Thread: 12 volt power efficiency.....

Originally Posted by DiscoStew

However I am finding that the Expensive 10A recharger is not performing nearly as well from the 600w Modified Sine Wave inverter as it does from a mains suppy.

What smart charger are you using? I want one for the garage (Or running from a generator) to fully charge my batteries or keep them topped up between periods of use.

Originally Posted by jik22

What smart charger are you using? I want one for the garage (Or running from a generator) to fully charge my batteries or keep them topped up between periods of use.

Federal PureCharge10 Intelligent 3-Stage Charger. Bought it from Battery World for approx $200 I think. Normally works very well from mains but does not work well from an inverter. It took about an hour to get up to 13.5v and both it and the inverter sounded like they were struggling. Perhaps it needs PureSine.

The SuperCheap one is a Callibre Two Stage Charger which will put out about 13.8v from mains and 13.5 from the inverter, which is enough to recharge albiet slowly. And for the application I described above it will have all night just to top up about 20amphours from the day's use, so slow is not a problem.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

I have posted in a number of other threads how you can use a SMALL inverter and a SMALL battery charger to top off you auxiliary battery WHILE YOU ARE CAMPED.

Given the words SMALL are uppercase, that may be the key to the problems I am having. Maybe the cheaper one is better for a reason but my web searches are yet to turn up an answer.

Originally Posted by DiscoStew

Federal PureCharge10 Intelligent 3-Stage Charger. Bought it from Battery World for approx $200 I think.

Thanks. Looks like I'll have to go to a store and have a look as their website is hopeless.

Got a genuine question for drivesafe:

What's your opinion of these emergency start packs?

I'm sure you know, Mat, and I've seen them in various junkmail catalogues, usually bright yelloy or red, with short jumper type leads etc, for $100 or less...worth the $, or forget it?

Cheers, GQ

Here are some specifications of the system that I was thinking of installing.

Jaycar 150w Modified Sine Wave $100
or
Jaycar 300w Sine Wave $200.

Jaycar 4 stage 16 amp battery charger $169.

So it was something to think about for a while

Cheers.

sorry feral but i tend to agree with the above comments. you talk about efficient charging of your aux, but the process of inverting and then regulating the power back to 12v is highly inefficient.

try looking at a dual battery system with a voltage sensor in it (it will charge your aux after and only after your main is back up to speed). they are available with a switch to safely jump start your main off the aux battery if your main does get to low to start.

I would be putting one of these on a glass matt/gel cel deep cycle battery. these batteries prefer to be charged/discharged slowly, they wont spill, and are sealed so you can place them inside the cab if you want.

The bottom line for me is that i would rather have warm beer in my fridge than be stuck in the middle of nowhere because i cant start my motor.

I hope this has helped.

(p.s. nothin stopping you putting a battery charger in your recovery pack for when your close to a 240v outlet eg caravn park etc.)

Just a thought to add to the brialliance of all the others who have responded previously...

Everyone has spoken so far only about the actual charging/dual battery management systems but an important factor to fast charging (and proper power output) is the batteries themselves!!! Yes getting an excellent battery management system is 2/3rds of the problem but the batteries will make all the difference.

Optima batteries are the bomb!!! BUT the price is quite a lot (especially for two), it is worth it though.

chosen

Originally Posted by Feral

Here are some specifications of the system that I was thinking of installing.

Jaycar 150w Modified Sine Wave $100
or
Jaycar 300w Sine Wave $200.

Jaycar 4 stage 16 amp battery charger $169.

Sorry but this is madness - there is mention of charging the battery faster than it would as a duel battery install. A 16 amp charger will charge faster than the 110amp alternator of the D2???????????
Stick to the duel systems - the marine units (about $100) WILL continue to transfer once the engine is shut down until the voltage drops below the set voltage. As an Electronics Engineer I have installed hundreds of these and never had one that took more than about 30secs to start on the second battery – if it does check the Alternator.
Another point is that all cheaper chargers will 'boil' the battery if left on continuously if there is nothing drawing, this is caused by the cheap regulators have to ‘trickle’ and allowing the voltage to creep too high.

Sorry to be so blunt.