[dave f]

ive just got a new battery .when asking for some advice from  they supplier about keeping it in good shape .apart from having a split charger you should also charge it up  .because you are taking out more than you put in i had no idea I just thought the split charger kept it fully charged you learn some thing new every day   ive had the same battery for 5yrs apparently that is quite good for a leasure battery aparentley

[Spruce]

ive just got a new battery .when asking for some advice from  they supplier about keeping it in good shape .apart from having a split charger you should also charge it up  .because you are taking out more than you put in i had no idea I just thought the split charger kept it fully charged you learn some thing new every day   ive had the same battery for 5yrs apparently that is quite good for a leasure battery aparentley

I recharge my 110 amp leisure battery every night in winter and every second day in summer.
Its no issue as I put a heater in the van in winter so adding the charger is no problem. As its an Intelligent leisure battery charger it can be left on all night. (My split charge relay or Voltage Sensing Relay has been upgraded to a 140 amp bi-directional one. So when I put the leisure battery onto charge the van battery gets topped up as well.)

As I've posted many times, I boost charge my leisure battery as we don't do enough mileage to keep my battery charged up with my split charge relay.

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.

Numax's advice is that a leisure battery shouldn't be charged more than 10% of its rating means that the most my then 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 750kms 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.

[p1w1]

ive just got a new battery .when asking for some advice from  they supplier about keeping it in good shape .apart from having a split charger you should also charge it up  .because you are taking out more than you put in i had no idea I just thought the split charger kept it fully charged you learn some thing new every day   ive had the same battery for 5yrs apparently that is quite good for a leasure battery aparentley

I recharge my 110 amp leisure battery every night in winter and every second day in summer.
Its no issue as I put a heater in the van in winter so adding the charger is no problem. As its an Intelligent leisure battery charger it can be left on all night. (My split charge relay or Voltage Sensing Relay has been upgraded to a 140 amp bi-directional one. So when I put the leisure battery onto charge the van battery gets topped up as well.)

As I've posted many times, I boost charge my leisure battery as we don't do enough mileage to keep my battery charged up with my split charge relay.

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.

Numax's advice is that a leisure battery shouldn't be charged more than 10% of its rating means that the most my then 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 750kms 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.

Hi Spruce
Quick question for you as you helped me sort out (on a post i made) the kit for my split charge relay. I got one with an isolation  switch so at the end of the day and weekends i turn it off . I have been taking the battery out of my van when i bench charge it, so it gets disconnected from every thing  but i want to now charge the battery up while its all connected in my van. Is it ok to just connect the charger to the battery and charge it that way if i have the battery isolated from the main van battery or would i need to still disconnect the battery from it?
Basically i have the split charge wires from the van battery > isolator switch >in-line fuse on the split charge positive cable > leisure battery. I then have the varistream controller coming off the leisure battery. i want to add a connection between the leisure battery and varistream that i can disconnect and plug into the battery charger but still have the split charge relay cables attached to the leisure battery. Would that be ok?
thanks
Paul

[EandM]

I'm using a 34 ah AGM Golf Cart Battery with great success. Using a Constant Voltage Charger which charges at around 5 ah until the battery voltage nears 90% whereupon it drops to about 300 mah. The pump is drawing about 3 - 3.5 ah so theoretically good for 10 hours continuous use.  I've been working some short days recently and the battery can be charged to 95% in 2-3 hours, Long may it last.

[Spruce]

ive just got a new battery .when asking for some advice from  they supplier about keeping it in good shape .apart from having a split charger you should also charge it up  .because you are taking out more than you put in i had no idea I just thought the split charger kept it fully charged you learn some thing new every day   ive had the same battery for 5yrs apparently that is quite good for a leasure battery aparentley

I recharge my 110 amp leisure battery every night in winter and every second day in summer.
Its no issue as I put a heater in the van in winter so adding the charger is no problem. As its an Intelligent leisure battery charger it can be left on all night. (My split charge relay or Voltage Sensing Relay has been upgraded to a 140 amp bi-directional one. So when I put the leisure battery onto charge the van battery gets topped up as well.)

As I've posted many times, I boost charge my leisure battery as we don't do enough mileage to keep my battery charged up with my split charge relay.

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.

Numax's advice is that a leisure battery shouldn't be charged more than 10% of its rating means that the most my then 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 750kms 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.

Hi Spruce
Quick question for you as you helped me sort out (on a post i made) the kit for my split charge relay. I got one with an isolation  switch so at the end of the day and weekends i turn it off . I have been taking the battery out of my van when i bench charge it, so it gets disconnected from every thing  but i want to now charge the battery up while its all connected in my van. Is it ok to just connect the charger to the battery and charge it that way if i have the battery isolated from the main van battery or would i need to still disconnect the battery from it?
Basically i have the split charge wires from the van battery > isolator switch >in-line fuse on the split charge positive cable > leisure battery. I then have the varistream controller coming off the leisure battery. i want to add a connection between the leisure battery and varistream that i can disconnect and plug into the battery charger but still have the split charge relay cables attached to the leisure battery. Would that be ok?
thanks
Paul

Hi Paul,
not 100% understanding where you have the isolator switch TBH.

So for my van I have a short + cable from the van's battery to an inline fuse. From the inline fuse a long cable to the VSR (split charge relay) which is close to the leisure battery. From the VSR to another inline fuse and then a short cable to the leisure battery. The negative terminal of the leisure battery is to an earth on the van's body. There is also an earth on the VSR to the van's body.

That's the van's engine charging side complete.

Now the Varistream. From the leisure battery + terminal to the isolator switch. then from the isolator switch to an inline fuse and then to the + input on the Varistream. (I'm an advocator of putting the isolator switch here as it stops any current drain by the Varistream. ) The other - cable from the leisure battery goes to the other side of the Varistream's input side.
At the point the positive lead from the leisure battery enters the isolator switch is the place to add an addition positive cable for your charger.

My charger came with a Torberry connector and one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TORBERRY-TO-CROCODILE-CLIP-BATTERY-LEAD-CONNECTOR-WILL-FIT-GOLF-TROLLEY-/180744024584?hash=item2a152ef208:m:mUEWekN-A1WQEG0jdXBiSyQ

So I fitted one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Torberry-Anderson-Battery-Cable-Loom-Battery-Connector-for-Hillbilly-Mocad-etc-/250908374801?hash=item3a6b4df711:m:mcBBIloeq9LxmW5wuMKo8tA

so I just plug the connector in. The black - of this cable goes to the van's body and as I've said, the red + goes to the isolator switch.  I did this because my battery isn't easy to get to.

However if your battery is easily accessible then you could just wire a coupling up to the battery directly like this;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TORBERRY-ANDERSON-CONNECTOR-GOLF-BATTERY-LEAD-250mm-LONG-HILLBILLY-/252169338294?hash=item3ab676bdb6:g:mWEAAOxy9eVRK0qs   

I hope you can understand this.

[p1w1]

Hi Spruce
i have everything set up and its been running it for a few months now.
I have it set up very similar to you. I have the the positive from the van battery connected to an in-line fuse this then runs into the split charge relay next to that it goes into the split charge isolator switch and then the cable then runs into another in-line fuse close to the leisure battery and then connected to the leisure battery.
 I'm mainly wanting to know can i bench charge my leisure battery in the van if its still all wired up to the split charge relay or do i have to disconnect it (i have all the relevant connectors needed). I was presuming i can leave it all connected to the split charger and just turn off the main split charge isolator when bench charging the leisure battery. 
hope that makes sense, thanks for your time

[Spruce]

Hi Spruce
i have everything set up and its been running it for a few months now.
I have it set up very similar to you. I have the the positive from the van battery connected to an in-line fuse this then runs into the split charge relay next to that it goes into the split charge isolator switch and then the cable then runs into another in-line fuse close to the leisure battery and then connected to the leisure battery.
 I'm mainly wanting to know can i bench charge my leisure battery in the van if its still all wired up to the split charge relay or do i have to disconnect it (i have all the relevant connectors needed). I was presuming i can leave it all connected to the split charger and just turn off the main split charge isolator when bench charging the leisure battery. 
hope that makes sense, thanks for your time

Yes you can just plug it in to charge it without disconnecting anything. Thats what I do.  What split charge isolator have you got?

[p1w1]

Hi Spruce
i have everything set up and its been running it for a few months now.
I have it set up very similar to you. I have the the positive from the van battery connected to an in-line fuse this then runs into the split charge relay next to that it goes into the split charge isolator switch and then the cable then runs into another in-line fuse close to the leisure battery and then connected to the leisure battery.
 I'm mainly wanting to know can i bench charge my leisure battery in the van if its still all wired up to the split charge relay or do i have to disconnect it (i have all the relevant connectors needed). I was presuming i can leave it all connected to the split charger and just turn off the main split charge isolator when bench charging the leisure battery. 
hope that makes sense, thanks for your time

Yes you can just plug it in to charge it without disconnecting anything. Thats what I do.  What split charge isolator have you got?

as far as i'm aware this one http://simplysplitcharge.co.uk/shop/viewitem.cgi?BI020 i added  it to this split charge kit http://simplysplitcharge.co.uk/shop/viewitem.cgi?SCK117 c. I also isolate the controller too as you advised before.
Thanks for your help

[Spruce]

Hi Spruce
i have everything set up and its been running it for a few months now.
I have it set up very similar to you. I have the the positive from the van battery connected to an in-line fuse this then runs into the split charge relay next to that it goes into the split charge isolator switch and then the cable then runs into another in-line fuse close to the leisure battery and then connected to the leisure battery.
 I'm mainly wanting to know can i bench charge my leisure battery in the van if its still all wired up to the split charge relay or do i have to disconnect it (i have all the relevant connectors needed). I was presuming i can leave it all connected to the split charger and just turn off the main split charge isolator when bench charging the leisure battery. 
hope that makes sense, thanks for your time

Yes you can just plug it in to charge it without disconnecting anything. Thats what I do.  What split charge isolator have you got?

as far as i'm aware this one http://simplysplitcharge.co.uk/shop/viewitem.cgi?BI020 i added  it to this split charge kit http://simplysplitcharge.co.uk/shop/viewitem.cgi?SCK117 c. I also isolate the controller too as you advised before.
Thanks for your help

Your Durite vsr is bi-directional. This means that if you charge the leisure battery then the van battery will also be topped up.

I have fitted a cheap non illuminated rocker on/off switch on the earth cable from the VSR. If I don't want the vsr to work then I just switch it off.

I have my unit installed in an electrical enclosure with a see thru front panel.
Similar one here;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PLASTIC-ENCLOSURE-TERMINAL-BOX-ADAPTABLE-GEWISS-GW44427-CLEAR-LID-190X140X70MM-/281924612576?hash=item41a40431e0:g:Aw8AAOSwEppUNpU3


The switch is mounted on the top side.
I ordered one of these with a water proof cover.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/On-Off-Round-Rectangle-Rocker-Switch-Waterproof-Cover-Car-Dash-Boat-SPST-12V-/261349269695?var=&hash=item3cd9a160bf:m:m2MIy5Kts0WyflO48FisEew

[Spruce]

Wiring diagram

[p1w1]

Thanks for your help Spruce appreciated