Rates of charging

[blackrose]

I've got a 30amp charger to charge 405a/h domestic bank while on shore power. I'm thinking of buying a the same brand of 40amp charger to run off my generator when I'm cruising. Without going into whether the generator can run the chargers ('cos I know it can!), would the combined 70amps which achieves 17.28% (of 405a/h) be a good figure to charge at or is it too high? Would I be better off buying another 30 amp charger so that the combined 60amp charging achieves a more reasonable 14.8%? The difference between the two setups is 2.47% and £40.

 

Edited to say: If I ever decided to add more batteries to the domestic bank the bigger charger might be a better option...

Edited September 5, 2007 by blackrose

[chris w]

I've got a 30amp charger to charge 405a/h domestic bank while on shore power. I'm thinking of buying a the same brand of 40amp charger to run off my generator when I'm cruising. Without going into whether the generator can run the chargers ('cos I know it can!), would the combined 70amps which achieves 17.28% (of 405a/h) be a good figure to charge at or is it too high? Would I be better off buying another 30 amp charger so that the combined 60amp charging achieves a more reasonable 14.8%? The difference between the two setups is 2.47% and £40.

 

Edited to say: If I ever decided to add more batteries to the domestic bank the bigger charger might be a better option...

 

Mike

 

Go for the bigger option. You will only get the high current for a short period when the batteries are really down (and then they need a high charge). For most of the time it will be a much lower current anyway. And, as you say, if you add another battery to the bank..............

 

Chris

[blackrose]

Mike

 

Go for the bigger option. You will only get the high current for a short period when the batteries are really down (and then they need a high charge). For most of the time it will be a much lower current anyway. And, as you say, if you add another battery to the bank..............

 

Chris

 

Thanks - I take it that a 50 amp charger would be too much? That's 19.75% when combined with my existing 30amp charger (40amp is 17.28% when combined.) The 50amp costs £69 more than the 40amp.

Edited September 5, 2007 by blackrose

[Gibbo]

I've got a 30amp charger to charge 405a/h domestic bank while on shore power. I'm thinking of buying a the same brand of 40amp charger to run off my generator when I'm cruising. Without going into whether the generator can run the chargers ('cos I know it can!), would the combined 70amps which achieves 17.28% (of 405a/h) be a good figure to charge at or is it too high? Would I be better off buying another 30 amp charger so that the combined 60amp charging achieves a more reasonable 14.8%? The difference between the two setups is 2.47% and £40.

 

Edited to say: If I ever decided to add more batteries to the domestic bank the bigger charger might be a better option...

 

You'll hear some people say things like "10% of the battery capacity" or some other (random) number pulled out of their underpants.

 

Here's the full story......

 

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/chargesize.html

 

Gibbo

[ChrisPy]

You'll hear some people say things like "10% of the battery capacity" or some other (random) number pulled out of their underpants.

I thought it was a rule of thumb, not a rule of bum ...................

[blackrose]

You'll hear some people say things like "10% of the battery capacity" or some other (random) number pulled out of their underpants.

 

Here's the full story......

 

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/chargesize.html

 

Gibbo

 

Thanks...

 

35 - 50%! Blimey!