PF Trolley Replacement Battery

[SPECI4L]

I've had 4 & 1/2 years out of my original battery but today was the first it didn't have enough juice to finish the day.

I'm after recommendations for a replacement battery that will fit in the battery box on my Pure Freedom trolley. Was thinking of something a bit lighter... not lithium, they're way too expensive.

 

[Marko067]

Wow! I've used a PF trolley for nearly ten years and the longest I got from any battery was the first one which lasted about one and a half years as I was only using it to do the tops and was tradding the bottoms. However, once I went 100% wfp I've never gotten more than a year out of most of them, almost to the week. I had one duff one that failed after six months and was just out of guarantee.

I've tried a number of different brands but all seemed about the same. I only ever bought the same type, ie golf cart 12v 26ah up until the beginning of last year when I swapped the Sureflo pump out for a lighter backpack style pump and started using a much smaller battery to reduce the weight of the trolley.

I succeeded in cutting the weight of the trolley alone by about half by using this smaller pump which bolted straight on where the Sureflo was with no mods to the pre-drilled holes. I removed the battery box altogether and fitted a 12v 7ah battery (much smaller) and fitted pneumatic wheels instead of solid ones. The battery gives me a solid day of work and starts to run down about the time when I'm winding up. I use Yuasa batteries. I doubt I'll get a year out of it but at £25 for two on ebay I'm not fussed and I keep a spare in the car just in case. It's not let me down yet even in the freezing weather.

If you don't want to swap out your pump I wouldn't recommend using a battery less than 12v 12ah with the Surflo otherwise I doubt you'll get a full day as it uses more power than the backpack style pumps.

Here's a pick of my setup. I've used an older controller because I don't like the 4sec delay with the newer digital ones. As you can see I used Lucas batteries at first but they didn't seem to last very well hence the switch to Yuasa.

 

[SPECI4L]

Thanks for the reply.

That looks like a super-light setup you've got there!

I've ended up bottling it & going with a like for like replacement battery to make sure I can keep working but I'm looking into a smaller battery when I know a bit more.

I like the sound of a lag free controller... that 4 sec delay can very annoying. I thought all controllers did that.

 

[Iron Giant]

You should have just measured the dimensions of the original battery then did a quick search on the web, I have a pump box so can only buy a certain size battery .

 

[Marko067]

Thanks for the reply.That looks like a super-light setup you've got there!.....

I like the sound of a lag free controller... that 4 sec delay can very annoying. I thought all controllers did that.

I was having a little trouble with my back at the time so any way I could make things easier... I can now lift it in and out of my vehicle with one hand easy if necessary. It also makes a noticeable difference as your water is being used up as the whole setup becomes lighter quicker if that makes any sense.

As for the controller if the delay problem really bugs you try using one of these. They are a plain and simple PWM controller. I'm a great fan of keeping it as simple as possible as there's less to go wrong.

New 12V-40V 10A 13khz Pulse Width Modulation PWM DC Motor Speed Control Switch C | eBay

All you need is a small project box to put it in and a switch in the battery lead and your done. A friend of mine has two of these in his two man van setup and swears by them and quite a few of the Windies on here use them as well.