I'm using a Yuasa intelligent charger, I charge up every night because I'm always thinking it might go flat half way through a day..
Over the next couple of days I'm going to install a split relay charger, so I don't need to worry.
Spruce, I thought you were a split relay kinda guy too?
Trouble is Dave, I don't do enough mileage to keep my battery charged up with my split charge relay.
As I said before on here, a good portion of my work is a ten minute drive at most. So 20 minutes isn't enough to replenish what I take out.
If my pump uses 16 amps a day, then all my daily commute puts back in is 2.5 amps. This will leave me a deficit each day of 12amps. Every 2 days my charger says the battery is 75% - 100% charged which is about right.
I have a 30 amp SCR and we have had a discussion with Grippatank on here this last week as they gave me the impression that fitting one of their 100amp relays would be the solution to my power issues - after all the guy who travelled 40 secs to work had to supplementary charge his leisure battery, but they have solved everyone elses problem.
I contacted Samlex, their relay manufacturer, and asked them if in their opinion their 100amp relay/seperator would charge my leisure battery faster than my current 30 amp unit would. They replied that I would see no difference between what they supply and what I already have.
If you add this to Numax's advice that a leisure battery shouldn't be charged more than 10% of its rating means that the most my leisure battery (a Numax) should receive is 11 amps.
To keep my battery fully charged, the alternator would need to charge the battery at around 48 amps per hour or 8 times faster than it currently does. The figures prove that you need to 'bench' charge your battery periodically.
Added to this is the fact that as the battery reaches it fully charged state it will only accept a lower and lower charge.
An Australian camper magazine stated that they would have to drive 600 miles to fully charge a leisure battery by the vehicles alternator and a split charge relay.
Is it a waste of time fitting a SCR? No.