charging 12v field bat with car charger
04-01-2002, 08:15 PM
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charging 12v field bat with car charger
I have the standard Hangar 9 12v field battery. I also have a car battery charger that will go down to 2amps. My trickle charger just died on me. I used the car charger at 2 amps for 2 hours and it seemed to work fine. I know if I left it on over night the gasses would get pretty intense but woudn't it be alright for the short time I'm charging? No bad smells or anything.
Jim T.
Jim T.
04-02-2002, 12:32 AM
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charging 12v field bat with car charger
Billy, yes the automobile charger will work just fine. Most of them have a tapering charge. I find it works better than a wall wart.
I've got a rescued Sears 2 or 6 amp charger. Instead of having a meter with a bar showing % charged, mine shows the Amps being put into the battery. As the battery becomes fully charged the indicator hangs between 0 and 1 amp. I never put my Ammeter on it to see what it's trickle rate is - I just call it 'good' when the needle drops down.
I've got a rescued Sears 2 or 6 amp charger. Instead of having a meter with a bar showing % charged, mine shows the Amps being put into the battery. As the battery becomes fully charged the indicator hangs between 0 and 1 amp. I never put my Ammeter on it to see what it's trickle rate is - I just call it 'good' when the needle drops down.
04-02-2002, 04:03 AM
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charging 12v field bat with car charger
I have left this thing on a Hangar 9 field battery before and in the morning the battery was letting off some intense battery odor. That scared me (I went and bought another trickle charger). After the trickle charger died last week I thought I would try to figure the math. 500mah trickle vs. 2 amp charger. I figure I could leave it hooked up for around 4 hours safely. Thanks for the input.
04-02-2002, 07:08 AM
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charging 12v field bat with car charger
Sounds like a constant current charger. Not good for our applications... Unless of course you use a lawn & garden lead acid battery or the like.
Sorry.
Also sounds like your field batt is just about toast now.
Gel cells are not designed to be charged much over an Amp... at least that's what I read on the batts ratings. (I use Name brand R/C batts, (7 AH), Simplex, (18 AH), and Yuasa, (7 & 4 AH). I have a theory that Yuasa makes most of them anyway.)
Any comments Red?
Sorry.
Also sounds like your field batt is just about toast now.
Gel cells are not designed to be charged much over an Amp... at least that's what I read on the batts ratings. (I use Name brand R/C batts, (7 AH), Simplex, (18 AH), and Yuasa, (7 & 4 AH). I have a theory that Yuasa makes most of them anyway.)
Any comments Red?
04-02-2002, 11:19 AM
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Auto Chargers
Some (most) automotive chargers say "Automatic" on them, they will taper down to almost nothing, and will not hurt your gell cell. Sounds like yours is not automatic.
David Root
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04-02-2002, 01:20 PM
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charging 12v field bat with car charger
It would be cheaper! Prolly last longer too.
Can't tip a real lead acid battery, that is the glory of a Gell Cell. You could charge it at 2 amps though.
D R
Can't tip a real lead acid battery, that is the glory of a Gell Cell. You could charge it at 2 amps though.
D R
