F-Ribs And Sibs - Inflatable Boat Community

tldr: Pump with internal lead acid battery gets new battery

I bought this pump only 2 years ago and it's probably only done a couple of dozen inflations so a bit disappointing for the battery to fail, but I was expecting it. The signs were there. It first let me down a year ago at Poole where my day was rescued by a boost from @ChrisParish lipo batteries. I had charged the battery a couple of days before, but it only got halfway through the job before it lost power. Other than that occasion it's been a solid performer.

Also don't be taken in, as I was, with the vague descriptions of this pump. Yes it's a good pump, but it is single stage. I've seen it described as dual cylinder, which I'm sure it is, but it's a dedicated high pressure pump guffing out about 125lt/min so while you could inflate the whole boat with it, you'll be there all day. I get the bulk of the air into the tubes with a cheap airbed pump at 600+lt/min then top up with the Bravo. This is not a cool two stage pump like some of the other Bravos.

I last used the pump in September when circumstances forced me to pack up for the winter. I charged it fully then stored it in a garage that would have got a little chilly, but never below freezing.

Last week I had a bit of a shuffle around of stuff with the plan of inflating the T38 and doing a bit of an engine service. Step 1 was putting the pump on charge and it was immediately apparent that something was wrong. It has red, amber and green charging LEDs during charging and was immediately green even though it wouldn't run.

I opened up the pump case so I could put a meter across the battery terminals. How do some manufacturers manage to find screws that seem to be made of cheese and don't fit any known shape of screwdriver head? Somehow I managed to get it open without rounding any of the crappy screws and low and behold the battery was showing a mighty 4v.

New battery time. It takes a 12v 9ah battery with standard dimensions so I sent for a Yucel from Amazon. As far as I can tell that's made by Yuasa who I trust after having reliable Yuasa batteries in bikes over the years.


The spade connectors of the existing battery had been soldered in place. Presumably to prevent being vibrated loose, but I think this is serious overkill. These connectors normally click into place very securely when fresh. They can get a bit saggy if regularly popped on and off, but that's unlikely to be the case here.


Of course de-soldering was completely pointless as the spades were full of solder and wouldn't go on to the new battery terminals so I just chopped them off and fitted new female spades.


I pulled the bits of damping foam off the old battery and glued them to the new one and wiggled it into place.


And finally all back together and plugged in to show it taking a charge. It runs with previously unheard vigour (once I remembered to put the fuse back in).

Tomorrow I plan to inflate the boat and see if it's been attacked by little furry beasts.

Expensive pump resurrected with £17 battery replacement.

@Froglet How many inflations do you get from the battery. I have the standard bravo and was wondering about running it off a 9ah battery.

Gray wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2020, 00:22

Froglet How many inflations do you get from the battery. I have the standard bravo and was wondering about running it off a 9ah battery.

Not sure yet with the new battery. With the old battery I never did full inflations from packed away. I only did the high pressure stage of the inflation then maybe a bit of topping up on the water. So I never really explored how many times it could be used between charges, but I doubt it's designed for more than 2 full pressure runs. You can find reviews of similar pumps designed for stand up paddle boards that suggest the pump can do no more than two before needing a charge.

Nice repair and report @Froglet

In terms of battery life our two stage 500l/min Genova pump with it’s internal 7ah 12v battery will pump up a 3.8m hp air floor sib once or a similar sized sausage keel sib twice. I think our Bravo does the same or very similar.

It’s the high pressure air floors which destroy battery time and the pump internals.

harrison wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2020, 16:23

It’s the high pressure air floors which destroy battery time and the pump internals.

Learning all the time, in this forum....

Froglet, your report could not have come at a better time. I have used the same pump for 2 years and it is perfect for my F-Rib. In October I gave it a last charge and brought it home with me tp store it in the house for the winter. I wish I had remembered to remove the fuse for storage. I went to give it a fresh charge yesterday and I have the same issue you had. I am about to order about the Yaassa battery from Amazon. I hope it goes as well for me as it did for you.

Ah good luck, I'm sure you'll be fine. I think these batteries have a finite lifespan so I'm glad that the manufacturer designed the pump with disassembly in mind. Thank goodness nothing was glued together and none of those horrible plastic clips that always snap when you prise open cases.

I replaced a similar battery in my old Coleman airbed pump about 4 years ago and it still runs better than it ever did with the factory fitted battery. SO I have high hopes.

All the best

Simon

Froglet
Thanks! Now I am looking for a long skinny screw driver to get to the 4 small attaching screws in the deep pockets. In the last 4 months I have bought about 4 sets of specialized screwdrivers because my existing sets were just a little bit off what was needed on various projects. I am determined to find one that will work among the many sets I already have and avoid giving Amazon some additional money!!