I have a food plot sprayer that sits on my utv or pick up tail gate and it has a 10’ boom. The sprayer pump requires 12V to operate.
I know I can run it off the vehicle battery.

Question, if I buy a 12V auto battery and it’s fully charged, will it run this sprayer for about 1.5 hours without being recharged?

Yes

Buy a "deep cycle" battery intended to be used on a bass boat trolling motor- - - -the bigger the better. Deep cycle batteries are built to operate down to 25% of their total capacity without damage by repeatedly being discharged/recharged. Automotive starting batteries will fail quickly if they're cycled up and down below 75%. Another option would be to buy two 6 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries and run them in series to get 12V. Those things have a massive amount of reserve capacity.

Don't use an auto battery for this application.

Car batteries are designed to give lots of current for a short time. Using them to deliver steady current over a long time ruins them.

If you like lead acid batteries, an RV battery is a much better choice. A LiFePO4 battery is more expensive, but is a much better choice.

Yes this

You'll get 1.5 hrs out of it. You're pulling 5-10 amps.

Get a deep cycle Marine and RV battery. Sam's club or Costco is usually the cheapest place to find them. An auto battery isn't the best choice and while a lithium might be a better choice I'm not paying $700 for a battery to spray a food plot.

You could run it off the truck's charging system but I wouldn't run it off the UTV. I fried the transformer rectifier on my ATV running a sprayer hooked to the battery, ATV/UTV batteries are too small and the charging system isn't up to the current draw.

Yes on the deep cycle. Since it's not a critical application like running a trolling motor, it's not terribly important if you choose a lead/acid, AGM or Lithium - except for cost. They will run in that order in price. One other minor factor is that you might need a new charger for other than lead/acid. Most chargers now will come with a switch to charge AGM batteries, but you probably would have to upgrade chargers to properly and safely charge a lithium battery.

You can figure how large a battery you need. Find the draw of what you're running and multiply that by the run time to get the amp hour capacity of the battery you need. If your pump draws 10 amps and you need two hours, you'd theoretically need only a 20 amp-hour battery. Except that batteries don't work well down to 0%. Plan to use less than half of capacity. In the example I gave, I'd be looking at no less than 50 amp-hours capacity.

The pump isn’t running constantly is it?

I am using a auto battery for my food plot sprayer and a 12v pump for irrigation needs with no trouble.

Years ago I needed a 12v battery for my camping needs. I run my cpap and phones off a 12v battery when I tent hunt or hunt with friends in Colorado mountains.

Local Parts store recommended Deep cycle, they were crap only ran 3 or 4 nights and needed to be replaced after 2 years. Switched to standard battery which would ran for 8+ days and lasted 4 to 5 years before replacement. Used that setup for 20+ years with good results.

Only thing the deep cycle did was make more $$$ for the auto parts store

Most auto stores have used batteries cheap buy 2 and pigtail them together

45 bucks, small compact and has more than enough ooomph for 1.5 amps for 1-2 hours.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097BRKCQ...yZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Using a starting battery to run that pump would be like trying to pull a plow with a Kentucky Derby thoroughbred.

If the pump pulls only 1.5 amps, buy what Swifty linked. But do check that your charger can do LiPo batteries.

A standard SLA charger will work on LiPo batteries as long as it doesn’t have a de-sulfation mode.

I have a water tank for extended dry camping days I got from my FIL. What he did was take a trailer connector and wire the pump to the trailer connection. Wired into the running lights, he had everything he needed to refill.

I run a sprayer off my Mule or whatever I want to spray from.

Have a cord long enough to plug into battery clamps on the vehicle battery.

Has not failed me yet. Much better than a cigarette lighter plug.

You’re the only person on this planet with that experience.

Kind of expensive, but I've moved on to using Lifepo4 batteries for my HAM radios, camping CPAP etc. Less than half the weight, but man do they work !

I picked up a 110 AH agm deep cycle from a guy that worked for a cable company. They used them for backups in the head-in buildings. They get replaced at certain intervals regardless.

This one has been going strong for 12 years, I do put the auto charger on it as soon as I finish spraying and top it off in the winter. Probably should just get a maintainer an leave it on it.

The pump pulls about 8-10 amps, ran it a couple hours yesterday.

Not sure a starting battery would last very long with discharges like that.

I had a new factory battery in my 2018 4Runner. If I let the lights on a bit, it wouldn't start, so I got a new walmart battery. 4Runner never hiccuped since 2019.
I charge the original 4runner battery and run a 40 gallon 3 pt sprayer on my Kubota. I know I ran it 6 hours without a charge. I use the same battery for my clay pigeon thrower. No issues.
Good way to use a "junk" battery.

LiFEPos have been coming down in price a lot. I looked at one brand for my bass boat a year ago and it was $1000. Today, it's $700.

One major advantage for your sprayer application is weight. A car battery or a deepcycle of the car size can weigh 50-60 pounds. The one Swifty linked to weighs less than three. A car-sized lithium weighs about 30.

AS standard charger won't fully charge a Li battery. It needs 14.4 to 14.6V for a full charge and standard chargers only get up to about 13.8.
Pulling a deep cycle down below 50% over and over will damage it. A Li battery can be discharged down to about 5% repeatedly without damage. So, you can get nearly twice the run time from the same size of Li. Of course it'll take twice as long re recharge.

Great value at $94 https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStar...roup-Size-27DC-12-Volt-750-MCA/164242687

Everstart is another one made by Johnson Controls, as are 50% of the batteries sold in the US. They're good batteries for the money.

Lithium's only real advantage is weight savings. A battery that can be discharged down to 5% isn't much good if your appliance shuts off at 10.8 volts as most of them do. Lithiums are fussy about temperature and charging profile and expensive. Seems like an auxiliary outlet tied into the engine battery would be ideal since power is only required while running. 10 gauge wire more than adequate, fused. I use 6 volt golf cart batteries in series for off grid camper. Relay or battery switch to engine battery. Overkill for this application but much cheaper than Lithium and comparable AGM.

I disagree.

Standard Li ion batteries do have much reduced voltage toward the end of their discharge. LiFePO4 batteries have a much flatter voltage curve, more like lead acid.

LiFePO4 batteries can take far more charge/discharge cycles than lead acid. Per cycle, they are cheaper.

They are not any more fussy than any other battery. You do have to get the right charger, but those are cheap on eBay.

I sure hope they're not still selling batteries made by JCI.

Bought one of those 25 gallon sprayers that you pull behind a 4 wheeler.
Hooked it right to the battery of my 4 wheeler.
Sprayed 80 acres without a hitch!

I'd say yes, but a deep cycle boat battery would be my first choice. They will run a trolling motor quite a while.

I wish I could buy cheap batteries for my 48 volt sporting clays cart. Just had it re-done....but it gets used daily on the farm, real handy.

I’ve done this for many years with no ill effects.

If it's in the back of the pickup plug it into the power in the trailer plug, or provide a deep cycle battery and hook a charging wire to the battery.
On the atv/utv it would work the same as well.

If you want to give yourself some flexibility, put a solar panel charger and an rv battery on the same skid. It will keep it charged while sitting, and help charge while in use.

Same here. Most sprayers that size will have a 2.2 gph pump. The ATV or garden tractor battery will power it just fine as long as you keep the engine running.

A cheap deep cycle battery from Wally World or your farm store would be just the ticket . Charge it up between use

Assuming you have a 7 pole connector on your P/U and UTV for when you pull a trailer. Why not just use something like this: Link

and use a little 4 pole flat connector on your pump using just 2 poles +/-, forget the battery all together. Hell wire it so you can start and stop it with the other 2 poles or with the head lights...

Phil

Im the OP and just bought a deep cycle marine battery and charger.
Thanks guys for all the advice.

I disagree.

Standard Li ion batteries do have much reduced voltage toward the end of their discharge. LiFePO4 batteries have a much flatter voltage curve, more like lead acid.

Therefore: no advantage over cheaper alternative?

LiFePO4 batteries can take far more charge/discharge cycles than lead acid. Per cycle, they are cheaper.

If that theory were true would not golf courses have switched over to lithium long ago? Floor sweepers? Man lifts? Temporary traffic signs and lighting?

They are not any more fussy than any other battery. You do have to get the right charger, but those are cheap on eBay.[/quote]

Is this not an additional expense for special charger? The cold weather limitations may not apply here, but it's another negative. Lithium is more mystic and $Gucci than anything practical, in my view, which is admittedly stingy.

A lot of golf cart owners have gone to Li. Gold courses haven't because they have huge money invested in carts and converting them is even more costly. They'd have to lay out big bucks for batteries, chargers, etc.

You were wrong


AGAIN

LOL

My story is about the same as Terryk's. I use the old battery from my wife's CRV for my ATV sprayer, the winch that I pick up hang deer with and also my pump to transfer diesel from tank to tractor. Put it on the charger occasionaly and I am good to go. Only problem is that there is no handle to move the battery with. I have used it for several years. I had another old battery to trade in when I bought Her a new one. miles

Small milk crate... or similar.

The battery leads on a CRV (or at least my 2005 model) are too small of a gauge causing a battery to appear weak... I oversized my battery when I replaced it and like you kept the old battery as a portable.

For about $10 you can get a battery carrying strap that slips over the posts. Any store that sells batteries should have them.