Hi Matthew,
Lestronic chargers are typically "old school" transformer based chargers with no advanced charging profiles so they will continue to put out full bulk charging rates as long as the pack voltage stays low enough. They will do this for days, and will gladly melt down batteries that have previous damage. Likewise, my Elcon charger will run at full bulk power for 18h before having to be reset. The reset takes less than a minute, then you get another 18 hours....
Lester chargers are also available in large capacities, up to 50A of 48V charging, so it becomes a question of whether or not the generator can power the charger. If limited to 120VAC, the largest 48V Lestronic puts out 21A from a 15A 120VAC circuit.
The problem with transformer based chargers is that they don't have the throughput of the fully electronic chargers, more of the power going in is lost as heat. We can see that the Lestronic pulls about 1700W (14A (guesstimated) @ 120VAC) and produces 1150W (21A @ 54VDC). Compare that to the Elcon PFC2000+ with pulls 1650W (13.5A @ 120VAC) and puts out 1500W (28A @ 54VDC). The Elcon has the extra advantage of running much cooler. There are larger Elcons available, if one has enough generating capacity to drive one. As it is, my Elcon PFC2000+/Yamaha EF2000iS will drive my 10,000 lb sailboat at 4.3kts without any power from the battery.
Like Myles has said (many times over the years), the Lestronic works very well as a motoring power source.
Most of the EV chargers that I'm familiar with; Manzanita, Elcon, Zivan, etc. are well suited for this type of use. However on an EV, most people install interlocks to keep the drive system from coming online while charging, this is to keep people from driving away while still plugged in.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Matthew Geier <matthew@...> wrote:
>
> On 15/06/12 08:12, Michael Mccomb wrote:
> >
> >
> > i just saying that it is very unlikely the charger could put out
> > enough current to run the motor.... so if the motor is using 30amps
> > at 48v and the charger can only supply 10amps at 48v the 20amp deficit
> > will drag the battery down more slowly than without the charger but it
> > will definitely still drag it down..... if you down powered the
> > motor to consume only as many amps as the 48v charger can provide then
> > you would attain a steady state with no battery discharging
> >
>
> But also, the charger might not like it and shut down, thinking there
> is a battery fault, or it may overheat when it finds it has to run at
> full output for longer than it otherwise would if charging a battery.
>
> Really probably the only people who can answer definitively are the
> manufacture of the charger.
>
> It's quite clear from discussions here on this list that some popular
> chargers definitely will NOT like 'series hybrid' operation - either
> over heating or thinking there is a battery fault.
>
> In many 'UPS' situations it's normal for the charger to be charging
> the batteries while the batteries are under load. (90%+ of the computer
> UPS unit's out there for example). So any charger designed for such an
> 'industrial' environment will cope. But a charger designed for an EV
> won't have that sort of need. Very few EVs can be charged and used at
> the same time.
>
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