| Author |
Message |
bruce knee (Bruceknee)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 7:38 am: | |
Can I use my shop battery charger to charge gel cell batteries? Do I want to charge at a fast rate or slow rate?
Thanks |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 3:14 pm: | |
I think wet cell batteries are charged at 14.25 and AGM and gel cell batteries around 13.8.
Gel cell batteries cannot dissipate heat very well, and I can speak from experience because I blew up (as in the battery went "POP" and split open) two batteries on two separate occasions. On that bus however, I could not set the charge rate.
My current bus has inverter/chargers that I can set for wet cell or AGM by using dip switches and I charge my batteries (AGM) at around 13.8 |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 9:11 am: | |
"I could not set the charge rate."
Trace and others make fine controllers that usually work with solar pannels.
They can be used as a batt voltage limiter , not cheap , but cheaper than new Fancy batts.
FAST FRED |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 11:37 am: | |
FF, I had an old conversion and it used converters for battery charging. They were not adjustable, probably because the Gel cell or agm technology was not available at the time they were designed or installed in the bus. |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:48 am: | |
Converters are NOT designed to charge , only hold a steady voltage as loads are switched off & on.
Chargers have a different brain and most actually do charge, eventually.
Beware of the "ferroresonant" garbage , these KILL batteries.
FAST FRED |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 3:07 pm: | |
FF,
http://www.raritaneng.com/information/faq_topics/faq_converters.html#a1
These are designed for both providing DC power AND charging batteries. |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 3:26 pm: | |
I would have to say that this a very unusual web page. In all my years around batteries, chargers, converters, inverters and anything else electrical, this is the first company I have seen that describes their converter as a battery charger.
There is no doubt in my mind that it will charge a battery, but if it is only a converter, it does not have the inherent brains to limit the charge voltage to keep from overcharging the battery.
Richard
In further reviewing the technical literature, it appears that the device does have the brains to be a charger, rather than a converter. |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 3:43 pm: | |
The converters were great and if it wasn't for the fact that the inverter chargers simplify things greatly I would like to have the same set up. When I blew up a gel cell (engine heat was the killer) I could run the genset and have 12 volts as though the batteries were there. After a serious bus engine compartment fire we hooked up to shore power and our entire house worked perfect despite the fact that 10 batteries were nothing more than melted plastic and lead.
They are smart converters and seem to have the "brains" to do the full charge profile when needed. |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 1:09 pm: | |
I think it is really a matter of semantics or something.
I have always considered a converter as a device that stepped the 120 volts AC down, and then converted it to DC, in the 13.5-14 volt range. The output DC voltage varied somewhat depending on the AC input AC voltage level. The ferroresonant types generally did some voltage regulation on the AC side.
Conversely, I have always considered an inverter as an AC to DC device that regulated the DC output on the DC side.
Maybe I am all wet, but that is what I believe.
Richard |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 4:15 pm: | |
I think as both devices were originally conceived you would be 100% correct Richard, but in the case of converters and in the case of inverters the marine and RV industries respectively have apparently provided markets for these products with multiple features.
My first inverter was just that. It was not a charger and only created 120V AC from 12V DC. My current inverters are actually inverter/chargers with programmable features so I can determine the rate of charge or the voltage of the charge.
My wife will never want to go back to the older technology because as we are currently set up she does not have any power management requirements whatsoever.
The bad news is that if the inverter fails to sense the presence of shore or genset power it will not close a relay (or if the relay fails) I cannot get AC power I have to the bus, get to the AC appliances and devices. My only recourse in the event of a failure such as that is to access the inverters and direct wire the AC in to the AC out wires. But for the convenience that is a small risk I am prepared to take. |