Oh yea, I'm a pillock! I read quite a few postings on here that guys use their batteries for their pumps all day without issue, so I didn't think about my own battery while working down one road for the day last Thursday. Just one small van move all day just after lunch. Packed all my stuff up, looking forward to a cuppa at home, turn the key... click click click click argh smh!
I turned my digital flow control on, yep it shows my battery at 11.8v. RAC turn up and it turns out my battery's capacity is only around one fifth of what it was when new (116CCA compared to 500CCA new) so I clearly needed a new one. After leaving the van on for a while, letting it charge, I get it home and check the voltage on the flow controller and it's showing 14.3v, nice! But the reduced capacity means it won't last long.
I've since put a new battery in (670CCA now) but right from the start, it was only showing a fluctuation between 12.5v-12.8v. I only ever do short trips, so it doesn't have a lot of time to charge up, and I'm naturally paranoid that I'm be stuck with a dead battery again - what numbers should I be seeing on the read out? Is 12.5-12.8 normal or should I be plugging a charger in when I get home to fully charge it again for tomorrow?
I fully intend to fit a second leisure battery and link the two with an isolator switch, but until then, I'll be using just the one, and keeping a constant eye on the voltage readings.