Question for spruce re split charge

[Deleted member 11517]

Hey all. I've fitted a durite split charge. I do 300 miles per week so I'm hoping the split charge will help keep on top of my leisure battery time will tell.

My question is I have a voltron battery charger and it has crocodile leads for charging and a set of leads that fasten to the battery and they you can just plug in the battery without taking the terminal sections off.

Would this cause me any problems if I was to charge it now again with all of the wires connected up still?

Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted member 11517]

Hey just fitted a split charge going to run it for a week to see how it goes.

My vitorn battery charger has two sets of connectors Crocodile clips and ones that bolt on to the battery and then the charger plugs into them.

Would I do any damage to my equipment. Charging the battery whilst all of the pump reel etc are still connected.

Thanks

 

[spruce]

Hey just fitted a split charge going to run it for a week to see how it goes.

My vitorn battery charger has two sets of connectors Crocodile clips and ones that bolt on to the battery and then the charger plugs into them.

Would I do any damage to my equipment. Charging the battery whilst all of the pump reel etc are still connected.

Thanks

No. But I'm a little confused which Victron you are using, as you talk about a "split charge" and then connector leads.

My 230v battery charger is a Numax 10 amp. My leads are permanently connected to my leisure battery, so I just plug my Numax charger in.
I also have one of those crocodile clamps fly leads which I use on any other 12v battery I need charging, and they work ok. I'm not the greatest fan of crocodile clamps, although they are convenient to use.

My DC Battery to Battery charger is a Sterling BB1260 and permanently connected to my leisure battery. I actually have 2 fly leads I can connect my Numax charger up to charge my leisure battery. One fly lead is connected to the leisure battery and the other is connected to the battery cable that supplies power to my Sterling unit. When I plug into the second fly lead, my charger charges both the van's starter battery and the leisure battery.

We have Varistream pump controllers and I run a diesel heater as well. On one occasion, I had a leisure battery fail on us when we were working a big job out of our area. We managed to finish the job by running the van's engine and the alternator charging at 14.6v did no damage to either controller. That was 12 years ago and those controllers are still in my current van in daily use.
However, we switch the controllers off after every job before packing away and driving to the next job. The diesel heater, when switched on, runs all day, whether the van is stationary or we are driving to the next job.

On my current van I can use either a standard split charge relay or a battery to battery charger. I have used both on this van. The split charge relay is an M-Power Durite clone. The only charging difference is that the split charge relay (actually VSR - voltage sensing relay) charges at 13.9v, where my Sterling unit boosts the charge voltage to 14.2v. That gives a slightly quicker charge, but it's hardly noticeable.

 

[spruce]

Hey all. I've fitted a durite split charge. I do 300 miles per week so I'm hoping the split charge will help keep on top of my leisure battery time will tell.

My question is I have a voltron battery charger and it has crocodile leads for charging and a set of leads that fasten to the battery and they you can just plug in the battery without taking the terminal sections off.

Would this cause me any problems if I was to charge it now again with all of the wires connected up still?

Thanks in advance

Hi @Bob1980 . Sorry. I jumped in and answered your later posts first before seeing this, which has made things in my head clear. The answer is still no.

It will be interesting to see how your Durite unit works doing the mileage you do. Please keep us updated. We may do 10 to15 miles a day and that's not enough to fully recharge the leisure battery with 2 of us working. I now charge mine every night, both in summer and winter.

 

[Deleted member 11517]

No. But I'm a little confused which Victron you are using, as you talk about a "split charge" and then connector leads.

My 230v battery charger is a Numax 10 amp. My leads are permanently connected to my leisure battery, so I just plug my Numax charger in.
I also have one of those crocodile clamps fly leads which I use on any other 12v battery I need charging, and they work ok. I'm not the greatest fan of crocodile clamps, although they are convenient to use.

My DC Battery to Battery charger is a Sterling BB1260 and permanently connected to my leisure battery. I actually have 2 fly leads I can connect my Numax charger up to charge my leisure battery. One fly lead is connected to the leisure battery and the other is connected to the battery cable that supplies power to my Sterling unit. When I plug into the second fly lead, my charger charges both the van's starter battery and the leisure battery.

We have Varistream pump controllers and I run a diesel heater as well. On one occasion, I had a leisure battery fail on us when we were working a big job out of our area. We managed to finish the job by running the van's engine and the alternator charging at 14.6v did no damage to either controller. That was 12 years ago and those controllers are still in my current van in daily use.
However, we switch the controllers off after every job before packing away and driving to the next job. The diesel heater, when switched on, runs all day, whether the van is stationary or we are driving to the next job.

On my current van I can use either a standard split charge relay or a battery to battery charger. I have used both on this van. The split charge relay is an M-Power Durite clone. The only charging difference is that the split charge relay (actually VSR - voltage sensing relay) charges at 13.9v, where my Sterling unit boosts the charge voltage to 14.2v. That gives a slightly quicker charge, but it's hardly noticeable.

Just the man I wanted an answer from thank you. Please see the photo below that shows the charger I have and the terminal I want to put on to the battery.

All I want to do is let the split charge take the edge of so not having to charge a couple of times a week and maybe just once.

But worried that if I kept all of the appliances plugged in and putting 14 volts through it from my mains charger it may cook the wiring or the units.

 

[Deleted member 11517]

 

[Deleted member 11517]

May I just add for the forum mods I tried posting this post three different times before it showed up and then once it did it put to posts in a row at the top. I had full WiFi signal so don't know if there's any forum issues

 

[spruce]

Just the man I wanted an answer from thank you. Please see the photo below that shows the charger I have and the terminal I want to put on to the battery.

All I want to do is let the split charge take the edge of so not having to charge a couple of times a week and maybe just once.

But worried that if I kept all of the appliances plugged in and putting 14 volts through it from my mains charger it may cook the wiring or the units.

I've heard of others who leave their flow controllers switched on all day and have never reported any issues. But, as I say, your pump controller/s will be switched off before you put your charger on because you have finished work.

Out of interest, let's tag @Ian Sheppard and ask him what inbuilt voltage tolerance Spring controllers have.

I don't know what van you have @Bob1980 so here is a precaution. If your van is new and comes with a smart alternator, then you need to identify how the manufacturers deal with Euro6. If your van has regenerative braking, then using a split charge relay isn't the way to go. According to Sterling, they have seen recharging voltages of 17 to 18 volts on some vans. Lead acid leisure batteries aren't able to accept those high charge voltages. I also wouldn't have a controller switch on while those voltages were present in the electrical system.

Here is more info on scr.

Split Charge Relay

Split Charge Relay. Most window cleaners who use the Water Fed Pole with a van mounted tank will, sooner or later, question whether they need to add an auxiliary charging method for their leisure battery that’s driven from the vehicle’s alternator or not. A Split Charge Relay (SCR) is now a...

windowcleaningforums.co.uk

 

[spruce]

May I just add for the forum mods I tried posting this post three different times before it showed up and then once it did it put to posts in a row at the top. I had full WiFi signal so don't know if there's any forum issues

I see @Pjj has been in discussion with Gavin regarding a double posting issue which I also experienced yesterday. Maybe this is related @Gavin

 

[Deleted member 11517]

I've heard of others who leave their flow controllers switched on all day and have never reported any issues. But, as I say, your pump controller/s will be switched off before you put your charger on because you have finished work.

Out of interest, let's tag @Ian Sheppard and ask him what inbuilt voltage tolerance Spring controllers have.

I don't know what van you have @Bob1980 so here is a precaution. If your van is new and comes with a smart alternator, then you need to identify how the manufacturers deal with Euro6. If your van has regenerative braking, then using a split charge relay isn't the way to go. According to Sterling, they have seen recharging voltages of 17 to 18 volts on some vans. Lead acid leisure batteries aren't able to accept those high charge voltages. I also wouldn't have a controller switch on while those voltages were present in the electrical system.

Here is more info on scr.

Split Charge Relay

Split Charge Relay. Most window cleaners who use the Water Fed Pole with a van mounted tank will, sooner or later, question whether they need to add an auxiliary charging method for their leisure battery that’s driven from the vehicle’s alternator or not. A Split Charge Relay (SCR) is now a...

windowcleaningforums.co.uk

I've got a 2013 citroen dispatch so no smart charger nice and simple.

I've always had quick release terminals connected so it was easy to get the charger on them but these new bolt down ones make it the little bit more awkward not the time but possibly disturbing the cheap crimp ends

 

[spruce]

May I just add for the forum mods I tried posting this post three different times before it showed up and then once it did it put to posts in a row at the top. I had full WiFi signal so don't know if there's any forum issues

I see @Pjj has been in discussion with Gavin regarding a double posting issue which I also experienced yesterday. Maybe this is related @Gavin


While posting this I got the box up that there is an error and to try later. The reply post did post but then a second post came up waiting to post reply, so this is where the double posting issue stems from @Gavin

 

[Gavin]

Ok thanks looking into it.

 

[Deleted member 11517]

Just a quick update. I know this week I will get a better picture on the split charge set up.

But I fitted the inline charger clips and successfully charged it up.

I've done two days of work now with everything running on one battery and the battery voltage when left to settle is showing 12.8 volts which is what I charged it to on saturday. Lowest it has dropped to when working was 12.5 v so I'm hoping this will help and just allow me to charge the battery once a week.

 

[Ian Sheppard]

Hi.

If I have understood correctly in terms of Tolerance The V16 is rated between 11V and 15V. Where a Stand alone Split relay and The Charger controller are concerned I am not aware of any issues where the controller is left switched on while the engine is running. Our chargers work well with Euro 6 with few issues since this standards introduction back in April 2015.

Regarding Regenerative braking to my limited knowledge this will be OK as the period this occurs is quite short and is over a few seconds. As Spruce mentions vehicle manufactures tend not to say exactly how they do these things. The dealers may be able to give advice and it is worth asking the question.

To date since the introduction of Euro6 we have found the charger is fine in the vast majority of cases

This post comes at a timely moment as we are now looking at the use of a split relay charging in a electric vehicle which of couse stil use a 12V battery to power all the vehicle systems this battery is charged via an Inverter while the electric motor is running as such the Vehicle battery is charged in pretty much the same way as with Petrol/Diesel engines. We need to do a little more work but the initial information would suggest that a Split replay can be used as now to charge a separate leisure battery