[d s windowcleaning]

for a split relay to work to your benifit what type of mileage do you need to be doing ?

[Nathanael Jones]

I do very little mileage, maybe 100 miles a week. I haven't charged my battery since I got the split charge relay 6 months ago!

 

[d s windowcleaning]

what type of battery you using nat ?

[Nathanael Jones]

Cheapo car battery!

 


It might not last as long as a deep cycle leisure battery,.. but when it dies I'll invest in a decent one.

[d s windowcleaning]

how many hours are you working per day nat ? if you was doing say 20 miles to first job and only move around 1 mile in between and cleaned 30 houses would your battery be up to it , and would the split relay have helped in such a short distance ?

[Nathanael Jones]

Wednesday I worked 13 hours solid on one big hotel job. It was 30 minutes drive from home, so the batter didn't get a major charge on the way there,.. but at quitting time the battery was still going strong.

If the battery ever does go dead on a job, you can just leave the engine running and lock the van.

My battery has NEVER given up on me since i installed the relay tho.
You can get "intelligent" relays now which are much easier to install than the traditional 5 pin relays.

[Wayne Thomas]

A decent split charge relay will start charging auxilary batteries after the vehicle battery has reached full charge (normally 5mins from starting the ignition key). It's not so much, how many miles you do in a day, (stop/start) as, how long your engine is permanently running and recharging/ topping up the auxilary battery if that makes any sense to you

[gsw]

so if i had to choose, is it worth installing a split relay or go with a bench charge each night?

my work varies from all day in one place to lots of little runs on other days,

all advice welcome

[Alex Gardiner]

so if i had to choose, is it worth installing a split relay or go with a bench charge each night?

my work varies from all day in one place to lots of little runs on other days,

all advice welcome

We run two vehicles, one with each system.  Generally speaking the one that runs directly off the vehicle's battery (up-rated) provides a more reliable power source.  The split relay system often has to be switched back to the vehicle's battery by the end of a day if not much driving has been done that day, or even earlier that week.

We do take the precaution of changing the vehicle battery every 18 months to avoid being let down.  If you want to run a split charge system I would also advise scheduling an overnight charge of the battery once a week to keep it at optimum charge.

[Nathanael Jones]

A twin pump setup would prob need a "booster charge" quite often,.. I only run 1 pump at the moment tho.

I was thinking of getting a solar trickle charger too,.. just for an extra boost,.. never needed it yet tho.

I've been told that different vans using different alternators will charge aux batteries at different rates, so perhaps thats why there are a few reports of split charge relays not performing well enough too??

[windowwashers]

still not sold on the split relays think I will stick with charging batteries every other day for now

[ftp]

Depends where your van is parked overnight, mine is backed up to the garage door so it's no problem to charge especially since the battery is just inside the back door - i just feed the extension lead through the doors. I did buy a split charge relay but never got round to fitting it.

[gsw]

thanks all, am going to be running two pumps from the one battery in the near future so i will go with a bench charge nightly at the moment and add the split relay if and when needed.

sorry for hi jacking the thread!

[Highrise]

Why not get one of these....

[d s windowcleaning]

where do you get them from highrise ?

[Highrise]

where do you get them from highrise ?

Car shop( auto quip or halfords )

[gsw]

nice one fella, i can see those catching on, adding it to my list. this forum never ceases to amaze me.