[patwoods]

Hi everyone,can you please help me before i go insane,my vans battery continues to die a death and i have to jump start it after doing a few hrs wfp work,got a new battery but im sure problem will resurface a few weeks done the line,can you tell me whats best long term
thanks patrick

[slendersunfish]

Im assuming your running your pump from your cars battery.
Its best to run a seperate leisure type battery (85A) and use this for your pumps power or it will drain the cars battery.
I personally leave my leisure battery on trickle charge overnight after a days cleaning wfp
.Its free standing and i run the pump to it via bulldog clipsbut even better would be to  charge it from the cars alternator.
I think theres something called a spilit charge relay that sorts this out.
Also lots of posts on here about the subject.

[Morph]

Get an 85 amp leisure battery from a caravan shop.  £40 - £50.

Get it fitted on a split relay in your vehicle.  That will keep it charged from your alternator while your vehicle is running, but won't drain your vehicle battery if the leisure battery is low = split relay. Do it yourself or Auto electrics £35 - £50

Get a battery charger.  One that will charge leisure batteries safely, and recharge it at least once or twice a week.  The split relay is not enough to keep it topped up, as your pump will drain more than the alternator can put back, even on long drives.  £35 from Halfords

[marc al]

  Your vans battery should really handle a few hours wfp work and then start your van, I use a car battery to run my pump and it will last for several days. I think you should get a seperate battery for your pump AND get your alternator checked out, if you have a multi meter your alternator should show a charge flow to your battery of 14 amps to be healthy.

[Moderator David@stives]

I was talking to an auto-electrition and he said the pump was very low ampage so it was very unlikely to flatten my van battery and i would probably be just wasting my money by fitting a second battery and split charge relay.

The longest i have worked with the pump none stop was 4 hours and my van started no problem afterwards.

Dave