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Car 55amp/leisure battery
- Thread starter HALTON
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peter rogers
Well-known member
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- belfast
u really need a stronger leisure battery
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- 9,586
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- Teesside
I have only used leisure batteries and they have done us well over the years. For a single operator we use an 85 amph leisure battery and I have a 110 amph leisure battery on my van.
Leisure batteries and car batteries are designed for different purposes. In both construction and operation requirements vehicle and leisure batteries are different....contrary to some of the claims made, a starter battery performs poorly as a leisure battery and conversely. There is no such thing as a dual purpose battery. A vehicle starter battery is designed to provide an initial burst of power in order to start the engine. By contrast a leisure battery provides a steady flow over an extended period.
I would have though that a 55 amp would be too small either way. But this is my personal opinion. If your pump is drawing 4.5 amps and you run it for 5 hours, you have used 22.5amps. Your battery would be 1/2 charged. If you didn't charge it that night, I doubt it would last the following day. Each time you flatten a battery you reduce its life. Hence the reason why we use 85 amph batteries for single operators. Using the same example we would be a 75% of charge with a bigger leisure battery where your 55 amp car battery will be just over 1/2 charged.
In practice some have successfully used starter batteries but I think you will find that they are a larger capacity battery. I think it also depends on your round. Residential would mean less pump running time, whereas commercial would mean a much longer running time and more current drawn.
If you have a spare battery lying around doing nothing then try it. However if you are referring to your car/van starter battery and thinking of running your system directly from that, then you need to be careful. Some people have made it work, we couldn't as we don't do much mileage. The van batteries were flat within 4 days and needed push starting.
Leisure batteries and car batteries are designed for different purposes. In both construction and operation requirements vehicle and leisure batteries are different....contrary to some of the claims made, a starter battery performs poorly as a leisure battery and conversely. There is no such thing as a dual purpose battery. A vehicle starter battery is designed to provide an initial burst of power in order to start the engine. By contrast a leisure battery provides a steady flow over an extended period.
I would have though that a 55 amp would be too small either way. But this is my personal opinion. If your pump is drawing 4.5 amps and you run it for 5 hours, you have used 22.5amps. Your battery would be 1/2 charged. If you didn't charge it that night, I doubt it would last the following day. Each time you flatten a battery you reduce its life. Hence the reason why we use 85 amph batteries for single operators. Using the same example we would be a 75% of charge with a bigger leisure battery where your 55 amp car battery will be just over 1/2 charged.
In practice some have successfully used starter batteries but I think you will find that they are a larger capacity battery. I think it also depends on your round. Residential would mean less pump running time, whereas commercial would mean a much longer running time and more current drawn.
If you have a spare battery lying around doing nothing then try it. However if you are referring to your car/van starter battery and thinking of running your system directly from that, then you need to be careful. Some people have made it work, we couldn't as we don't do much mileage. The van batteries were flat within 4 days and needed push starting.
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- Messages
- 9,586
- Location
- Teesside
It would probably be ok as a backup to be used for a short period of time, ie. finish a house - nothing longer.
when the leisure battery in my pump box went tits up & i had to send it back as it was still under warranty i got a £10 car battery from the scrappy & used that for a couple of months no problem, i charged it every night though, my leisure battery came back after a week but i stayed with the car one just to be sure, and at £10 its worth having one as a spare - it lasted at least 6 hrs a day - although thats not actual working hrs
lou
Well-known member
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- 195
I have a car battery as a spare. Just to be on the safe side! Never use it now as the leisure battery is always kept charged, Not good to let any battery runlow on charge.
- Messages
- 9,586
- Location
- Teesside
Yes, but what size pumps are they using? Are they pushing 2 lpm of water through a 100 meter hose reel?
