Car battery Vs leisure battery

Hi folks,

 I've started to lose pressure on my wfp. I believe the battery may be done.  I've had it a few years, even though It's on a spilt relay, I have read on a previous post that it will still have a shelf life. Last night I put it on a trickle charge and today the pressure was fine. Multimeter reading before the charge was 12, after it was 13.3. Can I assume the battery needs replacing? If so. What's best, connected to a spilt relay. Car or leisure battery ? Thanks

You are better off with a leisure battery. Some get by with just using a split charge relay but its best to at least bench charge the battery a few times a week and  will also need to use the correct type of charger for a leisure battery. You will find loads on here under the search bit and am sure others can explain in more detail 

I didn't both with a split charge relay on my new van as I didn't do enough mileage as all my work is local, I just charge each night now, I have a new 110ah battery and two pumps and a hd power up and will be installing another power up hd this weekend. 

A car battery is built to give a huge amount of power to the starter motor and is not built to be discharged fully, ever. It gives out its juice, and immediately the alternator starts charging it back up.

A leisure battery can take several discharges before it starts to deteriorate, and is thus the "proper" battery for our use case.

That said I ran my wfp for years off various old car batteries, and a friend of mine ran a double car battery setup for years with batteries from the scrapyard.

It's more of a "do you have time to spend tinkering and save pennies here and there", or "are your books full and you just need the thing to work". I've transferred to the latter category now, and run a 110ah leisure battery I charge at home every night.

markg said:

Hi folks,

 I've started to lose pressure on my wfp. I believe the battery may be done.  I've had it a few years, even though It's on a spilt relay, I have read on a previous post that it will still have a shelf life. Last night I put it on a trickle charge and today the pressure was fine. Multimeter reading before the charge was 12, after it was 13.3. Can I assume the battery needs replacing? If so. What's best, connected to a spilt relay. Car or leisure battery ? Thanks

Click to expand...

What about a combo battery that will do a good job as a leisure battery as well as a starter battery.

Any leisure battery with a CCA (cold cranking amps) value is what to look for.

Here's an example

https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/numax/xv31mf/

spruce said:

What about a combo battery that will do a good job as a leisure battery as well as a starter battery.

Any leisure battery with a CCA (cold cranking amps) value is what to look for.

Here's an example

https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/numax/xv31mf/

Click to expand...

I have always used car batteries on a spilt relay and forgot about it. Would I be ok to attach this battery to the spilt relay leave or would it require occasional or regular charging. Tia