will 12v 15A kill my power panel?
01-05-2007, 10:31 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: York,
PA
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
will 12v 15A kill my power panel?
Just like the title says...
Over the holiday break i picked up a tackle box that was big enough that if done right i could make my toolbox and field box one. Anyway halfway though it, something dawned on me and i need to see if this will be back and i should scrap this idea or not. What my original intent was to do is run two 12v 7.5amp lead battery packs like "we all have" and run them in parallel so its still 12v but it doubles the amperage and therefore should in last longer... I make the dual pack and wired it very well, its all done and its a nice secure and well protected little design.
The problem that i just realized i might run into is with my power panel, which happens to be a Hobbico Accu-Glo MKII ... its the nice one from Tower thats like $30.. it has a place for adjusting glow heat, charging glow starter, fuel pump (fill/empty), and a starter jack. The thing that caught my attention as i was mounting it in my box was the fuse right on the front of it that says 7.5A Could i just change that to a 15 or 16A fuse and it still work, or would the internal workings/wiring of my power panel melt and things like charging my glow starter running my starter or fuel pump be thrown off? Ohh and what about running my triton peak battery charger on the dual battery setup i have? would it hurt anything?
If anyone could give me their thoughts on this that would be great because i thought i had a great idea and a fun project, but now i think I may have to just settle for one battery
Thanks
Over the holiday break i picked up a tackle box that was big enough that if done right i could make my toolbox and field box one. Anyway halfway though it, something dawned on me and i need to see if this will be back and i should scrap this idea or not. What my original intent was to do is run two 12v 7.5amp lead battery packs like "we all have" and run them in parallel so its still 12v but it doubles the amperage and therefore should in last longer... I make the dual pack and wired it very well, its all done and its a nice secure and well protected little design.
The problem that i just realized i might run into is with my power panel, which happens to be a Hobbico Accu-Glo MKII ... its the nice one from Tower thats like $30.. it has a place for adjusting glow heat, charging glow starter, fuel pump (fill/empty), and a starter jack. The thing that caught my attention as i was mounting it in my box was the fuse right on the front of it that says 7.5A Could i just change that to a 15 or 16A fuse and it still work, or would the internal workings/wiring of my power panel melt and things like charging my glow starter running my starter or fuel pump be thrown off? Ohh and what about running my triton peak battery charger on the dual battery setup i have? would it hurt anything?
If anyone could give me their thoughts on this that would be great because i thought i had a great idea and a fun project, but now i think I may have to just settle for one battery
Thanks
01-05-2007, 11:16 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Edgewood,
TX
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: will 12v 15A kill my power panel?
You can use any battery as long as you have 12 volts, don't change the fuse you'll be asking for trouble. The power panel will only draw as much amperage as it is loaded with, doesn't matter what the battery amperage rating is. I use an 80amp deep cycle battery from my camper to charge my batteries at home because it is just sitting in the garage. But make sure you wire it for 12 volts and not in series with 24v. And if you put a larger fuse in it, if you short it out or wire it backwards the fuse won't blow and you're likely to burn it up. I did that out of "necessity". I was at the flying field and blew the fuse in my quick charger hooking it up backwards so I replaced it with the only fuse I had that would fit, I never replaced that fuse and the next time I hooked it up backwards....smoke!
Anyway, short answer, make sure you have 12 volts and you should be gold.
I don't know how you charge your 12 volts but where I work we use lots of the SLA batteries that are just bigger versions of the batteries people use in there flight box and I've looked into using more than one battery for my camper. The battery strings for our stuff is wired in series, but the camper is parallel, either way if one of the batteries is less than good it will diminish the good battery. In other words, say for instance you leave the batteries tied together even while charging, if one of the batteries has a bad cell it can draw more of the charge current which causes the battery to get hotter making the battery worse...then that battery may actually draw juice from the other battery equalizing the batteries which could drop the battery below the optimum voltage causing cells to go bad in that battery...shortening the life of both batteries. We usually replace an entire "string" when we replace one. If your batteries are close to the same age and have been kept properly...it probably wouldn't be significant. Sorry that's not very clear, but I'm to tired to reword it, hope it helps a little.
Anyway, short answer, make sure you have 12 volts and you should be gold.
I don't know how you charge your 12 volts but where I work we use lots of the SLA batteries that are just bigger versions of the batteries people use in there flight box and I've looked into using more than one battery for my camper. The battery strings for our stuff is wired in series, but the camper is parallel, either way if one of the batteries is less than good it will diminish the good battery. In other words, say for instance you leave the batteries tied together even while charging, if one of the batteries has a bad cell it can draw more of the charge current which causes the battery to get hotter making the battery worse...then that battery may actually draw juice from the other battery equalizing the batteries which could drop the battery below the optimum voltage causing cells to go bad in that battery...shortening the life of both batteries. We usually replace an entire "string" when we replace one. If your batteries are close to the same age and have been kept properly...it probably wouldn't be significant. Sorry that's not very clear, but I'm to tired to reword it, hope it helps a little.
01-05-2007, 11:22 PM
#3
My Feedback: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Branchburg,
NJ
Posts: 266
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: will 12v 15A kill my power panel?
ShuckyD
Keep the original fuse in the panel, you are asking for trouble if you increase it. It doesnt matter if you have 7, 15 or 1000 amphr attached, the system will only draw what it needs. Even with one 12 volt 7.5 amphour battery there is more than enough potential to blow the fuse, especially if something were to short out.
As far as charging, a gel cell needs to charge via consant voltage not constant current. I would read the manual on your charger to see if will charge gel cells.
I use one 7.5 amp hour battery and never have any loss of power even on a busy day at the field. I also use a home built constant voltage charger which is plugged into my battery 24x7 so I always have peak power. costs about $20 and an hour to make.
Dave
Keep the original fuse in the panel, you are asking for trouble if you increase it. It doesnt matter if you have 7, 15 or 1000 amphr attached, the system will only draw what it needs. Even with one 12 volt 7.5 amphour battery there is more than enough potential to blow the fuse, especially if something were to short out.
As far as charging, a gel cell needs to charge via consant voltage not constant current. I would read the manual on your charger to see if will charge gel cells.
I use one 7.5 amp hour battery and never have any loss of power even on a busy day at the field. I also use a home built constant voltage charger which is plugged into my battery 24x7 so I always have peak power. costs about $20 and an hour to make.
Dave
01-06-2007, 09:54 AM
#4
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: York,
PA
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: will 12v 15A kill my power panel?
this is a picture of how i have the battery wired, im pretty sure its 12v, what do you guys think?
Thats good to know that it wont hurt it if u run the duel-batteries.. now thinking back i just wanted more power, but i wonder if i can do away with the extra one and it will just cause me less problems (ohh and space
) Im sure it will easily last me a busy weekend at the field, but they do start to go when doing alot of charging/discharging with the triton among other things...
what would your suggestions be. this link is a link to my tackle box that im using. My goal was to use the top right container area to store the field stuff (starter, fuel pump, etc) and then below it i have a little more room than i need to have those dual batteries in it, in the top of the box when you open the lid i was gonna have the panel at a slight angle (make a wood mount and fuel proof it) right in the back center of the box, then I would have a couple holes to route the wire down to where it needed to be.. the rest of the drawers and top left area should be enough for my stuff.. opinions?
http://www.planomolding.com/content/...=33&partid=175
Thats good to know that it wont hurt it if u run the duel-batteries.. now thinking back i just wanted more power, but i wonder if i can do away with the extra one and it will just cause me less problems (ohh and space
) Im sure it will easily last me a busy weekend at the field, but they do start to go when doing alot of charging/discharging with the triton among other things... what would your suggestions be. this link is a link to my tackle box that im using. My goal was to use the top right container area to store the field stuff (starter, fuel pump, etc) and then below it i have a little more room than i need to have those dual batteries in it, in the top of the box when you open the lid i was gonna have the panel at a slight angle (make a wood mount and fuel proof it) right in the back center of the box, then I would have a couple holes to route the wire down to where it needed to be.. the rest of the drawers and top left area should be enough for my stuff.. opinions?
http://www.planomolding.com/content/...=33&partid=175
