Split charge relay effectiveness?!

[JakdeDiamond]

Hi guys,

Long time, no post.

I've been lugging my 25kg leisure battery from the van to my flat every day and todays 35c tipped me over the edge.

I am looking to get a split charge relay for my fairly old 09' plate transit connect, my question is. Will the split charge relay be enough to keep my batter charged every day as I am a bit paranoid of the battery dying on the job, then having to wait hours for it to juice up again at home, then ruining the days work.

Does anyone have a rough idea of how 'charged' the battery will stay? Some of my jobs are a few miles away but most are quite close to home.

Thank you in advance

 

[Part Timer]

Don't know how many miles you'll need to do but if you're doing 20 miles a day you should get away with bench charging once a week.
If you do get a split charger you only need to run the engine to be able to keep working.

 

[Mattlekim]

We do about 30 miles a day. Surprising just how many miles you do it a day. We have 2 batters attached via split charge relay. We bench charge them 4 times a year just to top them up. So effectively you should get simulator performance with 1 batter on 15 miles a day.

 

[JakdeDiamond]

Thank you for the replies, it seems like I might be paranoid after all, that doesn't seem like a ton of miles, and knowing I can run the van to keep working is some peace of mind.

Does adding a powered reel make a massive difference to the longevity of the charge?

Thank you,

Jake

 

[spruce]

Thank you for the replies, it seems like I might be paranoid after all, that doesn't seem like a ton of miles, and knowing I can run the van to keep working is some peace of mind.

Does adding a powered reel make a massive difference to the longevity of the charge?

Thank you,

Jake

I think you will find the search tab in the right-hand top corner very useful. This topic is often discussed in various threads.

My son-in-law had a 53 plate Transit Connect, and he couldn't rely on his 30-mile round trip a day to fully recharge his leisure battery. He did motorway miles, which is different to the same mileage stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. It's travel time which is the deciding factor rather than distance travelled. In all the vehicles we have had, each alternator recharged the leisure battery at the same rate; at idle or travelling down the motorway.

We mostly work within a 5 mile radius of home. That 5 mile return journey can take 20 minutes. With a battery to battery charger, I will only return 2 to 3 amps back into the battery on the return journey. If I've used 10 amps that day, I'm still going to be down if I travel another 5 miles back to work the next day. If we let this continue we are setting ourselves up for battery sulphation which reduces the capacity of our battery.

It was once reported in an Australian RV magazine that it would take a journey of 750 km to fully recharge a flat leisure battery in an RV.

I have always said that a split charge relay, or a 12v battery to battery charger, is like a baby's dummy (or soother); it will pacify baby for a while, but it's not a long term solution to a feeding program.

On one occasion, we had to rely on our split charge relay when our leisure battery decided to give up on an out of area job. We finished the job with the van's engine running behind the secure gated apartment complex we were cleaning. Even back then, the traffic regulations stated that we weren't to let an engine idle in the street. It's even stricter these days. Another thing is that a vehicle left idling in the street is a target for theft. Insurance don't take kindly to theft of vehicles made easy targets. We regularly get reminders from our insurance provider that vehicles are to be locked at all times we are away from them.

The questions you ask are only questions that you can answer. Your leisure battery should be recharged as soon after use as possible for battery longevity. You shouldn't let your battery drop to below 50% depth of discharge. (A 100amp leisure battery only has a useful charge of 50 amps. Yes, you can drain it further, but each time you do you reduce its longevity.)

A single Shurflo pump will use around 4.5amps an hour of continuous running using a controller. If your pump runs for 20 minutes an hour, then you have consumed 1.5amps.

An electric hose reel will consume about 25amps. If it runs for 30 seconds, then it consumes just over 0.2 of an amp on paper. So 5x 30 second applications will use an amp of current. If your split charge relay isn't keeping up with recharging your battery, these additional draws soon mount up.

 

[ched999uk]

Thank you for the replies, it seems like I might be paranoid after all, that doesn't seem like a ton of miles, and knowing I can run the van to keep working is some peace of mind.

Does adding a powered reel make a massive difference to the longevity of the charge?

Thank you,

Jake

A pump pulls about 6 to 8 amps a power reel pulls about 30 amps! Say you run the pump for about 50% of a 6 hr day, that's about 21 amps you have taken from the battery. So a 100AH battery should only be depleted to about 50% capacity, so you have 50Amp Hrs useable.
Just with a pump that gives you a good margin on charging alternative days - as long as your battery is in good condition as they lose capacity when old.
You can buy a cheap voltmeter that will tell you roughly how charged the battery is. Something like Multimeter about £11 would do the job. Measuring at the end of the day isn't perfect as batteries take upto 4 hrs after charging or discharging to 'settle' but the voltage will give you a good idea of state of charge.
Very basic rule of thumb is if it's down to 12.0v then that's about as low as you want to go without causing any damage!

If you are using a powered reel say for 20 jobs a day reeling in for 30 seconds per job that's about 10minutes of 30 amps. So about 15Amp hours of battery capacity.
Add that to the 21Amps that the pump takes and you are at about 36AH but that really doesn't give you a second day as that would be 72AH well more than 50% of your battery capacity so you would be reducing it's life drastically!

Hope that gives you an idea of your usage?

As for a split charge relay it really does depend on how many miles you do. Remember that each time you start the van it takes energy from the van/starter battery that will need to be put back in by the alternator sort of before the leisure battery gets any top up!

A decent 80 to 100 watt solar panel would probably keep you topped up in the summer, in winter you would get virtually zero top up!

The alternative might be a LIFEP04 battery and appropriate charger as that battery is probably less than half the weight to lug in and out to charge.

 

[spruce]

A pump pulls about 6 to 8 amps a power reel pulls about 30 amps! Say you run the pump for about 50% of a 6 hr day, that's about 21 amps you have taken from the battery. So a 100AH battery should only be depleted to about 50% capacity, so you have 50Amp Hrs useable.
Just with a pump that gives you a good margin on charging alternative days - as long as your battery is in good condition as they lose capacity when old.
You can buy a cheap voltmeter that will tell you roughly how charged the battery is. Something like Multimeter about £11 would do the job. Measuring at the end of the day isn't perfect as batteries take upto 4 hrs after charging or discharging to 'settle' but the voltage will give you a good idea of state of charge.
Very basic rule of thumb is if it's down to 12.0v then that's about as low as you want to go without causing any damage!

If you are using a powered reel say for 20 jobs a day reeling in for 30 seconds per job that's about 10minutes of 30 amps. So about 15Amp hours of battery capacity.
Add that to the 21Amps that the pump takes and you are at about 36AH but that really doesn't give you a second day as that would be 72AH well more than 50% of your battery capacity so you would be reducing it's life drastically!

Hope that gives you an idea of your usage?

As for a split charge relay it really does depend on how many miles you do. Remember that each time you start the van it takes energy from the van/starter battery that will need to be put back in by the alternator sort of before the leisure battery gets any top up!

A decent 80 to 100 watt solar panel would probably keep you topped up in the summer, in winter you would get virtually zero top up!

The alternative might be a LIFEP04 battery and appropriate charger as that battery is probably less than half the weight to lug in and out to charge.

5amps?

Certainly an LIFEP04 battery is a consideration weight wise, but it needs a dedicated battery charger.

 

[Mattlekim]

Also I advice getting a volt meter LCD. We have ours installed on cabin. We press a button and can read the voltage of the batter. When it drops below 12.4 under load in the day we bench charge that night.

 

[ched999uk]

5amps?

Certainly an LIFEP04 battery is a consideration weight wise, but it needs a dedicated battery charger.

Oops you are right 5 AH.
Again yes a LIFEPO4 does need a suitable charger.