On the way back from holiday, the battery case came apart and the 2 batteries fell out. Now the water pump won't work.
I have bought 2 new batteries, but am at a loss th figure out which way round they go. There is no positive/négative indicated. There is a complicated printed copper circuit in the battery case. I have tried every combination, but no joy. Perhaps someone can help?
If it's the same way round as mine it's an upright rectangle, the batteries go one on top of the other, the spring connector bits go the same way on both batteries, outside edge curly bit to the top right hand corner. Hope that makes sense!
Assuming that the batteries are lantern batteries (one central spring and another near one corner) it shouldn't matter which way they go as that's the idea of the "complicated printed copper circuit". If it doesn't work whichever way you try them, then I suspect that one of the cable connections to the printed circuit (positive or negative) has broken or dislodged enough so that it's not making contact. I made my own battery box for my Rapido and it's fairly foolproof assuming good connections. It's also possible that your pump has seized or failed and worth checking before anything else.
Many thanks Harpmaker, that's exactly what I wanted to hear! It makes sense of the fact that there are no pos neg markings on the box. It's a brand new camplet so back to the dealer I think.
Hi Harpmaker. Yes it seems that one of the connections has broken on the flimsy plastic box. Can you tell me how you wired the two batteries in circuit to make 12 volts. I think I'l make my own battery box out of wood., Thanks very much for your help.
Does that mean that you kept the lid with the printed circuit. I was thinking perhaps you did away with that idea and just wired the batteries together direct to the pump.
I have (hopefully) put a photo of just the inside of the lid of my box in my profile. Just bought a thin sheet of brass from a hobby shop (mine was self adhesive, and brass foil will do) and cut the shapes shown. IN the pic the left hand solder tab is positive, the right hand one negative. If you don't want to do anything as elaborate you can use the little plastic caps that come on the batteries to attach first, a short length of wire between the centre spring on one battery and the outer spring on the other (just strip and inch or so off each end of the wire wrap it on the spring and the screw back the plastic cap. Then attach longer lengths of wire to the other terminal springs, the one attached to the remaining outer spring will be positive and the inner one negative
Another thing, if you don't have access to a soldering iron. If you use brass sheet as opposed to foil, you can cut the end of the tabs to the right width to take spade connectors and then just crimp the spade connectors onto the end of the wire and push them onto the tabs.