| Author |
Message |
Philip Curtis (152.163.207.201)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 01, 2002 - 1:26 pm: | |
I stay parked for long periods of time am I safe in assuming that if I hook up a 12 volt charger say at 2 amps to my 24 volt system it just takes longer to top of or fully charge.I don't like starting the coach every week and let it idel for 1/2 to 1 hr times just to keep up the batterys. The coach is a 66 MCI 5. Thanks for any info on this. |
BILL BUTLER (65.58.5.148)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 01, 2002 - 2:14 pm: | |
I PURCHASED A "BATTERY MINDER" FROM CAMPING WORLD.
IT IS PLUGGED INTO THE AC (SHORE POWER) AND TOPS
OFF YOUR BATTERIES AND MAINTAINS THEM AUTOMATICALLY. AS I RECALL IT WAS ABOUT $47.00.
IT IS A GREAT HELP TO ME.
I PREVIOUSLY USED A CHARGER ON TWO AMPS BUT I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THAT WOULD OVER CHARGE THE BATTERIES. |
Scott Whitney (66.82.32.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 01, 2002 - 9:44 pm: | |
My understanding is that a 12v charger would not charge a 24v bank. But I could be wrong. Usually, to charge a battery, the charging voltage is higher than the nominal battery voltage and hence the juice goes from the charger to the battery. (ex. battery may be 12.5 volts and charger puts out 13-14v.) If your battery were 24v and the charger only put out 14v, it seems to me that the battery would be trying to charge the charger and hence drain it rather than charge it. . . But I could be wrong.
Why not just get a 24v charger? And a good 3-stage charger at that. Seems that would be much better all the way around. And definitely better than idling the engine.
Scott |
FAST FRED (209.26.87.107)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2002 - 5:31 am: | |
What ever you do STOP running the bus engine as a battery charger.
DD make very little heat and oil pressure at idle,
so the oil gets diluted from crankace blowby and will need frequent changes.
The cylinders never get warm enough to become crusing shape so are wearing out faster than if you were running 90 on the highway.
When you start the coach , as soon as the engine stops loping and runs smooth , its time for driving.
Be gentle till the water temp gets over 140 , then drive normally.
If your not going to use the bus it might be wise to use DD's method for taking an engine out of service.
Requires special conditoner for fuel , and different oil in engine.
Plug exhaust and intale.
FAST FRED |
Mallie (208.165.104.15)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2002 - 10:03 am: | |
Hello Phillip,, . If you are trying to charge the 2 batteries, 24v, with a 12 volt charger, it will do no good. Typically a trickle charger, charges at several volts over nominal, and never cuts back. Like a 12 volt might charge at 16v. If the battery is large enough, 2 amps would takes a long time to hurt it, but it eventually will.
The only way to safely charge a battery is to use an automatic charger. One that either cuts back to a safe float, 13.75v, or one that cuts off completely when the battery is charged, and only turn back on when the battery reaches a certain level. THERE ARE PLENTY THAT SAY AUTOMATIC THAT ARE NOT. However there are true automatic 10a chargers at about $40.
IMHO,,The best bet is to buy an inverter that has a built in charger. It will not only serve as an inverter, but as a converter too, to provide all the 12v/24 power you will need, and keep your batteries charged to the top safely.
Mallie |
Bus Student (63.209.4.196)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2002 - 12:08 pm: | |
Will it work to put one 12v charger on one battery, and another 12v charger on the other? Doing that would be bad for parallel-wired batteries, but seems like it might work for series-wired batteries. Two 12v top-up chargers may be much easier to find than a 24v charger. |
Peter Broadribb (Madbrit) (216.67.221.122)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2002 - 12:39 pm: | |
The way I did it before I invested in a 24 volt charger, was to disconnect the link wire between the batteries and then use a set of jumper cables to join the batteries in parallel and then connect a 12 volt charger as normal. The second battery ended up about 0.2 of a volt different, presumably due to the voltage loss through an 8ft length of jumper cables.
Peter. |
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