Scrubber Battery vs Sweeper Battery: How to Choose the Right LiFePO4 Battery for Cleaning Machines. Let’s be honest, in a busy warehouse or a sprawling commercial center, floor maintenance is a never-ending job. Your scrubbers and sweepers are out there day in and day out. But here’s a problem we see all the time: a fleet of great machines crippled by the wrong batteries. A scrubber and a sweeper might look similar, but the way they draw power couldn’t be more different. Getting this choice right isn’t just a maintenance task; it’s a core operational decision that affects your budget, your labor, and how much work actually gets done.
We wrote this guide for the people making these calls—the OEMs, the distributors, and the facility managers or cleaning service providers on the ground. We’re get straight to what matters: the real differences in power draw, what you need to know about voltage and capacity, and why LiFePO4 is really the only smart choice for this equipment moving forward.
12V 60Ah Lifepo4 Battery
24V 100AH Lifepo4 Battery
1. Key Differences Between Scrubbers and Sweepers
First thing to understand is that you can’t power these two machines the same way. One is about brute force; the other is about finesse.
- Scrubbers are all about heavy-duty cleaning. They use heavy brush decks and powerful pumps to apply force and liquid, literally stripping grime from the floor. This is a punishing, high-energy process. It puts a huge demand on the battery, which has to sustain a high current draw for long stretches, often 2 to 6 hours. But the real test is the inrush current. When those big motors spin up, they create a huge spike in power that can hit 100 amps. If a battery isn’t built to handle that peak, it will either fail to perform or, worse, suffer damage over time.
- Sweepers have a more focused job: collecting loose material. Their combination of brushes and vacuum fans creates a much more stable and moderate power draw. Typically, you’ll see them running for shorter periods, maybe 2 to 4 hours. A large ride-on sweeper certainly needs a battery with good capacity, but it just doesn’t put the battery through the same kind of stress.
| Equipment Type | Functie | Battery Requirements |
|---|
| Scrubber | Floor cleaning with rotating brush + water pump | High capacity, high peak discharge, continuous 2–6 hour operation |
| Sweeper | Sweeping with brush + vacuum fan | Moderate capacity, medium discharge, continuous 2–4 hour operation |
So what’s the takeaway? The right battery is a specific formula. It’s based on the machine’s power demand, the runtime you need, and the underlying battery chemistry. Get that right, and your equipment becomes something you can count on.
2. Voltage and Capacity Selection Guide
Let’s get one thing clear: your machine dictates the voltage. That part’s not up for debate. Whether it’s a 12V, 24V, 36V, or 48V system, you have to match it.
Where you have choices is in the capacity—the Amp-hours (Ah). Think of this as your fuel tank. For a quick estimate of how long a battery will last, this formula is a good starting point:
Operating Time (hours) = (Battery Capacity × Voltage) ÷ Machine Power (W)
| Equipment Type | Recommended Voltage | Recommended Capacity | Typical Runtime |
|---|
| Scrubber | 24–36V | 50–120Ah | 2–6 hours |
| Sweeper | 12–36V | 30–80Ah | 2–4 hours |
What does that mean in the real world? A mid-sized Tennant scrubber with a 24V 80Ah LiFePO4 battery will get you through about 3.5 to 4 hours of hard work, enough to cover a specific zone before a break. A smaller Nilfisk walk-behind sweeper? A 25.6V 50Ah battery will easily give you the 2.5 to 3 hours you need. Your goal is to give your team enough runtime to finish their tasks without constantly worrying about finding a charger.
3. Battery Chemistry Comparison
For the longest time, the industry was stuck with sealed lead-acid (SLA) batteries. They were heavy, needed regular maintenance, and had a frustratingly short lifespan. Today, LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) isn’t just an alternative; it’s a complete technology upgrade.
- They’re much lighter. This isn’t just a minor convenience. A lighter battery is easier on your maintenance crew during swaps. It also reduces the machine’s overall weight, meaning less wear on tires and drive components.
- They can handle deep cycling. These machines get used daily. LiFePO4 batteries are built for that kind of abuse. You can drain and recharge them thousands of times without the significant capacity fade that kills lead-acid batteries.
- The safety profile is night and day. You’re dealing with a solid-state chemistry, so there’s no caustic acid to spill. The risk of a thermal event is incredibly low. It’s one less thing to worry about on your safety audits.
- The lifespan is dramatically longer. A quality LiFePO4 pack will deliver 2,000 cycles or more. In practice, that means you might be buying one battery every five or six years, not every two. That changes the entire economic picture of battery ownership.
The business case for switching is just overwhelming. It’s all about maximizing uptime. Take a Kärcher ride-on scrubber in a logistics hub. With LiFePO4, your operator can plug it in during a 30-minute lunch break and get a meaningful amount of charge back into the battery. That kind of fast, opportunity charging is impossible with lead-acid. It gives you a new level of operational flexibility.
4. Battery Selection Strategy
So, how do you make the right call? Just walk through this mental checklist.
- Start with the machine’s power profile. You know the voltage. But does it need to handle big surges? A scrubber absolutely does. That means the battery needs a high-quality Battery Management System (BMS)—the brains of the operation—that can handle those peaks. A sweeper is more forgiving.
- Think about your workflow. How long do you eigenlijk need the machine to run? Be realistic. Undersizing the battery creates a constant bottleneck. Oversizing it is just money you didn’t need to spend. Aim for a capacity that gets the job done with a small buffer.
- Get out the tape measure. This sounds basic, but it’s a classic mistake. Know the exact dimensions of the battery compartment. The great thing about LiFePO4’s energy density is you can often get more runtime in the exact same physical space as the old battery.
- Know that custom is an option. Not all fleets are uniform. The modular nature of LiFePO4 cells means a good supplier can build a pack to virtually any spec. This is a huge advantage if you have older or less common equipment.
This isn’t theory; it’s what the leading brands do. They match Nilfisk scrubbers with robust 24–25.6V packs and power heavy-duty Tennant machines with 24–36V batteries built for high discharge. It’s all about matching the power source to the demands of the tool.
5. Scrubber vs Sweeper Practical Comparison Summary
| Functie | Scrubber | Sweeper |
|---|
| Stroomvraag | Hoog | Matig |
| Afvoersnelheid | High peak | Moderate & Stable |
| Capaciteit | Large | Medium |
| Recommended Voltage | 24–36V | 12–36V |
| Recommended Chemistry | LiFePO4 | LiFePO4 |
| Typical Application | Factories, warehouses, supermarkets, hospitals, large commercial buildings | Retail stores, schools, hotel lobbies, office buildings, parking garages |
Here’s the cheat sheet. This table cuts to the chase and shows the key differences. Use it as a quick reference to make sure you’re aligning the right battery with the right job.
Conclusie
When you step back and look at the whole picture—performance, lifespan, safety, maintenance—it becomes clear that LiFePO4 is the right technology for this job. For anyone making the final call on purchasing, the process is pretty straightforward. You have to verify the machine’s voltage, understand its real-world power draw, and know the physical space you have to work with.
Making the move to the right LiFePO4-batterij isn’t a cost. It’s an investment in reliability and a lower total cost of ownership. It means your crews can spend their time cleaning, not waiting for a battery to charge. Neem contact met ons op naar custom LiFePO4 battery solutions that are engineered specifically for the demands of your fleet.