Battery compatibility

boknaai

Good morning. So I've bought a cricket bowling machine for my son and I'm having trouble finding a compatible battery. The cable has a 9.5 mm female spade connection, but all the 12v batteries with this terminal are very small capacity. I was looking for around a 34 ah battery, but  I can't seem to find any adapter or connection that will allow me to connect the terminal to the cable. I posted this in motoring as it is essentially a car battery. Thanks for any help you can offer

AdrianC

All you really need is a couple of battery terminals (they're cheap - I'd suggest the quick-release ones like this... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224428668611 ), two short lengths of sturdy enough wire (what wattage is the machine?), and a couple of matching spade terminals.

If it were me, I'd make sure that the male was always on the -ve side of the connections - so the +ve battery flylead has a female, going to a male on the machine's cable, and the -ve battery flylead has a male, going to a female on the machine's cable. That will ensure that you don't connect it wrong way round, as well as helping prevent any accidental shorting of the flyleads themselves. And PLEASE put a fuse in the +ve flylead!

Then you can use any car battery at all...

TonyMMM

I'd go with changing the connectors  ....but you could get a sealed battery, as used in mobility scooters etc ...like this 12Ah version.  and recharge as needed.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultramax-NP12-12-Mobility-Scooter-Wheelchair/dp/B00J4RHLNO/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=12v+12ah+battery&qid=1621501331&sr=8-5

boknaai

Thanks for your reply. So I basically just make up a seperate cable from terminal to fit the connection. The spade connector's just crimp on don't they?

facade

Either change the spade connectors for ones that fits your battery of choice, or make an adaptor from a 9.5mm male spade to the battery terminal.

You will need at least a leisure rated battery (or a stop-start battery)  if it is intended to be discharged and later recharged, a standard car battery is only designed to start the car and quickly be topped up, trying to say, half discharge one over a few days and then recharge it regularly will shorten the battery life dramatically.

Or you could look at lithium ion batteries, but they are unbelievably expensive.

AdrianC

boknaai said:

Thanks for your reply. So I basically just make up a seperate cable from terminal to fit the connection. The spade connector's just crimp on don't they?

Yep, they do.

facade said:

You will need at least a leisure rated battery (or a stop-start battery)  if it is intended to be discharged and later recharged, a standard car battery is only designed to start the car and quickly be topped up, trying to say, half discharge one over a few days and then recharge it regularly will shorten the battery life dramatically.

So long as it's not taken flat, then a normal starter battery will be just fine. PROPER deep-cycle are ferociously expensive, whilst most cheap "leisure" are just re-labelled...

boknaai

It will be taken flat,not close to flat. Leisure rated would suit? Just measured the inside of the female spade and I think it's actually the 6.3mm one. 9.5 mm is the measurement across the outside.

AdrianC

boknaai said:

It will be taken flat,not close to flat.

Then get a battery twice as large, and only use the same amount - taking it to half-charged.


6.3mm spade is typically rated to 15A. What's the wattage of the device?

boknaai

AdrianC said:

boknaai said:

It will be taken flat,not close to flat.

Then get a battery twice as large, and only use the same amount - taking it to half-charged.


6.3mm spade is typically rated to 15A. What's the wattage of the device?

Think it's 120 watts. It actually runs off 12 volts and has an inverter when plugged into the mains. They say that a 7ah battery will give approximately 1 hour usage. So if I just go for the 12 ah battery I should get an hour and a half? If I want more time I could get a second battery as I didn't realise how small they were.

AdrianC

120w at 12v is 10A. If it was 100% duty cycle (working flat out all the time), that'd be 10Ah in 1hr.
If the 7Ah battery is giving 1hr, it must be running at about 70% duty cycle - or 35% if that's taking the battery to 50% charge...

I presume it's either doing its thang, chucking a ball at him, or sitting idle waiting to - so you can probably take an educated guess at duty cycle, how much of the time it's working. I'd guess it's nearer 35% than 70% - unless he's basically being peppered by balls...

SO... something like this, for £45 on your doorstep, should give him about 10hrs of practice without doing the battery any harm by excessively flattening it...
https://batterygroup.co.uk/Batteries-Power-Electronics/Lead-Acid-Batteries/10176/X-Pro-57024-12V-70ah-540CCA-Starter-battery-UK-069

boknaai

Yeah I kinda guessed the wattage by the rating on the inverter which was 10 amp, so it's probably a bit lower. Also want to keep portability in mind, my son is only 13 so want to keep it as light as possible .

Also too speed is 100 mph, which I would never get near. Probably 65-70 mph is the most I'd get to so would always run at 60 -70% I guess.