Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

Powered hose reel killing battery

Callum94

New member
Messages
16
Location
Boston
Hi everyone! I've got a powered hose reel however as soon as I use it to reel up it cuts my battery out and goes from 12.9 to 8.1 and slowly climbs back up unless I unwire it all and recconect then it goes full again. Does anyone know the problem?!

 
What amp hour battery is it and how old ?? Is the reel a new addition and it’s always been like this or has it suddenly started doing this ?. 

 
Hi everyone! I've got a powered hose reel however as soon as I use it to reel up it cuts my battery out and goes from 12.9 to 8.1 and slowly climbs back up unless I unwire it all and recconect then it goes full again. Does anyone know the problem?!
You need a new battery mate...I'd get a 105ah numax starter/leisure battery if your just running one pump and electric reel...and charge it up overnight every night from day one....

 
Your reel will be pulling about 30 amps. So it will need a decent battery and a recharge every day - split charge or even Battery 2 Battery charger probably won't recharge enough. So without a proper recharge gradually the battery will go beyond 50% discharged. Each time you go below 50% the battery is damaged slightly and losses capacity!!!!

After you take off the load the battery voltage will recovery quite a bit but if it's damaged then you won't have many Amp Hrs left. 

 
Get an AGM gell battery if you want it to last , just changed mine after 6 years and re charged every day they were down to 30% they still ran everything ok but was afrade of a break down when working away from home so changed them .

 
Get an AGM gell battery if you want it to last , just changed mine after 6 years and re charged every day they were down to 30% they still ran everything ok but was afrade of a break down when working away from home so changed them .
My gel batteries last me years as well. When I used leasure batteries I would be changing them yearly. 

 
What amp hour battery is it and how old ?? Is the reel a new addition and it’s always been like this or has it suddenly started doing this ?. 
It came with the facelift tank fitting! It's only recently started over the past month or 2. It was fitted in May last year

 
It came with the facelift tank fitting! It's only recently started over the past month or 2. It was fitted in May last year
I am guessing you haven't bench charged your battery since last May if so that's your issue, get it bench charged then after 2 hours of it been charged if you don't have a multi meter just check the battery voltage via your controller and if you see a decent amount of voltage drop then your battery is knackered if it doesn't happen straight away then after a an hour or so working the voltage may drop away again if so your battery is knackered. 

 
My gel batteries last me years as well. When I used leasure batteries I would be changing them yearly. 
How and how often do you charge them?

In the Yatching world AGM don't seem to be that much better than lead acid leisure batteries in their application.

@Pjjhas a strictly recharge every night policy and this works for him. The problem with so many window cleaners is that they don't do this and rely on a split charge relay to recharge their batteries.

 
How and how often do you charge them?

In the Yatching world AGM don't seem to be that much better than lead acid leisure batteries in their application.

@Pjjhas a strictly recharge every night policy and this works for him. The problem with so many window cleaners is that they don't do this and rely on a split charge relay to recharge their batteries.
You have got to charge batteries after every time you use them or expect problems with them. Cost me £240 to work this out. ?

 
All wfp window cleaners should charge their batteries up overnight every night IMO regardless of whether they have electric reels/diesel heaters,etc...it just makes good sense to keep them in good condition...

My batteries are over 3 years old and still fine(I run a pump/controller,diesel heater and electric reel)....I always charge them up every night 

 
I know I do more miles then most but I've never manually charged my batteries. The first set in the Vivaro lasted 7 years, in the last year I occasionally had to run the engine towards the end of big jobs

 
I don't do big miles. I've been fortunate that I never need to charge my leisure batteries and I get years out of them. Two pumps two Numax 120AH MV35 leisure batteries. Two manual reels. I have no interest in using anything that will slow me down or cause me unnecessary expense or breakdowns. I believe electric reels would do all three. Each to our own, of course.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just realised that I only had the hose out twice this morning. When I park at the top of carpark I can do the 5 homes with 50m of hose out which takes an hour. Then I go down to the bottom carpark and do the same and clean 7 homes in an hour. I then got rained off but I still have my battery on charge all night for tomorrow's work.

 
I don't do big miles. I've been fortunate that I never need to charge my leisure batteries and I get years out of them. Two pumps two Numax 120AH MV35 leisure batteries. Two manual reels. I have no interest in using anything that will slow me down or cause me unnecessary expense or breakdowns. I believe electric reels would do all three. Each to our own, of course.
No wonder, no hot water nor electric reels so using very little power. If it works for you then keep doing it.

 
I have all the hot water I ever need. And my system is super reliable, fast and trouble free. ?
I do think electric reels make the working day so much easier but the problem I have found is getting something reliable I have hade the 3 main brands out there so far and had problems with all of them the most reliable so far have been waterworks 3 D now that they have changed the plastic centre spindles to metal the previous issues with them crushing have been illuminated , we are now long term testing them in one of our vans for them .  

 
I do think electric reels make the working day so much easier but the problem I have found is getting something reliable I have hade the 3 main brands out there so far and had problems with all of them the most reliable so far have been waterworks 3 D now that they have changed the plastic centre spindles to metal the previous issues with them crushing have been illuminated , we are now long term testing them in one of our vans for them .  
Most people I've seen don't use manual reels correctly. Some lift them out, unreel and wind back while bent over to reach ground level. Others leave them in the van but stand almost directly in front to wind in. This means the arm and shoulder have to pump/crank. More often than not the reels are fairly stiff causing unnecessary effort to be needed.

We leave the reels loose but tethered in the van. Both clover type reels are modified with threaded bar through the sides, one side to the other. This holds the sides from pushing out against the ends of the spindle which can cause a lot of unnecessary friction. We stand slightly to the side of the reel instead of in front. This way we can simply spin the reels using just the lower arm (like spinning a conker on a string as if it were a propeller). The effort needed is almost nothing. Once it's going the reel develops a flywheel effect and it can nearly be done with a thumb and one finger. Done right the effort needed with a manual reel is less than light exercise and the speed is something to behold.

One of the main topics of discussion on the forum is electric reels and the problems associated with them: cost, reliability, batteries and charging. I don't need them.

Another main topic is diesel water heating systems and the problems associated with them: cost, servicing, breakdown, batteries and charging. I don't want or need them either.

Each to their own, as we've said before. ??

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I do think electric reels make the working day so much easier but the problem I have found is getting something reliable I have hade the 3 main brands out there so far and had problems with all of them the most reliable so far have been waterworks 3 D now that they have changed the plastic centre spindles to metal the previous issues with them crushing have been illuminated , we are now long term testing them in one of our vans for them .  
The new Grippatank ones are great and I haven't had any problems with them. The old ones were very slow.

 
Back
Top