Message text written by Randall Young
>Auto batteries have really lousy charge efficiencies, plus most "10 amp"
chargers will begin to taper the charge almost immediately, thus not
delivering 10 amps to the battery. So, it takes 6-8 hours or more for a
10 amp charger to charge a fully discharged 40 amphour battery.
<
All true but if the discharged battery were charges at the 10 amp setting
for four hours it would have received enough charge to function more or
less normally.
There are available, at a considerably higher price, constant current
chargers that will charge at their particular current level regardless of
the battery terminal voltage. These chargers will actually charge a
battery faster than a constant voltage charger of a higher rating.
However, these chargers must have an automatic shut off feature to avoid
overcharging the battery. We use an automatic charger in our systems that
will charger our gell cells at 3.5 amps until a particular voltage is
achieved (15 volts or so). They then switch to a lower current until
another threshold is achieved at which point they switch to a float mode
which will maintain a constant voltage. This charging technique is reputed
to provide the longest service life for deep cycle batteries (not really
applicable to our situation). The advantage for a forgetful person like me
is that one doesn't have to remember to disconnect it. It can remain
connect forever.
Dave
///
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe triumphs
///
///
|