Join the Solar Power Revolution! » rv solar panel battery charger » I have to ask ???rv solar panel battery charger

I have to ask ???rv solar panel battery charger

Question:

Doing some work on my boat planning on puting back in the water sometime late Sept or Oct depending upon hurricane season.  I don’t have a dedicated batery.

rv solar panel battery charger

I keep a gell batery in my truck and use that in the boat when out overnight. I had the bright idea to take an extension cord and my battery charger. use the batery charger clips to attach to the clips on my boat system. Running the lights fan and stuff off the batery charger.  It has a 10V charging switch. Other than having to make sure the clips don’t touch and short.  And never leave running un-attended.  Is there anything I need to be concerned about?

rv solar panel battery charger

The boat is on a trailer no where near salt water. Due to summer heat as much as possible I am working at night.

I wouldn’t. The output of a battery charger is unfiltered, plus the voltage will likely be fairly high with no loading.

rv solar panel battery charger

It would be a lot wiser to pick up some kind of battery, even a “junkyard” one, as long it has a bit of kick left. You want it mostly as a “filter”.

rv solar panel battery charger

Response:

A battery charger puts out about 20% more than the battery so that it can push it into the battery.  To run your system on the charger will mean it is running over-voltage which may damage the electrical system.

rv solar panel battery charger

Doing some work on my boat planning on puting back in the water sometime late Sept or Oct depending upon hurricane season.  I don’t have a dedicated batery.  I keep a gell batery in my truck and use that in the boat when out overnight. I had the bright idea to take an extension cord and my battery charger. use the batery charger clips to attach to the clips on my boat system. Running the lights fan and stuff off the batery charger.

rv solar panel battery charger

It has a 10V charging switch. Other than having to make sure the clips don’t touch and short.  And never leave running un-attended.  Is there anything I need to be concerned about?  The boat is on a trailer no where near salt water. Due to summer heat as much as possible I am working at night.

rv solar panel battery charger

Response:

Nice web site,  compared to your boat my electical system is primitive.

rv solar panel battery charger

I have a 6 switch 10 amp fuses per switch running 1 dual bulb cabin light two fans. I have a dc powered florecent light that has battery clips that is connected to the batery charger as well.  I don’t run the charger without something to draw the current. So far no problems or blown fuses.  Nothing is connected direct everything goes through some kind of fuse. Never thought about finding a junker battery.  WHat do you mean by filter???

rv solar panel battery charger

Doing some work on my boat planning on puting back in the water sometime late Sept or Oct depending upon hurricane season.  I don’t have a dedicated batery.  I keep a gell batery in my truck and use that in the boat when out overnight. I had the bright idea to take an extension cord and my battery charger. use the batery charger clips to attach to the clips on my boat system. Running the lights fan and stuff off the batery charger.  It has a 10V charging switch. Other than having to make sure the clips don’t touch and short.  And never leave running un-attended.

rv solar panel battery charger

Is there anything I need to be concerned about?  The boat is on a trailer no where near salt water. Due to summer heat as much as possible I am working at night. I wouldn’t. The output of a battery charger is unfiltered, plus the voltage will likely be fairly high with no loading. It would be a lot wiser to pick up some kind of battery, even a “junkyard” one, as long it has a bit of kick left.

Response:

Nice web site,  compared to your boat my electical system is primitive.  I have a 6 switch 10 amp fuses per switch running 1 dual bulb cabin light two fans. I have a dc powered florecent light that has battery clips that is connected to the batery charger as well.  I don’t run the charger without something to draw the current. So far no problems or blown fuses.  Nothing is connected direct everything goes through some kind of fuse. Never thought about finding a junker battery.  WHat do you mean by filter???

I’ll explain further, and why I said “I wouldn’t” instead of “don’t do it”. I should have made it clearer, shame on me :-) Nominally, a 12 volt battery really means 12.6 volts as a median. Usually 11 volts is considered the discharged point. 13.8 volts is the nominal for charging, although at could be 14.1 volts or even 15 volts. To put it simply, a “12 volt system” could really be anywhere from 11 volts to 15 volts. Now, please, no nitpickers need apply; this is general info about the normal range of things. A battery charger could have a much higher open-circuit output voltage.

rv solar panel battery charger

It could be anywhere from 15 volts to 20 volts, even as much as 30 volts. Now the chances are it’s not on the higher end, but… The voltage will come down with the load of charging the battery. Running just a light or fan, say about an amp, and it is possible the voltage may not drop that much. Charger A may do fine, charger B may blow the bulb and charger C may not blow the bulb, but shorten it’s life by 90% — you just don’t know. That’s the problem, if your light is getting 16 volts say, all may seem fine, but that bulb will now last maybe four or five hours. DC motors, such as in your fans, really don’t have a voltage rating and can be run at twice or even three times the “rated” voltage, if the current is kept down. With the motor loading from the fan blades, it’s possible you’re overheating the motor and shortening the life. To put it simply, _IF_ the charger with such a light load is in fact too high a voltage, the fuses won’t blow (fuses work by the current going through them, not voltage), but you could be unknowingly “stressing” the components and shortening their life considerably. This is especially true for the fluorescent light because it has electronics in it — a sort of mini inverter. Now we get to the “filter” part, which also is not good for the fluorescent. A battery charger has a transformer to lower the voltage to let’s say 15 volts no load. This is 15 volts AC. Then that AC is rectified to pulsating DC. This means that 120 times a second the voltage goes from 0 to 15 volts and back down to 0. We have 60 Hz (cycles per second) AC power. Most chargers use a “full wave” rectifier, so the output is at twice the input cycles per second. It’s a smooth transition, like turning the volume control up and down on your radio, but in effect you’re hitting your lights, fan motors and the electronics in your fluorescent light with rapid on/off power. Another point is that 15 volts is an RMS measurement — Root Mean Square which is a kind of average. The actual peak voltage may be 20 or more. Having a battery connected filters, or smooths out the power to give pure DC. Well, close to pure, there will be a very small amount of “ripple”. You can do the same thing by connecting a large capacitor, but that adds problems of its own. The capacitor will charge up to the peak voltage. The answer to using a charger without a battery is to connect a large capacitor and add voltage regulator circuitry…. Well now, we’ve just made a regulated power supply! HA! You could in fact pick up a 12-volt (really 13.8 volt) regulated power supply from Radio Shack or wherever and use that. But then you might as well buy a new battery for the boat and not have to swap from your truck. Add in an inexpensive 4-watt solar panel and it’ll charge up your battery during the week. I did that on a Morgan 27 I had. It kept the battery up from the bilge pump and took a few days to recharge after the weekend outing use of radio, lights, etc. The short answer is using a battery charger for power without a battery connected _could_ cause damage, hidden or apparent. Since you’re doing it, you _may_ be okay or not. Thanks for the good words re the web site. I don’t think I’d use “primitive” for your electrical system, I’d go for “KISS” and “I wish!”

rv solar panel battery charger

This has made me think back. I bought a brand new SC-22 in 1972. I’m in South Louisiana and I picked it up from the factory in Shreveport. Due to their mixup on which boat was which, they notified me to pick up a day early. They were nice and finished the boat while I watched; really very interesting. In ‘74, my new wife and I spent 6 months living aboard and cruising. It was cramped to be sure, but it was wonderful. ‘Final Step’ is like a palace by comparison! We’re hoping to set sail in another couple months or so. I see you’re in Pensacola. We’re planning to visit friends there before heading for the Bahamas and other places. Maybe we can get in touch and get together? It would be neat for Judy and I to see your boat, probably bring back all kinds of memories :-) Maybe we can go for a couple of sails, on ours and yours? Reading back over that, I _like_ all those “maybes” :-) Right now my life is so structured with work, it’s great to comtemplate the near retired future where our days are filled with maybes — maybe we’ll up anchor today, maybe not; maybe we’ll do some touch up painting, maybe just lie around; maybe…..

rv solar panel battery charger

Doing some work on my boat planning on puting back in the water sometime late Sept or Oct depending upon hurricane season.  I don’t have a dedicated batery.  I keep a gell batery in my truck and use that in the boat when out overnight. I had the bright idea to take an extension cord and my battery charger. use the batery charger clips to attach to the clips on my boat system. Running the lights fan and stuff off the batery charger.  It has a 10V charging switch. Other than having to make sure the clips don’t touch and short.  And never leave running un-attended.  Is there anything I need to be concerned about?  The boat is on a trailer no where near salt water. Due to summer heat as much as possible I am working at night. I wouldn’t. The output of a battery charger is unfiltered, plus the voltage will likely be fairly high with no loading. It would be a lot wiser to pick up some kind of battery, even a “junkyard” one, as long it has a bit of kick left. You want it mostly as a “filter”.

rv solar panel battery charger

Response:

Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me.  I probably need to find a junker battery. I have the Eclipse version of the 22′  If ya’ll end up down this way give me a buzz.  I never pass up an opportunity to crew on a bigger boat. By October things cool down a bit.  With a bit of luck I will have all my maintinance projects completed by then

rv solar panel battery charger

Response:

Doing some work on my boat planning on puting back in the water sometime late Sept or Oct depending upon hurricane season.  I don’t have a dedicated batery.  I keep a gell batery in my truck and use that in the boat when out overnight. I had the bright idea to take an extension cord and my battery charger. use the batery charger clips to attach to the clips on my boat system. Running the lights fan and stuff off the batery charger.  It has a 10V charging switch. Other than having to make sure the clips don’t touch and short.  And never leave running un-attended.  Is there anything I need to be concerned about?  The boat is on a trailer no where near salt water. Due to summer heat as much as possible I am working at night.

rv solar panel battery charger

Response:

Related Posts

Category Categories: rv solar panel battery charger | Comments No Comments »

Leave a Reply