[billozz]

need a bit of advise re batteries please.
we have a leisure battery in each van, the problem is charging them up, as you are probably all aware you have to charge them slowly otherwise you knacker em, the problem with this is that you need to charge them overnight so you can work everyday, one solution might be multiple batteries but this gets a bit costly, can anyone advise please from experience what their setup with batteries is and how well it works, also before anyone mentions split charge relays, we have tried them and they dont work for us maybe its because we dont move very far between jobs so no time for it to put anythin into the battery, i dont know but they are no good for us.
thanks in anticipation
bill

[GWCS]

bench charge a leisure battery over the weekend, and set up a solar power charging - use search function to find out more..

alternatively you'll have to have 2 and swap them round use one whilst the other is charging.

[Davie T]

Last post was good advice !

[ftp]

Two battery chargers 

[matt]

i must have been more than 2 months now without charging mine

i have 2 old car batteries ( from a local garage, they were dead batteries that didnt start a car anymore ), 1 is being solar charged for 24 hours whilst the other is being used for that day, then i change them over

it works really well, no more lifting of the batteries, no more putting them on charge every night, i am well happy

[billozz]

i must have been more than 2 months now without charging mine

i have 2 old car batteries ( from a local garage, they were dead batteries that didnt start a car anymore ), 1 is being solar charged for 24 hours whilst the other is being used for that day, then i change them over

it works really well, no more lifting of the batteries, no more putting them on charge every night, i am well happy

matt,
we have tried to use car batteries and they didnt work, they lose their charge too quickly ie they will only work for a few hrs and eventually no more than an hr, also not sure what you mean by the batteries are charged for 24 hrs do you mean over 2 days
thanks
bill

[stevieg]

hi , eventually you will have to buy new batteries! so if you buy new ones you will only be using them half the time ,therefore they will last twice as long so you are not losing anything and only gaining by charging more regularly and prolonging the life of the battery!!!

[Alistair@AWC]

Matt,

What solar panel are you using also from where and how much?

Regards

Al

[matt]

i must have been more than 2 months now without charging mine

i have 2 old car batteries ( from a local garage, they were dead batteries that didnt start a car anymore ), 1 is being solar charged for 24 hours whilst the other is being used for that day, then i change them over

it works really well, no more lifting of the batteries, no more putting them on charge every night, i am well happy

matt,
we have tried to use car batteries and they didnt work, they lose their charge too quickly ie they will only work for a few hrs and eventually no more than an hr, also not sure what you mean by the batteries are charged for 24 hrs do you mean over 2 days
thanks
bill

no, the battery is on charge from 1 morning to the next ( thus 24 hours ) then i use that battery and put the other on charge till the next morning and change is again

its working well

[matt]

Matt,

What solar panel are you using also from where and how much?

Regards

Al

i got mine from ebay, though its made by maplin, maplin do a fair few of them

check out this thread

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=78944.0

as i said, its working very well for me

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

need a bit of advise re batteries please.
we have a leisure battery in each van, the problem is charging them up, as you are probably all aware you have to charge them slowly otherwise you knacker em, the problem with this is that you need to charge them overnight so you can work everyday, one solution might be multiple batteries but this gets a bit costly, can anyone advise please from experience what their setup with batteries is and how well it works, also before anyone mentions split charge relays, we have tried them and they dont work for us maybe its because we dont move very far between jobs so no time for it to put anythin into the battery, i dont know but they are no good for us.
thanks in anticipation
bill

 
How many Vans do you have?

[billozz]

i must have been more than 2 months now without charging mine

i have 2 old car batteries ( from a local garage, they were dead batteries that didnt start a car anymore ), 1 is being solar charged for 24 hours whilst the other is being used for that day, then i change them over

it works really well, no more lifting of the batteries, no more putting them on charge every night, i am well happy

matt,
we have tried to use car batteries and they didnt work, they lose their charge too quickly ie they will only work for a few hrs and eventually no more than an hr, also not sure what you mean by the batteries are charged for 24 hrs do you mean over 2 days
thanks
bill

no, the battery is on charge from 1 morning to the next ( thus 24 hours ) then i use that battery and put the other on charge till the next morning and change is again

its working well

thats the point the battery can only be charging for 10-12 hrs not 24 im amazed that you get enough charge, the other thing is we are trying to get enough power for 2 people as there are 2 in the van

[matt]

i must have been more than 2 months now without charging mine

i have 2 old car batteries ( from a local garage, they were dead batteries that didnt start a car anymore ), 1 is being solar charged for 24 hours whilst the other is being used for that day, then i change them over

it works really well, no more lifting of the batteries, no more putting them on charge every night, i am well happy

matt,
we have tried to use car batteries and they didnt work, they lose their charge too quickly ie they will only work for a few hrs and eventually no more than an hr, also not sure what you mean by the batteries are charged for 24 hrs do you mean over 2 days
thanks
bill

no, the battery is on charge from 1 morning to the next ( thus 24 hours ) then i use that battery and put the other on charge till the next morning and change is again

its working well

thats the point the battery can only be charging for 10-12 hrs not 24 im amazed that you get enough charge, the other thing is we are trying to get enough power for 2 people as there are 2 in the van

i see what you mean now, the hours of daylight

get a slightly bigger solar panel and fix is inside the rear window, charge as you work

[Halfadaylee]

Hi Bill
Try bannings batteries, I had two 85 amp leisure that had been depleted by a company they supply and then returned as scrap. They are then recharged and sold off as seconds. the ones I have had have lasted two years now, 1 on charge one being used and I only paid £25. each.
Tony

[billozz]

Hi Bill
Try bannings batteries, I had two 85 amp leisure that had been depleted by a company they supply and then returned as scrap. They are then recharged and sold off as seconds. the ones I have had have lasted two years now, 1 on charge one being used and I only paid £25. each.
Tony

Tony,
thanks for the reply, its not so much the cost of the batteries, its the fact that they dont last too long when you charge them in the usual way ie overnight, its that that knackers them, we still havent found a reliable way (apart from trying what matt has suggested, which we will) to charge the batteries properly bearing in mind that they need to be charged overnight, as we have 2 working from the van the battery depletes very quicklyie even when new you cant get much more than a cple of days from one charge. having siad that if they only cost 25 quid it would be easier to live with them failing quickly. do they sell 2nds all the time do you know.

thanks
bill

[Halfadaylee]

Hi Bill
Sorry for the delay. I'm not sure but next time I see you I will show you what make it is.
When I brought one brand new it was only £47.00 but it was four years ago!

[leapstallbuildings]

The last two leisure batteries I had would struggle to get me through a day between them if I was short on drive betweens.  I had to run the engine during breaks or sometimes for a while while I was working.  I bit the bullet recently and got a new one.  I charge it up twice a week so hopefully it will last a while along with the split charge relay that I have.  Does anyone know how to calculate how many watts are being used during a charge up from the mains?  I think the charger is 3 amp/hour.  The voltage (obviously) is c.240volts.  I don't want to end up with horrendous electric bills.
I'm considering getting a second battery so I can alternate them.  This would help to keep them topped up and therefore last longer.  Although my new one is 70 amps, I'm not convinced that it fully recharges overnight due to it being a trickle charge.

[jeff1]

 A watt is the rate of electrical use for a device at any moment. A light bulb might be a 100-watt bulb and that means the light bulb must constantly pull 100 watts to work at full power.
A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. If you want to know how many watts is being used by a device that is listed in amps, you just multiply the number of amps times the number of volts. In the UK, wall outlets are 240 volts. If you have a 2-amp vacuum cleaner (2 amps x 240 volts) then it is running at 480 watts

[leapstallbuildings]

A watt is the rate of electrical use for a device at any moment. A light bulb might be a 100-watt bulb and that means the light bulb must constantly pull 100 watts to work at full power.
A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. If you want to know how many watts is being used by a device that is listed in amps, you just multiply the number of amps times the number of volts. In the UK, wall outlets are 240 volts. If you have a 2-amp vacuum cleaner (2 amps x 240 volts) then it is running at 480 watts

Just for clarification Jeff please let me run this past you     .
My annual domestic usage falls around 3,500 kilowatts (I think).
If I am using a 3 amp charger, would I be correct in thinking that it would be using about  720 watts/hour (i.e. nearly three quarters of a kilowatt per hour)?
If so, assuming I were charging a battery on 100 x 14 hour nights that would be 1,400 hours at 720 watts = 1,008,000 (or a bit over 1,000 kilowatts).  That would increase my usage from about 3,500 kw to about 4,500 kw.
Could you just check that please Jeff to see if I'm in the right ballpark as electrics isn't a strong point for me.

[jeff1]

First of all Is your battery charger just a normal run of the mill charger or is it a 3 stage Intelligent  one? The reason for asking this is that a normal charger will pump out the full 3amps for the full period its being charged were as an intelligent one will pump out the 3 amps for less than an hour then it switches into its second stage and reduces its out put for the last 10% of charge, once the battery has reached its full charge then the charger will only switch on just to keep the battery topped up and its less than .5 of an amp to keep it topped up.

Your calculations are correct given your table? Do yourself a favour and by the intelligent type charger and you will reduce your charging bill by over 2 3rds if not more. Not only will you be reducing your energy bill but you will also prolong the life of your battery because of a much better charging procedure.