyone tell me If a charger tht only recommends up to a 70amp battery should be charged is any good.

Nel.

[neil100]

12 Volt 2, 4 or 8 Amp user selectable
 

(Model # 12248)
 
 BatteryMINDer®  Model 12248
12-Volt 2, 4, or 8 Amp Charger-Maintainer-Desulphator-Conditioner
Model 12248 is a 3-stage Constant Current  - Constant voltage - Float mode charger –maintainer-desulphator (conditioner) that extends both the performance and life of all type / size / brands of 12-Volt batteries.  These include all maintenance-free, marine-RV deep cycle, Gel, AGM “dry” types, as well as “spiral wound” constructed sealed types such as Optima, Odyssey, Exide, Interstate brands, Concord.  Push-button selector for AGM, Gel and Flooded (filler caps) types ensures 100% compliance with all leading battery manufacturer’s specifications.
The BatteryMINDer®  automatically dissolves power-robbing sulphation crystals using safe, low voltage, high frequency U.S. Patented pulse technology.
We guarantee to significantly increase both your battery’s life and performance or we will refund 100% of your money within one (1) full year.  This is in addition to our five (5) year “no hassle” warranty.
 
Features:  Features An important question Patented Features Who is VDC?
 
This must be the best lesiure battery charger on the market.

Nel.

[JM123]

how much is it and where do you get them from??

[neil100]

It costs $159 in America and Canada.

I have been researching Battery chargers for the last 2 hrs. My knoweldge of whats required is a lot better, and my understanding of how it all works from battery chargers useing algorithms. to the point that gasing takes place, from voltage values of 14.4V to 13.8V.Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

By gum I need a Drink.

Nel.

[JM123]

hahaha, mate you should try doing an honours degree in Chemical Engineering (my first deg), I can well and truly sympathise!!

[jeff1]

Will do Jeff.

I dont think a split charge relay would be any benefit to me, I do not drive that many miles for it to be benefical. We have done 6 hrs work today, I have done less then 4 miles from jumping in my van this morining and jumping back out on my drive when I have finnished.

I have used all three 85amp batteries today. First lasted 2 1/2 hrs, Second battery 2hrs. Last one 1 1/2hrs but that had a little bit left. Good job I was useing my backpack as well.

I am going to ring round my local caravan dealers this afternoon and see if anyone sells a good charger.

What did you think of the photo of my charger Jeff. Also can anyone tell me If a charger tht only recommends up to a 70amp battery should be charged is any good.

Nel.

Nel
Like I said in my last post if you must use a car battery charger then use it but I don't recommend them.   
The pulse charger mentioned below is the same principle as the british  intelligent  charger that I mentioned eirlier, and cost aroud £70 a bit steep I know.
Your charger out put of 70 amps is high a 4/5 amp charger is good, the high ampere current out put is ideal if you want to boost charge your batteries and I wouldn't recommend that even for car batteries boost charging ruins batteries. invest in a cheap multi-meter if you must use a car battery and when it reaches 14.40v then switch it off. If you have the means then invest in the  intelligent  charger.
I think you have a problem with your batteries if its not them then there is a fault some were in your set-up a simple check to do is when your system is running feel all the wires and pump and any electrical switches you may have they should be cool to the touch and your pump should be warmish if these are as described then the fault lies in the batteries, and if this is the case I would put it down to the way you are charging them for three batteries to only last a couple of hours each.

if you can get the caravan suppliers to exchange them then invest in a smaller charger, or better still the charger i suggested. 
Don't forget to tell the supplier you used a leisure battery charger to charge them, or he'll have you by the short and curly's and probably won't exchange them for you. its no skin off his nose, as the batteries have a Guarantee and will go back to the manufacturers. hope this helps

Jeff

[neil100]

Jeff.

I have had the discharge test done on the batteries.

Heres how I got on.

I dropped the batteries off and went to see my Mum, so I was not there when they tested them..They put the batteries on their Charger to see if the batteries were  fully  charged. Yep no problems their, the batteries were fully charged up,( Which amazed me, both had nearly run out of juice the day before, the water was coming out so slowly. One battery took 8 hrs to fully charge at 2.4 amps an hour and the other one I left over night, so that was chargeing for 10hrs.

They passed the discharge test, No bad cells, No bubbling. He said the test cant garauntee that the battery is not faulty. But in all honesty I cannot send them back to the manufacter Because from the test we have done they seam to be all right.

So from my point of view I am left baffeld. If I took the batteries home I know they will not last. I did not want to buy some more batteries just for the sake of it.

So being a stubbon Bu **er I was not prepared to accept this result. After half an hour he agreed I could exchange the Batterries. I paid another£40 and upgraded the batteries from 85amp to 110 amps. All in all a fair result.

I am now left with the perplexing problem of why the batteries had such a short life?

I have been to another Caravan shop and I am going to buy a Leisure Charger from them. Thet had 7 diffrent models but have narrowed the choice down to two.

1. A 4amp smartcharger4  that is a three step charger for £42.50.

2. CTEK MULTI XS 7000 charger at £99.99. This as a 14.4 volt, 14.7 volt, 13.6 volt. and a 16volt charge that can be used on a stratifed battery. 7amp.

Dont know which to get, Which would you buy?

The chap I spoke to who did the test who has had 30 yrs experince with batteries said it does a lesiure battery good to have a full discharge every now and then. He will have the battery running a light bulb untill its fully discharged. Is that true.

Many thanks for your helpfull advice.

Nel.

[jeff1]

Thanks for getting back to me with the results, Pleased to hear you stood your ground and demanded an exchange, how many batteries are we talking about?

You say he is going to leave a bulb conneceted? If he did a proper test he wouldn't need to do this.   The only time I do a light bulb discharge, is after a full charge, and I need to take a multi-meter reading straight away, If you try to take a reading with a meter straight after a charge you will get a false reading, so the light bulb discharge is left on for a couple of minutes to stablise the battery and then you are able to take a meter reading, If he leaves a bulb connected until it completly goes out then he will have to time it and be there for it when it goes out, so he can work it out from the bulbs current consuption multiplied by the time taken for its discharge.

Like I said to you before its no skin off there nose to give you an exchange, I was also pleased to see you went for the upgrade.

Regarding your two choices of the new chargers you have narrowed them down very well indeed.

1. A 4amp smartcharger4  that is a three step charger for £42.50.

2. CTEK MULTI XS 7000 charger at £99.99. This as a 14.4 volt, 14.7 volt, 13.6 volt. and a 16volt charge that can be used on a stratifed battery. 7amp.

I would be interested to know what the three stages were on the £42.50 smartcharger.  The CTEK 7000 is also a good choice as it gives you the 14.40v (14.4v) that is the correct voltage for a leisure battery. anyone of the above chargers is fine depending on the three stage out-put on the smartcharger, I do know CTEK are very good but only if you can afford there prices?

Now you have to do the tests that I suggested to you, for 2/3 batteries to go like this suggests to me there is a fault, like I said with 1. Your Charging methods. or 2. with your set-up.

Check to see if anything is getting hot in use, ie cable's/switches or pump anything getting hot can indicate a fault.

Hope the above helps

Kind Regards

Jeff

[neil100]

Hi Jeff,

Made my choice on the chargers, I decided in the end to buy both of them, The Caravan shop let me have the 4amp smart charger for £40.00.

I ordered the CTEK 7000 of the internet for £80.00 which was £20 cheaper then the shop, The ctek was my prefferd choice but I needed to start chargeing my batteries today hence the reson for buying the smartcharger.

It has been charging my new 110 amp battery for the last 6 hrs, Its three stage process is BULK, ABSORPTION, FLOAT. the bulk fast charges up to 80% of required charge, ABSORPTION takes the battery to 100%, And float sends a pulse charge to keep it fully charged.

I went to see one of my freinds last night who is into electronics. He said to take my van to an auto electrician, let them hook up an amp meter while I have both pumps running to see how many amps both pumps are useing. He thinks due to me useing 2 100 mtr M/Bore hoses the pumps are working harder then they would if I had 2x 50mtr 1/2" hose. So my amps could be as high as 20 amps an hour.

He also suggested linking both batteries together so I have a bank of 220 amps for the pumps to draw power from. I have read and he agreed the higher the amp useage the quicker the batteries drain. IE ;- If you were to use 5 amps per hour your 100amp battery should last 20 hrs. But if you were to use 50 amps an hour the battery would propably only last an hour due to it draining more of the battereies power, instead of 2 hrs that you would expect.

Thanks very much for the good advice and I wish you all the best.

Nel.

[JM123]

he is correct that if you rapid drain a battery it will not provide the specified amps - however 10 amps from both pumps seems very high and I'm pretty sure the pump motor would overheat which in turn would increase battery consumption in thelong run damaging not only the battery but also the pumps.

[dai]

A leisure battery will not last as long if you charge it before it is 50% discharged. You can ruin a battery by charging it too frequently. IDEALLY YOUR BATTERY SHOULD BE RECHARGED WHEN YOU HAVE A READING OF 12.6 VOLTS ON YOUR MULTI METER. Dai