Battery charger

[huntergatherer]

Hello all

Any recommendations for a 12 volt battery charger around £500

I will be using a honda eu20i generator to run it and charging 1 x 110ah and 2 x 220 ah

This one on ebay has caught my eye

STERLING 'ULTIMATE' BATTERY CHARGER 'ProChargeU' 12v 60amp

?

£440 delivered on ebay .....

[Phil Ambrose]

Google Electroquest, I have used one for over 10 years and many others on CWDF have them too.

Phil

[bottle]

I expect you have read this http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/chargesize.html

[blackrose]

Hello all

Any recommendations for a 12 volt battery charger around £500

I will be using a honda eu20i generator to run it and charging 1 x 110ah and 2 x 220 ah

This one on ebay has caught my eye

STERLING 'ULTIMATE' BATTERY CHARGER 'ProChargeU' 12v 60amp

 

£440 delivered on ebay .....

 

That's the right sort of output charger for running off a generator to reduce charging time. Assuming your 110 ah battery is the start battery then it might be an idea just to charge the domestics from the generator and charge all 3 constantly if/when you're on shore power. 440 ah / 60 = about 13.6% so you could go bigger if you want, but it's nice to have a spare bit of AC capacity to run mains appliances while you're charging. With a 60 amp charger you will have about 500w in reserve from your generator (assuming 1600w rated). The calculation for the AC power consumption of a 12v charger is output x volts x 1.15 for inefficiencies. In the case of that Sterling charger it's 60 amps x 14.8v (max volts for wet lead/acid batts) x 1.15 = about 1 kw.

Edited April 7, 2014 by blackrose

[raymondh]

Hi,

Alternative

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victron-Energy-CC-12-60-Battery-Charger-/251278999618?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item3a81654042

 

Ray

Hi,

Alternative

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victron-Energy-CC-12-60-Battery-Charger-/251278999618?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item3a81654042

 

Ray

Even cheaper

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victron-Centaur-12V-60A-Battery-Charger-/251475101693?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item3a8d1587fd

Ray

[huntergatherer]

Thanks for the advice all

.-)

[MunkeyBoy]

Google Electroquest, I have used one for over 10 years and many others on CWDF have them too.

Phil

What one do you have Phil as I need a charger but dont have deep pockets?

thanks.

[Staarek]

http://www.caravantechnology.com/Leisure-Battery-Chargers-C15.aspx

 

I've used both 30 & 60 amp Premium chargers and I was very happy with them. These are also very reasonably priced.

[Phil Ambrose]

What one do you have Phil as I need a charger but dont have deep pockets?

thanks.

Mine is 30amp with twin output so takes care of domestics and starter

Phil

ETA remember to take into account what power supply is available at your marina, often 16amp but can be as low as 4amp

Edited April 9, 2014 by Phil Ambrose

[MtB]

My approach is to buy a set of leisure batteries and charge them haphazardly until they are f***ed, then buy another set.

 

Seems a lot simpler and even cheaper than frying my brian trying to get a grip on all these megabucks chargers and time consuming charging regimes.

 

 

MtB

[Phil Ambrose]

My approach is to buy a set of leisure batteries and charge them haphazardly until they are f***ed, then buy another set.

 

Seems a lot simpler and even cheaper than frying my brian trying to get a grip on all these megabucks chargers and time consuming charging regimes.

 

 

MtB

Mike reckon your Brian is safe enough. There ia a certain amount of truth in what you say, go for the middle ground every time. Plus some people are quite anal about batteries

Phil

[MtB]

Mike reckon your Brian is safe enough. There ia a certain amount of truth in what you say, go for the middle ground every time. Plus some people are quite anal about batteries

Phil

 

Quite anal?

 

Understatement of the year so far I rekkun, haha!!

 

 

MtB

[Staarek]

My approach is to buy a set of leisure batteries and charge them haphazardly until they are f***ed, then buy another set.

 

Seems a lot simpler and even cheaper than frying my brian trying to get a grip on all these megabucks chargers and time consuming charging regimes.

 

 

MtB

 

I totally agree. My take is to either go for cheap batteries and then change them every season or very good ones (and expensive) look after them (if you've got means obviously). I personally prefer the second method as I'm not very keen on shifting 300kg+ of batteries out of the boat & bringing 300kg+ in every season.

[by'eck]

 

I totally agree. My take is to either go for cheap batteries and then change them every season or very good ones (and expensive) look after them (if you've got means obviously). I personally prefer the second method as I'm not very keen on shifting 300kg+ of batteries out of the boat & bringing 300kg+ in every season.

 

Or a third method - buy cheap leisure batteries and look after them - win win - four years or more useful life is totally realistic.

[Phil Ambrose]

 

Or a third method - buy cheap leisure batteries and look after them - win win - four years or more useful life is totally realistic.

To be honest this more or less my approach, admit that I look on batteries as consumables.

Phil

[MunkeyBoy]

Excuse my ignorance but if I dont have hook up would there be any point in buying a charger?

Would another alternator not be a way of charging?

thanks.

[by'eck]

Excuse my ignorance but if I dont have hook up would there be any point in buying a charger?

Would another alternator not be a way of charging?

thanks.

 

As a very minimum a mains charger may be a means of getting you out of trouble, powered by temporary shore power or a generator.

 

If your present alternator charging facilities are not adequate for battery use/capacity then they need upgrading maybe as a priority, if moored permanently off grid with no generator.

[MunkeyBoy]

 

As a very minimum a mains charger may be a means of getting you out of trouble, powered by temporary shore power or a generator.

 

If your present alternator charging facilities are not adequate for battery use/capacity then they need upgrading maybe as a priority, if moored permanently off grid with no generator.

Thanks for the reply.

Thats were my thoughts are, where do I spend my money? on a bigger output alternator or a charger and generator for example.

[Phil Ambrose]

Thanks for the reply.

Thats were my thoughts are, where do I spend my money? on a bigger output alternator or a charger and generator for example.

That is your decision, in your position 0i would upgrade alternator and invest in a cheapo genny and charger, that way you have it covered belt and braces. I found many years ago that having a plan B is always a good idea for essentials. More than one way of heating, more than one way of producing power.

Once sorted you can then look at PV array.

Phil

[Ex- Member]

Having fried numerous cheap standard leisure batteries, this time around we went for a better quality trojan battery US2200 I check the water level monthly and the Outback charger undertakes an equalisation every month for 2 to three hours. The topping up is what you should do to any battery, so there's hardly and additional maintenance with better quality batteries which will probably last twice as long, but not cost twice as much.

 

With ref to mains battery chargers, we have a 20a Sterling charger. We have quite a hight power use but found that 20a sufficed ok when we were hooked up to mains as we rarely used in excess of 20a. When we went on the water I thought that upgrading to a hire amperage unit would be required, however quite the opposite actually works fine.

 

We still use that same 20a charger run from a small Honda EU10i

 

We generally ran the Honda early evening through the winter months. If we had a 50/60amp charger the Honda would cope but would probably only run the charger not much else if batteries were low. With the 20a charger, the Honda not only charges the batteries at 20a (and a few more amps from the 12v charge lead) but runs all the 240v equipment we're running on board. So IMO it really seems little point in going for big expensive chargers when much of the time the batteries aren't depleted low enough to accept 50/60a anyway. We noticed by the end of daylight day the batteries rarely would accept more than 30a having been bulk charged in the morning and then charged through the day by solar even on overcast days.

 

IMO I see little point in buying a 2kw generator unless you require 2kw of power for a specific piece of equipment. Our old 2.6 Kipor was heavy & thirsty although not too over loud still awkward. A smaller generator is a lot easier to handle being light and portable and generally quieter even if not a Honda.

[blackrose]

That is your decision, in your position 0i would upgrade alternator and invest in a cheapo genny and charger, that way you have it covered belt and braces. I found many years ago that having a plan B is always a good idea for essentials. More than one way of heating, more than one way of producing power.

Once sorted you can then look at PV array.

Phil

 

I wouldn't recommend buying a cheapo generator, even for occasional use. They are horrible noisy things that nobody will appreciate you running and you'll find difficult to live with yourself. Either buy a decent one or don't buy one at all.

[blackrose]

 

IMO I see little point in buying a 2kw generator unless you require 2kw of power for a specific piece of equipment. Our old 2.6 Kipor was heavy & thirsty although not too over loud still awkward. A smaller generator is a lot easier to handle being light and portable and generally quieter even if not a Honda.

 

A 2kw generator won't give you 2kw of power for very long - a Honda EU20i is only 1.6kw rated load (continuous), but one benefit of a bigger generator is that you can run other mains appliances at the same time as running a battery charger. I run a washing machine from my generator at the same time as a charging the batteries.

In generall small generators are not more fuel efficient or quieter than big generators at the same power output. I don't know about the Kippors but if we take Honda generators as an example then if anything it’s the opposite.

Have a look at the specs:

Honda EU10i Petrol Generator:

Fuel tank capacity: 2.3 Ltrs

Running time: 8.3 hours @ 1/4 load

Noise output: 52dB(a) at 7m @ 1/4 load

Honda EU20i Petrol Generator:

Fuel tank capacity: Fuel tank capacity: 4.1 Ltrs

Running time: 10.5 hours @ 1/4 load

Noise output: 52dB(a) at 7m @ 1/4 load

The EU10 has 56% fuel capacity and will run for 79% of the running time of the EU20. However, ¼ load of the EU10 is only 250w while ¼ load of the EU20 is 500w, so at 500w load the EU10 would only run for 4.15 hours on a full tank. Conversely if we halve the load of the EU20 to 250w then it would run for 5.25 hours. Of course these calculations assume the power load : fuel consumption ratio correlation is linear, which is doubtful, but whichever way you work the Honda figures available, the bigger generator isn’t more thirsty (or noisy). It actually seems to be the opposite.

http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/Honda_Generators.htm

Edited April 12, 2014 by blackrose

[Phil Ambrose]

 

I wouldn't recommend buying a cheapo generator, even for occasional use. They are horrible noisy things that nobody will appreciate you running and you'll find difficult to live with yourself. Either buy a decent one or don't buy one at all.

Munkeyboy said he has not got deep pockets, I suggested he upgrade his alternator and buy a cheapo genny to power a battery charger as a belt to go with the braces. A quality genny may be too rich for his pocket, I agree with your comments about genny however a cheapo may well get him out of a hole.

Phil

[nb Innisfree]

I reckon for most of the time it's charging batts a 2kva inverter genny runs quieter than an equivalent 1kva due to it running slower at reduced loads.