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What Battery Do I Fit To System?

MajorClean

Member
Messages
30
Only started in March & have a 1 man system in a Ford transit Connect van with a Shurflo water pump wired to/working from the van battery. It was fine at first, doing small domestic jobs and driving off to the next, but now I'm working far longer it's starting to make the van battery go flat and I desperately need to connect another battery - but where do I start?

I understand I need a leisure battery, but what size to be able to run 6-8 hrs non-stop and how do I connect it?

Does the existing van alternator charge it up or what?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

 
you dont need a leisure battery, a car battery will do and just connect a split relay, or buy a new van battery and that should be fine

 
I got a battery in my van that i charge everyday in my house with a plug .... after a days work i take the battery in my house and charge it .... once done i carry it back to my van the next working day and its fully charged again /emoticons/smile.png people think this is a headache but not really its much more simple for me and does the job /emoticons/tongue.png

 
Yr feedback is much appreciated, thanks. So how many hours exactly R U getting out of yrs then, MK Cleaners?

I can't see how using a static battery for hours when the engine is off won't drain it....

 
Yr feedback is much appreciated, thanks. So how many hours exactly R U getting out of yrs then, MK Cleaners?

I can't see how using a static battery for hours when the engine is off won't drain it....
I couldnt tell you. Ive just started with WFP today! lol. I was under the assumption that it would never go flat because its getting charged as I drive around.

 
I got a battery in my van that i charge everyday in my house with a plug .... after a days work i take the battery in my house and charge it .... once done i carry it back to my van the next working day and its fully charged again /emoticons/smile.png people think this is a headache but not really its much more simple for me and does the job /emoticons/tongue.png
To easy to forget to charge it.

 
I got a 110ah leisure battery fitted it into the van just over a year ago and never been taken out to charge it. It has 2 shurflo 100 psi pumps running off it.

Have a split charger fitted and a trickle solar panel fitted to so it charges up even when van is parked up

 
I disagree with car battery idea as these are design for short power bursts like turning a car engine over where as a leisure battery is design to give a continue steady release which is ideal for us. I brought one in Halford about 18 months ago for £80 I think its 65ah and lasts a week before it needs charging. I like RCproperty idea brilliant. I only run one trolley system off mine and opted for lightness over power.

 
Yer car batteries are not good if you drain them right down that's the end of them where you can drain a leisure battery and charge it back up again fine.

leisure battery costs a little more but it will last a long time.

 
Only started in March & have a 1 man system in a Ford transit Connect van with a Shurflo water pump wired to/working from the van battery. It was fine at first, doing small domestic jobs and driving off to the next, but now I'm working far longer it's starting to make the van battery go flat and I desperately need to connect another battery - but where do I start?

I understand I need a leisure battery, but what size to be able to run 6-8 hrs non-stop and how do I connect it?

Does the existing van alternator charge it up or what?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks!
What Transit Connect have you got?

 
I har a 20 amp with a split charge.. I rarely work with the pole for more than 3 hours at a time. Never ran out on me.. I think once the battery is fully charged it will stop charging from the van. Whenever your parked up I don't think the vans battery will do done, just the systems battery goes done you'd start the van up.. But place I bought my system said I should easy get a full days continuous work from the 20amp

 
I disagree with car battery idea as these are design for short power bursts like turning a car engine over where as a leisure battery is design to give a continue steady release which is ideal for us. I brought one in Halford about 18 months ago for £80 I think its 65ah and lasts a week before it needs charging. I like RCproperty idea brilliant. I only run one trolley system off mine and opted for lightness over power.
Most battery experts support your comment regarding battery applications. They say that a starter battery is designed for short heavy draw requirements such when the starter motor is used. They aren't designed for low continious current draw as our application demands.

There never seems to be a question of motorised caravan owners using anything other than a leisure battery for their in-caravan requirements, yet we are window cleaners haven't yet found a powering solution we all unanomously agree on as we each have our own experience.

This is the reason why I chose to stick with the leisure battery option when replacing my last battery 18 months ago. I'm also aware that it is easy to keep repeating what we believe works best for us and fail to see another option that could be better.

 
Been around WFP for about ten years and only used the battery off the van in an emergency like leisure battery has run out of juice and want to get a job done. The Leisure Battery is what you would get if you had it fitted by Ironic or Bro-trash. Leisure Battery is a little dearer and you need a slow charger for them but when it is your lively-hood then the extra 30 quid is a good investment.

 
I have a 110 amp leisure battery powering my system with a split charge relay.

I have this in a Citroen Relay SWB van with a 150amp alternator.

The reason why we have to charge our leisure batteries regularily is that we mostly don't drive enough miles to put back into the battery what we take out.

Each of my Shurflo pumps draws about 3.4amps with the digital controller setting we use. The battery will accept a recharge of about 10 amps at best, but usually between about 5 - 7.5 amps with a fairly full battery - remember a battery nearing a fully charged state will accept an ever reducing charge until the battery is fully charged.

So if we travel 10 minutes to and from the day's work, a 20 minute charge of 7.5amps (2.5amps) won't come anywhere near replacing the 13.5 amps we have used assuming the pump runs 4 hours.

The split charge relay wiring from the main van battery is protected by a 15 amp fuse which has never blown in the 3 years this system has been in this van. This means that the amps drawn by the leisure battery has never been more that 15 amps even when the battery was flat. If it had then the fuse would have blown.

My son in law has a Ford Transit Connect LWB with the latest Varistream digital controller and he drives around trip of about 30 miles a day and he now manages keep his 85amp leisure battery pretty much fully charged travelling this distance with his split charge relay. (The new digital Varistream draws current even when the controller is switched off, and its only since we have put an isolator switch on the supply to the Varistream that we have been able to achieve this. We estimate that the draw on the battery was about 25 amps over a week.) But it's not the distance he travels that's the most important - what is important is how long it takes. I have found that my battery will still be charged at the exact same rate whether the engine is reving at 3000 rpm or just idling at traffic lights.

 
I have a 110 amp leisure battery powering my system with a split charge relay.

I have this in a Citroen Relay SWB van with a 150amp alternator.

The reason why we have to charge our leisure batteries regularily is that we mostly don't drive enough miles to put back into the battery what we take out.

Each of my Shurflo pumps draws about 3.4amps with the digital controller setting we use. The battery will accept a recharge of about 10 amps at best, but usually between about 5 - 7.5 amps with a fairly full battery - remember a battery nearing a fully charged state will accept an ever reducing charge until the battery is fully charged.

So if we travel 10 minutes to and from the day's work, a 20 minute charge of 7.5amps (2.5amps) won't come anywhere near replacing the 13.5 amps we have used assuming the pump runs 4 hours.

The split charge relay wiring from the main van battery is protected by a 15 amp fuse which has never blown in the 3 years this system has been in this van. This means that the amps drawn by the leisure battery has never been more that 15 amps even when the battery was flat. If it had then the fuse would have blown.

My son in law has a Ford Transit Connect LWB with the latest Varistream digital controller and he drives around trip of about 30 miles a day and he now manages keep his 85amp leisure battery pretty much fully charged travelling this distance with his split charge relay. (The new digital Varistream draws current even when the controller is switched off, and its only since we have put an isolator switch on the supply to the Varistream that we have been able to achieve this. We estimate that the draw on the battery was about 25 amps over a week.)
With the amount of travleing I do I could probably start selling energy lol

 
I have a 110 amp leisure battery powering my system with a split charge relay.

I have this in a Citroen Relay SWB van with a 150amp alternator.

The reason why we have to charge our leisure batteries regularily is that we mostly don't drive enough miles to put back into the battery what we take out.

Each of my Shurflo pumps draws about 3.4amps with the digital controller setting we use. The battery will accept a recharge of about 10 amps at best, but usually between about 5 - 7.5 amps with a fairly full battery - remember a battery nearing a fully charged state will accept an ever reducing charge until the battery is fully charged.

So if we travel 10 minutes to and from the day's work, a 20 minute charge of 7.5amps (2.5amps) won't come anywhere near replacing the 13.5 amps we have used assuming the pump runs 4 hours.

The split charge relay wiring from the main van battery is protected by a 15 amp fuse which has never blown in the 3 years this system has been in this van. This means that the amps drawn by the leisure battery has never been more that 15 amps even when the battery was flat. If it had then the fuse would have blown.

My son in law has a Ford Transit Connect LWB with the latest Varistream digital controller and he drives around trip of about 30 miles a day and he now manages keep his 85amp leisure battery pretty much fully charged travelling this distance with his split charge relay. (The new digital Varistream draws current even when the controller is switched off, and its only since we have put an isolator switch on the supply to the Varistream that we have been able to achieve this. We estimate that the draw on the battery was about 25 amps over a week.)
This is another reason I don't use the digital Varistream and use a dial one that uses no amps

 
What Transit Connect have you got?
It's a SWB 1.8 diesel transit connect. 53 plate. All I could afford when I started up, and already I can see I need something bigger and want to adapt to a 2man/2pump system. But need to sort out this battery issue before I go adding anything on.

 
Just want to say a huge thanks for all your helpful advice guys! I feel a lot more confident about what to look for now even if I'm not too clued up on Electrics

Cheers

This is another reason I don't use the digital Varistream and use a dial one that uses no amps
It's a SWB 1.8 diesel transit connect. 53 plate. All I could afford when I started up, and already I can see I need something bigger and want to adapt to a 2man/2pump system. But need to sort out this battery issue before I go adding anything on.
With the amount of travleing I do I could probably start selling energy lol
I have a 110 amp leisure battery powering my system with a split charge relay.

I have this in a Citroen Relay SWB van with a 150amp alternator.

The reason why we have to charge our leisure batteries regularily is that we mostly don't drive enough miles to put back into the battery what we take out.

Each of my Shurflo pumps draws about 3.4amps with the digital controller setting we use. The battery will accept a recharge of about 10 amps at best, but usually between about 5 - 7.5 amps with a fairly full battery - remember a battery nearing a fully charged state will accept an ever reducing charge until the battery is fully charged.

So if we travel 10 minutes to and from the day's work, a 20 minute charge of 7.5amps (2.5amps) won't come anywhere near replacing the 13.5 amps we have used assuming the pump runs 4 hours.

The split charge relay wiring from the main van battery is protected by a 15 amp fuse which has never blown in the 3 years this system has been in this van. This means that the amps drawn by the leisure battery has never been more that 15 amps even when the battery was flat. If it had then the fuse would have blown.

My son in law has a Ford Transit Connect LWB with the latest Varistream digital controller and he drives around trip of about 30 miles a day and he now manages keep his 85amp leisure battery pretty much fully charged travelling this distance with his split charge relay. (The new digital Varistream draws current even when the controller is switched off, and its only since we have put an isolator switch on the supply to the Varistream that we have been able to achieve this. We estimate that the draw on the battery was about 25 amps over a week.) But it's not the distance he travels that's the most important - what is important is how long it takes. I have found that my battery will still be charged at the exact same rate whether the engine is reving at 3000 rpm or just idling at traffic lights.
Been around WFP for about ten years and only used the battery off the van in an emergency like leisure battery has run out of juice and want to get a job done. The Leisure Battery is what you would get if you had it fitted by Ironic or Bro-trash. Leisure Battery is a little dearer and you need a slow charger for them but when it is your lively-hood then the extra 30 quid is a good investment.
Most battery experts support your comment regarding battery applications. They say that a starter battery is designed for short heavy draw requirements such when the starter motor is used. They aren't designed for low continious current draw as our application demands.

There never seems to be a question of motorised caravan owners using anything other than a leisure battery for their in-caravan requirements, yet we are window cleaners haven't yet found a powering solution we all unanomously agree on as we each have our own experience.

This is the reason why I chose to stick with the leisure battery option when replacing my last battery 18 months ago. I'm also aware that it is easy to keep repeating what we believe works best for us and fail to see another option that could be better.
I har a 20 amp with a split charge.. I rarely work with the pole for more than 3 hours at a time. Never ran out on me.. I think once the battery is fully charged it will stop charging from the van. Whenever your parked up I don't think the vans battery will do done, just the systems battery goes done you'd start the van up.. But place I bought my system said I should easy get a full days continuous work from the 20amp
 
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