battery charger - which is best? charging from a generator

[pog]

Hi,

I have a small, quiet (quieter than my engine anyway) genny for use with power tools etc.

My engine has just packed up and I was thinking of using a battery charger off the genny to keep the batteries topped up as a short-term option whilst its being fixed.

I have a budget of £50-100 and am wanting to get as much charge in as poss for a few hours charging.

Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

[Albion]

Hi,

I have a small, quiet (quieter than my engine anyway) genny for use with power tools etc.

My engine has just packed up and I was thinking of using a battery charger off the genny to keep the batteries topped up as a short-term option whilst its being fixed.

I have a budget of £50-100 and am wanting to get as much charge in as poss for a few hours charging.

Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

 

Pog, it would be very helpful if you could tell us the max output of your genny as that might limit the choices of charger.

Roger

[blackrose]

Hi,

I have a small, quiet (quieter than my engine anyway) genny for use with power tools etc.

My engine has just packed up and I was thinking of using a battery charger off the genny to keep the batteries topped up as a short-term option whilst its being fixed.

I have a budget of £50-100 and am wanting to get as much charge in as poss for a few hours charging.

Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

If you're charging from a generator you really need a decent output charger (10-20% of the a/h rating of your battery bank), otherwise you'll be charging all day to get them topped up. Unfortunately this might mean exceeding your budget, but if you consider all the money you'll be wasting on fuel by running a generator all day with a low output charger it might be worth it in the long run.

 

Pog, it would be very helpful if you could tell us the max output of your genny as that might limit the choices of charger.

Roger

Yes and also the size of your battery bank.

[churchward]

Hi,

I have a small, quiet (quieter than my engine anyway) genny for use with power tools etc.

My engine has just packed up and I was thinking of using a battery charger off the genny to keep the batteries topped up as a short-term option whilst its being fixed.

I have a budget of £50-100 and am wanting to get as much charge in as poss for a few hours charging.

Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

If you are looking for most charging amps for your money and on a budget then these folk on eBay are worth a look. I haven't got one myself but I know of a couple of people who do have a 30amp unit from them and they have been happy. It is a bit of a punt I guess since returns are going to be difficult if something did go wrong.

 

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/Batteri...d=p3911.c0.m282

[paulcatchpole]

If you are looking for most charging amps for your money and on a budget then these folk on eBay are worth a look. I haven't got one myself but I know of a couple of people who do have a 30amp unit from them and they have been happy. It is a bit of a punt I guess since returns are going to be difficult if something did go wrong.

 

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/Batteri...d=p3911.c0.m282

 

Their Red 30A chargers are identical to my Numax 30A one, bought from a UK seller for around £130.

 

I'm happy with mine at that price!

 

PC

[blackrose]

If you are looking for most charging amps for your money and on a budget then these folk on eBay are worth a look. I haven't got one myself but I know of a couple of people who do have a 30amp unit from them and they have been happy. It is a bit of a punt I guess since returns are going to be difficult if something did go wrong.

 

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/Batteri...d=p3911.c0.m282

 

I see it has Equalizer Charge: 14.6V +/- 0.2V

(I think they're just trying to say 14.4v max in a roundabout way)

 

It looks like a good value charger but 14.4v isn't great for wet lead acid batteries and may lead to sulphated plates.

Edited August 27, 2009 by blackrose

[GUMPY]

If you are looking for most charging amps for your money and on a budget then these folk on eBay are worth a look. I haven't got one myself but I know of a couple of people who do have a 30amp unit from them and they have been happy. It is a bit of a punt I guess since returns are going to be difficult if something did go wrong.

 

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/Batteri...d=p3911.c0.m282

One word of warning!

Good chargers for the money and if used only for bulk and absorbtion charging they are fine. However they suffer from the same fault that all cheap chargers suffer from if used to float batteries and that is if you then put a load on the system whilst ion float the voltage goes up to the absorption voltage and you will find that you are using a lot of distilled water. Its easy not to notice ( as I did ) and find your batteries very short of water.

A decent charger will maintain the float voltage until the drawn current rises close to or above the rating of the charger and only then go to the absorption voltage.

 

I see it has Equalizer Charge: 14.6V +/- 0.2V

(I think they're just trying to say 14.4v max in a roundabout way)

 

It looks like a good value charger but 14.4v isn't great for wet lead acid batteries and may lead to sulphated plates.

 

What they are saying is between 14.4 and 14.8 mine runs at 14.75.

[pog]

The genny is a 650w cheapo and my domestic battery bank is 330A. The genny has a 8.6A 12v trickel charger in-built which I thought to use on the starter to keep that at a reasonable level until the engine is fixed.

 

This isn't going to be my main charging method, just whilst my engine is being repaired and when the genny is on for other things like small power tools to use the 'spare' electricity generated.

 

Having looked at some old posts I'm thinking that the genny will only power a 20-30A charger?

[paulcatchpole]

What they are saying is between 14.4 and 14.8 mine runs at 14.75.

 

Yes, if you put a load on it, it'll drop into its higher rate, ours sits at 14.3v, on the Smartgauge.

 

I've not noticed any significant loss of water from the batteries though.

 

PC

[Proper Job]

The genny is a 650w cheapo and my domestic battery bank is 330A. The genny has a 8.6A 12v trickel charger in-built which I thought to use on the starter to keep that at a reasonable level until the engine is fixed.

 

This isn't going to be my main charging method, just whilst my engine is being repaired and when the genny is on for other things like small power tools to use the 'spare' electricity generated.

 

Having looked at some old posts I'm thinking that the genny will only power a 20-30A charger?

Most gennies have a 12v output. You can't charge a battery with them. The voltage needs to be in excess of 14.4v

[magnetman]

Hi,

I have a small, quiet (quieter than my engine anyway) genny for use with power tools etc.

My engine has just packed up and I was thinking of using a battery charger off the genny to keep the batteries topped up as a short-term option whilst its being fixed.

I have a budget of £50-100 and am wanting to get as much charge in as poss for a few hours charging.

Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

 

Black and Decker BDV1085 is a pretty useful charger. Multi stage and all that. Mine runs on a 650w generator and its quite durable.

 

As it is a short-term option you require it makes sense because it is not a 'fit and forget' unit and can be pressed into service elsewhere like charging car batteries or other boats, unlike a fixed type. always good to have a decent charger around even if your engine is working...

 

at £90 its just inside your budget.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Decker-BDV1085...id=p3286.c0.m14

[pirate paul]

Most of you have these modern doofers I am not convinced they will run on a cheap geni.

I dont doubt they are good on a mains supply.

 

I would go for a transformer and rectifier type with analogue ammeter ... nothing digital no leds etc.

[paulcatchpole]

Most of you have these modern doofers I am not convinced they will run on a cheap geni.

I dont doubt they are good on a mains supply.

 

I would go for a transformer and rectifier type with analogue ammeter ... nothing digital no leds etc.

 

Our (red) Numax charger as above, runs off a fairly standard Machine-mart 3kva site generator - nothing fancy and non-inverter-type. The type with a typical Honda engine.

 

The only thing that doesn't like that genny, or MSW inverter even, is the gas boiler ignition circuitry - tries to fire up and fails.

 

PC

[GUMPY]

Yes, if you put a load on it, it'll drop into its higher rate, ours sits at 14.3v, on the Smartgauge.

 

I've not noticed any significant loss of water from the batteries though.

 

PC

 

Well I had mine on float and every time the Mikuni came on it went up to 14.75 that's 2-3 hours every day

Didnt pay it much attention as my other 24V battery bank doesn't do this and uses no water if left on float 365/7/24

When I went to do a systems check just before I came away this time the batteries were dry, I know its two years since I checked them but.........

it was 2 years since I checked the others and they took no water.

 

A good charger will not raise the voltage until the battery starts to discharge when a load is on it

[blackrose]

One word of warning!

Good chargers for the money and if used only for bulk and absorbtion charging they are fine. However they suffer from the same fault that all cheap chargers suffer from if used to float batteries and that is if you then put a load on the system whilst ion float the voltage goes up to the absorption voltage and you will find that you are using a lot of distilled water. Its easy not to notice ( as I did ) and find your batteries very short of water.

A decent charger will maintain the float voltage until the drawn current rises close to or above the rating of the charger and only then go to the absorption voltage.

So is this what Sterling mean when they talk about Powerpack mode? My sterling pro-digital doesn't go to absorption until its output capcity is reached, but I'm sure Gibbo told us that Powerpak mode was made up jargon because any charger could do the same thing?

I'm inclined to think that what you say makes sense here..

 

What they are saying is between 14.4 and 14.8 mine runs at 14.75.

That may be the impression they're trying to give but I don't think the charger can do 14.6v + 0.2v and will only do 14.6v - 0.2v (14.4v), because any battery charger that does not have battery type selection would have to be pre-set at 14.4v maximum to avoid damaging some types of sealed batteries. (In a previous thread I think Paul said his charger didn't have a battery type selection feature).

Thus the potential problem of sulphation on open lead-acid batteries which could do with a 14.8v bulk charge from time to time.

Edited August 27, 2009 by blackrose

[paulcatchpole]

That may be the impression they're trying to give but I don't think the charger can do 14.6v + 0.2v and will only do 14.6v - 0.2v (14.4v), because any battery charger that does not have battery type selection would have to be pre-set at 14.4v maximum to avoid damaging some types of sealed batteries. (In a previous thread I think Paul said his charger didn't have a battery type selection feature).

Thus the potential problem of sulphation on open lead-acid batteries which could do with a 14.8v bulk charge from time to time.

 

Yup, sorry - I forgot to reply to that thread, despite taking a photo of the Smargauge with the charger running on load...

 

It doesn't have a battery-type selector, and ours runs at 14.2 to 14.4 on what it describes on its LCD as 'equalization' - i.e. when we've put a heavy load on the boat systems. I haven't got an ammeter running at the moment, but we're talking a fairly big load of 2/3 of its capacity, around 20A.

 

I (perhaps foolishly) recommended one of these to my future father in-law. He's not seeing any particular problems with it, but then again, I'm still trying to convince him he needs a SmartGauge!

 

PC

[pog]

Black and Decker BDV1085 is a pretty useful charger. Multi stage and all that. Mine runs on a 650w generator and its quite durable.

 

As it is a short-term option you require it makes sense because it is not a 'fit and forget' unit and can be pressed into service elsewhere like charging car batteries or other boats, unlike a fixed type. always good to have a decent charger around even if your engine is working...

 

at £90 its just inside your budget.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Decker-BDV1085...id=p3286.c0.m14

 

Hi Magnetman,

I had looked at this one and liked the "engine start" feature. Think will get it. I have a van as well so something that is multi purpose sounds the best way to go.

Thanks.