On-board Battery Charger

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by 2003protege

Maybe I've misunderstood the instructions, but it seems when I kill 120V power to the unit, under charging mode, it will stay in charging mode, with the cooling fan running, until I remove the 12V clamps. However, if I just attach the 12V clamps to the unpowered unit, just the trickle charge light will come on. I guess I'll just install an in-car switch to kill the 12V side..?

Actually just use the charger, a small amount of hassle is no biggy, a switch will be fine or you can install a sufficiently rated 20v diode such as a 10amp unit and a 1kohm resistor such that current can flow out of the charger but not really into it.

Good Luck
Ryan

[Piwoslaw]

As usual during the colder part of the year, I'm looking for an on-board battery charger. I'd like to ask what you think about pulse vs. transformer chargers? Does anyone have an opinion about which makers are better/worse, for example Yato and CTEK?

I'll most likely use it for 2 hours at a time while the engine heater is on, so what amperage is better - 4A or 1A? I already have a 1.5W solar trickle charger and haven't had problems with the battery yet, but it is 6 years old so I should start giving it more TLC, especially since the car is parked outside.

And can I use a charger designed for smaller batteries (<36Ah)?

[toc]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

As usual during the colder part of the year, I'm looking for an on-board battery charger. I'd like to ask what you think about pulse vs. transformer chargers? Does anyone have an opinion about which makers are better/worse, for example Yato and CTEK?

I'll most likely use it for 2 hours at a time while the engine heater is on, so what amperage is better - 4A or 1A? I already have a 1.5W solar trickle charger and haven't had problems with the battery yet, but it is 6 years old so I should start giving it more TLC, especially since the car is parked outside.

And can I use a charger designed for smaller batteries (<36Ah)?

6 years old? 2 years is what I was told by an auto electrician as 'good' - I do know much more is possible, having only this year replaced an 8 year old battery, and knowing the last battery in the Sonata was 4 years old+!

As for chargers, any charger that charges 12V batteries will be fine, it's the rate of charge that matters and whether it's smart enough to stop.

If you keep charging, and charging, and charging past the battery capacity, you'll be doing a lot of damage to the battery. If you use too small of a charger, you won't do much at all to help the battery.

[rayjay]

What is status on SR Motor project?
Haven't seen anything for a long time. Thought this would be the way to go, as the SR is rated most stable.
Not trying to look pushy, just curious.

Ray

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by toc

6 years old? 2 years is what I was told by an auto electrician as 'good' - I do know much more is possible, having only this year replaced an 8 year old battery, and knowing the last battery in the Sonata was 4 years old+!

My best battery was a pair of fleet farm 1100anp specials in the old 82 diesel suburban, it took 10 years before they started getting too weak for the rig. Odd part was the $38 fleet farm special desert dog tires on that truck started to fail at roughly the same time (tread fell off)
I still have one battery oddly in my subaru, its 20 years old now but puts out the 30amps needed to crank the subaru but not much else.

My father still has the one desert dog tire on his old wood trailer, it too is 20 years old, still seems fine on his rarely used trailer.

I think luck combined with the way the batteries are charged/ discharged explains all this.