Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland
The light bulb will act as the current limiter that you are looking for, try it with the "war charger" that you spoke of and check the voltage at the battery to see for sure, but light bulbs were a common current limiter in the past, partly because they allowed you to see what was going on.
10 amps at 12v is 120 watts, so try using a 100 watt bulb and see what happens.
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If you want constant amperage a lightbulb is ideal for what you want to do.
Basically what you will have occuring is voltage division.
In my case I use a diode and a lightbulb run right off 110v mains, because 12v is so much smaller than 110v you end up with your current basically equaling the regular current of the bulb cut in half. A Kilawatt meter can allow you to change your lightbulb wattage to select the current you want and you can visually see the current on the killawat meter.
Understand however that voltage will climb until current flows so you can blow a battery with the full 110v if it doesn't want to take charge, in the case of Bad FLA's (sulphated) this is great for lithium, not so much.
Remember there is no reason you cant do this with a 12v lead acid battery and a bulb, then your current will vary a lot but your voltage will be controlled.
If you need a carbon pile battery testing thingy go to harbor freight, they have a variable 500amp unit (which is more like a 200amp but I digress) that has voltage and amperage. It costs between 25-50 depending on the sale of the week, you can use it to dial in the current you want, just understand you need to redial it often.
Like I said no right or wrong here.
Good Luck
Ryan