Not as it seems...

Hi - I have a month old battery that was working fine.

I've also have just bought a new CTEK MXS 5.0 Charger.

It shows as fully charged over night, and first thing shows a reading of 12.4 on the digital controller When I start using the wfp the reading goes down to 11.5 for pretty much the whole day.

The flow seems to be fine doing my houses, but not enough flow on 2nd floor flats.

What could this be??

The only thing springing to mind is that I emptied my tank at the weekend, but forgot all about it. I reckon there was 30mins flow in the tank, but think it was going for an hour & half in total - so pumping an hour on empty. I can't see a connection between the 2 myself, but I would say the problem started around the same time. I have re-calabritated it. 

When I disconnect the hose from the reel - water flies out much faster than normal - I'm talking straight across the road from one pavement to the other!! That's not normal.

REALLY-REALLY appreciate your time.

It doesn’t sound like it was fully charged at the start despite what your charger said. It should read over 13v when fully charged and not drop below 12 in use. If it does it normally needs charging in my experience.

Marko067 said:

It doesn’t sound like it was fully charged at the start despite what your charger said. It should read over 13v when fully charged and not drop below 12 in use. If it does it normally needs charging in my experience.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I get you, and thanks. I charged it for 9 hours last night though! Surely thats enough. That usually lasts me a couple of days.

Gonna give it another 8 hours tonight........

Have you maintained the battery by topping  water levels etc? Also to test the voltage after a charge it’s best to look at it Two hours after a charge for it to cool down. The attached chart is handy reference for battery voltage maintenances.

Thanks BF. The battery is a sealed unit so no topping up needed.

Thanks for the chart!

What amparage is your charger? And what ah is your battery.   8 hours at 1 amp would only be 8ah.   A 10amp charger would be 80ah.  Take away resistance of your battery and your talking more like 50-60ah.      A 110ah battery drained to 50% (any more and your killing your battery) will need 24 hours with a 3amp charger minimum.  Don’t be fooled with high current chargers.  It’s better to slow charge a battery than to ram it quick.  Think like eating.  If you wolf down your dinner, you will feel it later.     Put your batttery on charge for 24 hours and report back ??

just a point, you mention the flow drops the higher your pole? increase the flow rate on your controller, your battery isnt actualy going flat in a day is it?

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

or perhaps you have a kink in your hosereel somewhere?

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

Clearview Lee said:

Hi - I have a month old battery that was working fine.

I've also have just bought a new CTEK MXS 5.0 Charger.

It shows as fully charged over night, and first thing shows a reading of 12.4 on the digital controller When I start using the wfp the reading goes down to 11.5 for pretty much the whole day.

The flow seems to be fine doing my houses, but not enough flow on 2nd floor flats.

What could this be??

The only thing springing to mind is that I emptied my tank at the weekend, but forgot all about it. I reckon there was 30mins flow in the tank, but think it was going for an hour & half in total - so pumping an hour on empty. I can't see a connection between the 2 myself, but I would say the problem started around the same time. I have re-calabritated it. 

When I disconnect the hose from the reel - water flies out much faster than normal - I'm talking straight across the road from one pavement to the other!! That's not normal.

REALLY-REALLY appreciate your time.





5

Click to expand...

Hard to say without eyes on, First off kink in the hose or a dodgy aqua-stop fitting restricting flow, Now @spruce may be able to help more and correct me if i am wrong, the charger you have bought says it's suitable for a stop-start battery, On my Halfords smart charger I have 2 options when charging a battery either stop-start being a van or car battery or leisure battery or whatever it says, I assume the 2 battery types have different charging requirements 

Kleenwell said:

What amparage is your charger? And what ah is your battery.   8 hours at 1 amp would only be 8ah.   A 10amp charger would be 80ah.  Take away resistance of your battery and your talking more like 50-60ah.      A 110ah battery drained to 50% (any more and your killing your battery) will need 24 hours with a 3amp charger minimum.  Don’t be fooled with high current chargers.  It’s better to slow charge a battery than to ram it quick.  Think like eating.  If you wolf down your dinner, you will feel it later.     Put your batttery on charge for 24 hours and report back ??

Click to expand...

It's a amp charger on a A110 Battery. Both 2 months old - both worked fine until end of last week. CTEK Charger. I remember it was the one that got the most recommendations when I asked on here a couple of years back. 

Do you still recommend a 24 hour charging? Just need to make sure.... 

If it's not a dodgy fitting or electrical issue, Then the next question is how old is your controller mine started playing up after just over 5 years, I bought a new one from Gardiners and it solved the issue with what appeared to be voltage drop but wasn't

County Durham Lad

Iron Giant said:

If it's not a dodgy fitting or electrical issue, Then the next question is how old is your controller mine started playing up after just over 5 years, I bought a new one from Gardiners and it solved the issue with what appeared to be voltage drop but wasn't

County Durham Lad
 

Click to expand...

Good point, I switched to analog controller a few years ago for a similar situation 

Iron Giant said:

If it's not a dodgy fitting or electrical issue, Then the next question is how old is your controller mine started playing up after just over 5 years, I bought a new one from Gardiners and it solved the issue with what appeared to be voltage drop but wasn't

County Durham Lad
 

Click to expand...

Are you serious?! So many things to go wrong... Mine is 7 years old.

I charged my battery for 9 hours Mon night, but only did 3 hours yesterday - water flow was fine, except on height of flats where was dribbling out.

Another 8 hours charge last night, left for an hour to just stand - turned on the controller and reads: 11.6

Gonna head out now and see what happens. Work is piling up big-time now

Clearview Lee said:

It's a amp charger on a A110 Battery. Both 2 months old - both worked fine until end of last week. CTEK Charger. I remember it was the one that got the most recommendations when I asked on here a couple of years back. 

Do you still recommend a 24 hour charging? Just need to make sure.... 

Click to expand...

The charger should say when it’s fully charged to be fair.    Once full, they go into what’s call float mode.  Meaning it holds the voltage at between 13 and 13.8v.    If your battery reads this before you take it off charge in the morning, it’s full.   I personally would look at sorting a s plit charge relay.  That way, your battery gets a top up after every job.    I have a split charge relay fitted, and my battery is sat at 13v every morning even though it’s been sat for hours without charge.   Say you do an hours job drawing 9amps (pump running non stop) That’s 9ah.  Drive 10 mins with 20amp going into the battery, thats 3-5ah gone back in.  20 min drive, 6-10ah back in.     Your battery will never go totally flat. 

just seen your post saying left to stand for an hour and had 11.6v.  I would take your battery back under warranty.   It sound like you have a duff battery.    Or your charger is faulty.   Really need to know what voltage is at the battery terminals while charging.   

Kleenwell said:

just seen your post saying left to stand for an hour and had 11.6v.  I would take your battery back under warranty.   It sound like you have a duff battery.    Or your charger is faulty.   Really need to know what voltage is at the battery terminals while charging.   

Click to expand...

Thank you my friend , I really appreciate your help. 

As I connected the charger after 4 hours work yesterday  it instantly went up to 12.6v...

Clearview Lee said:

Thank you my friend , I really appreciate your help. 

As I connected the charger after 4 hours work yesterday  it instantly went up to 12.6v...

Click to expand...

Ok. So it sound like your charger is fine.   I would be looking at the battery next.   At the weekend, if you let it fully charge, then let it sit for about 5 hours, then take a voltage reading,  preferably with a multimeter, if it’s below 12v, you have a duff battery.    If above 12v, put it in the van and see what the controller says.  If the controller says less than the multimeter, your controller is at fault

Kleenwell said:

Ok. So it sound like your charger is fine.   I would be looking at the battery next.   At the weekend, if you let it fully charge, then let it sit for about 5 hours, then take a voltage reading,  preferably with a multimeter, if it’s below 12v, you have a duff battery.    If above 12v, put it in the van and see what the controller says.  If the controller says less than the multimeter, your controller is at fault

Click to expand...

Excellent stuff! I wish I had your brains ? 

really appreciate this  ??

No worries mate.  Always happy to help when it comes to electrical problems ??

Kleenwell said:

No worries mate.  Always happy to help when it comes to electrical problems ??

Click to expand...

Right, okay...I’m actually 2 hours into my first pole job of the day, and just about got it finished with poor water flow towards the end and controller reading 11.2v....any help is gratefully received 

I’m suspecting you’re controller more than anything to be honest.   Your flow should still be reasonable at that voltage as it’s only 0.8v off the rated voltage of the pump.    Are you able to disconnect the pump from the controller and bypass it?  See if you get better flow.  If you do, you can rule out the battery

Clearview Lee said:

Right, okay...I’m actually 2 hours into my first pole job of the day, and just about got it finished with poor water flow towards the end and controller reading 11.2v....any help is gratefully received 

Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree with @Kleenwell.

My first check would be the battery. When its on charge, what voltage are you getting across the battery posts?  My charger charges at 13.8/13.9 volts.

What battery is it?

As has been suggested, by pass the controller and see what happens. Can you temporarily wire your setup to your van battery and see if you have the same issues?