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Leisure battery advice ?

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Potta81

Potta81

Well-known member
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204
Location
Walsall
Hi guys I’ve been told don’t just get any leisure battery & that they are graded A B & C. I’m presuming the A class is best to get but also pricey. So do most just get a class B battery instead at a more affordable price? Any recommendations welcome, cheers boys ??

 
For a brand I'd recommend Numax. For a capacity, I'd say the biggest, meanest you can get. I use two. I think they are about 115ah. Beyond that for advice on which class, Spruce, the resident technical guru is your man, unless anyone else can answer. 

 
Potta81 said:
Hi guys I’ve been told don’t just get any leisure battery & that they are graded A B & C. I’m presuming the A class is best to get but also pricey. So do most just get a class B battery instead at a more affordable price? Any recommendations welcome, cheers boys ??
Click to expand...


Exactly what @Davy G has said.

More and more of us windies are using other equipment such as diesel heaters and electric hose reels that draw a big current for a short period of time.

So we could do well to look toward a good combo battery; leisure and starter. I would recommend a leisure battery with a CCA (cold craking amps) specification.

These are generally class B rated batteries. The specs will say that they will work with motor movers and support wild camping.

Numax has always worked well for us.

Unfortunately, Numax and other battery manufacturers won't honour their guarantee when the battery is used by window cleaners. One of the battery suppliers supplying a range of battery makes specifically lists occupations such as window cleaning as being a reason for a warranty claim being rejected.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/tutorials/battery-warranty-information

Buying a battery online can be a difficult process to get a genuine battery claim accepted anyway. It can also be rather costly with return 'postage' and then for them to say that there is no justified claim. None of us have the expertise to challenge their 'findings.' I don't agree with their 'blanket' policy but we have no choice but to accept it.

So we just take the risk on ourselves.

We have had excellent service from Numax batteries over the years so I would still recommend them based on our experience. We keep them as fully charged as possible and they mostly never drop below 80% fully charged before a charger is put on them.

Look after them and they will look after you. My current 110 amp leisure battery is four and a half years old.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
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spruce said:
Exactly what @Davy G has said.

More and more of us windies are using other equipment such as diesel heaters and electric hose reels that draw a big current for a short period of time.

So we could do well to look toward a good combo battery; leisure and starter. I would recommend a leisure battery with a CCA (cold craking amps) specification.

These are generally class B rated batteries. The specs will say that they will work with motor movers and support wild camping.

Numax has always worked well for us.

Unfortunately, Numax and other battery manufacturers won't honour their guarantee when the battery is used by window cleaners. One of the battery suppliers supplying a range of battery makes specifically lists occupations such as window cleaning as being a reason for a warranty claim being rejected.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/tutorials/battery-warranty-information

Buying a battery online can be a difficult process to get a genuine battery claim accepted anyway. It can also be rather costly with return 'postage' and then for them to say that there is no justified claim. None of us have the expertise to challenge their 'findings.' I don't agree with their 'blanket' policy but we have no choice but to accept it.

So we just take the risk on ourselves.

We have had excellent service from Numax batteries over the years so I would still recommend them based on our experience. We keep them as fully charged as possible and they mostly never drop below 80% fully charged before a charger is put on them.

Look after them and they will look after you. My current 110 amp leisure battery is four and a half years old.
Click to expand...
Yep. One of my two is now at least that age. Tuther, is about two and a half, I'd say. The older one was not able to complete a full day's work in the end. I was about to scrap it then I phoned Varitech to ask if it would be ok to have two batteries, one old and one new, wired together in parallel as per jump-leads. I was worried it might be too much juice for the controllers and pumps. Mike assured me it would be fine. That's what I did and it's been a great success. I've not had to bench charge my batteries, ever, up to now. Durite SCR keeps them topped up even on short, local trips. 

I'd suggest anyone who has a tired battery and getting a new one, try the same, especially you guys with electric reels and the like. Just please make sure that your batteries are securely boxed and properly fuse protected. 

 
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I have two 180 amp gell  batteries on my vans they are some sort of ultra heavy duty thing with much thicker plates in them and they weigh a ton Ime no wimp but they are very heavy but they are now approaching 5 years old and are charged most nights and they are as good now as the day I had them ,a friend of mine is a marine electrician and he recommended them for the type of work we are doing running a boiler all day every day and up to 3 pumps , they weren’t cheap but have been 100% reliable and will run everything without overly discharging them .

 
Also be sure to charge your battery properly. I bought a brand new leisure battery and a quality, rather beefy charger with all sorts of lights on it. When the charger said "full" after a few hours, I disconnected it. But it had not recharged the battery nearly enough, as after a few calculations my battery supplier said my specific charger needed 16(!) hours to recharge a totally dead 110ah leisure battery.

Thus my brand new £250 battery lasted less than a year. The new one then have to buy I charge every night over night. It works so much better now.

 
I've got a Numax 110a fitted I've never had to charge it. It's  on a split charge relay on a cold system, on a manual reel. It's 2.5 years old and I've never even taken the cover off.  If it packs up tomorrow I'd buy the same as it's been so reliable. I use my van for personal use as well and do around 100 miles per week all in, so it helps keeping the battery topped up.

 
Slightly off topic here apologies but I have an electric reel and one thing I do before I reel in is turn the engine on. That seems to give the battery and power a good boost. I have a durite SCR relay installed too. @spruce will turning the engine over help to take the load of the battery? 

 
Suhrly said:
Slightly off topic here apologies but I have an electric reel and one thing I do before I reel in is turn the engine on. That seems to give the battery and power a good boost. I have a durite SCR relay installed too. @spruce will turning the engine over help to take the load of the battery? 
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Yes it will but I would be more concerned that while you are reeling in your hose around the back someone could get inside the van and drive off with it.

 
spruce said:
Yes it will but I would be more concerned that while you are reeling in your hose around the back someone could get inside the van and drive off with it.
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It’s also intresting to note that it’s illegal to leave the engine running and no one inside the vehicle , unless it’s an emergency service vehicle , or it has a special dispensation to allow it to be running whilst no one is in it , window cleaners don’t come under this act .

Pjj said:
It’s also intresting to note that it’s illegal to leave the engine running and no one inside the vehicle , unless it’s an emergency service vehicle , or it has a special dispensation to allow it to be running whilst no one is in it , window cleaners don’t come under this act .
Click to expand...
It will also invalidate your insurance if it gets stolen 

 
Pjj said:
It’s also intresting to note that it’s illegal to leave the engine running and no one inside the vehicle , unless it’s an emergency service vehicle , or it has a special dispensation to allow it to be running whilst no one is in it , window cleaners don’t come under this act .

It will also invalidate your insurance if it gets stolen 
Click to expand...


I wasn't aware it was illegal. Wow, thanks. Knew about the insurance being void if you leave it running though.

 
Suhrly said:
I wasn't aware it was illegal. Wow, thanks. Knew about the insurance being void if you leave it running though.
Click to expand...
Baffled as to why you would risk the loss of your van and everything in it that earns you money, void insurance may mean you would be treated as high risk in the future or not be eligible for insurance

 
Iron Giant said:
Baffled as to why you would risk the loss of your van and everything in it that earns you money, void insurance may mean you would be treated as high risk in the future or not be eligible for insurance
Click to expand...


This probably started with the advise given to users of diesel water heaters - start the heater before you get to your first house will mean your water is hot and the alternator will have taken the brunt of the current drawn by the burners heating coil. I would go with this but not running the engine whilst using an electric hose reel around the back or the side of the van.

An opportunist thief usually takes his victim off guard and by the time the victim realises whats happened its all over. This is why they tell us to lock our vehicles when refueling.

Coming from a country where car hijacking was a perfected art I can tell you that they pounce so quickly that even being prepared doesn't help.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I hold my hands up I run the engine when reeling in and always have done as my reel is connected to the van battery.  I like to think I know what's going on around me when I'm doing it. I drive a older van so it's not too interesting to thiefs 

 

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