T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: QUAD BATTERY CHARGERS FOR A 48 VOLT BANK

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Re: [Electric Boats] Re: QUAD BATTERY CHARGERS FOR A 48 VOLT BANK

"And a caution: don't let two chargers finish one battery - the smart float gets outsmarted and boils the batteries. The smart float is actually a spiked pulse of explicit duration designed to preclude bubble formation on the lead plates. If the pulses overlap, bubbles form."

Mark:

This is sobering news. But, it makes a lot of sense. Those pulses from the two chargers could indeed be very bad for the batteries (maybe the chargers too) especially if the pulses coincide. Glad you mention this before I tried my experiment. So I'll stick with plan A which is to use the Dual Pro to charge the individual batteries in the bank to keep a better balance and the Zivan for low speed extend motoring and charging (if the batteries are balanced). But, never use them together. But, I feel if I could just get another 10 or 12 amps when motoring the system would be perfect. I'm sure something will come along in the near future as electric boating grows. In the meantime I am still very happy with what I've got.

Capt. Mike

http://biankablog.blogspot.com

--- On Mon, 5/24/10, Angela <mstafford@natca.net> wrote:

From: Angela <mstafford@natca.net>
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: QUAD BATTERY CHARGERS FOR A 48 VOLT BANK
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 1:34 AM

Mike, Mark Stafford with another charging option, and a caution.

On my 120VDC GEO, I use 10 separate 10amp smart chargers. They are "isolated", so they can remain connected. I can unplug individually, swap, borrow, replace, all pretty easily. They were about $35 USD each, and I bought two extras. I wanted replacements from the same manufacturing batch, so the voltage set points would more likely be matched. They are not marine rated - you would probably have to take them apart, spray them, then re-assemble.

http://www.batteryspace.com/leadacidsmartcharger10afor12vleadacidbatteryforworldwideuse.aspx

And a caution: don't let two chargers finish one battery - the smart float gets outsmarted and boils the batteries. The smart float is actually a spiked pulse of explicit duration designed to preclude bubble formation on the lead plates. If the pulses overlap, bubbles form.

I appreciate all your efforts and documentation.

Enjoy,
Mark Stafford

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Mike <biankablog@...> wrote:
>
> I'm about to start my third season with electric propulsion and plan to order a quad type battery charger in addition to the 48 volt Zivan NG-1 charger already installed. I'm doing this to hopefully keep the four 210 amp AGM batteries in the bank in a better balanced state when charging rather than just using the Zivan which sits across the entire bank. I'm also hoping I can use this second charger along with the Zivan to add a few more amps to the controller when motoring and hence more speed without depleting the battery bank. But, the primary purpose will be to balance the battery bank. I'm considering two quad chargers
>
> 1) Is a Dual Pro
> http://www.dualpro.com/media/pdf/PS4b%20insert.pdf
>
>
> 2) The second is a Genius
> www.geniuschargers.com/
>
> I'm leaning toward the Dual Pro unit because it seems to have more LED indicators as to the charge condition of the battery. But, any comments or any other choices in quad chargers would be welcome.
>
> Capt. Mike
> http://biankablog.blogspot.com
>
>
>