T&T: 36 volt battery charger

[Peter Bennett]

I think that Mike has to do a bit of analysis of the problem before he
goes out to buy another batch of inadequate chargers.

At first guess, the 16 amp charger he had should be sufficient to
charge a 225 AH battery bank - but if it turns out that he's drawing
20 amps from that bank while he's trying to charge it, it won't work!

He should do an "energy budget" to determine the average current he is
using over 24 hours, then select a charger (or group of chargers) that
can deliver somewhat more than that current.


Sunday, December 21, 2008, 6:07:00 PM, Steven wrote:

>>I need your help.. I desperately need a smart high amp 36 volt
>>AGM battery charger to charge three 12 volt 4-D batteries ..

SD> You should buy three 12 volt chargers of your choice and connect each 
SD> one separately to a battery in your bank.  In the electric vehicle 
SD> community, this is called "bank charging" and is actually a pretty 
SD> good idea, since it keeps series-connected batteries equalized.  The 
SD> electric car guys actually have huge banks of cheap chargers to keep 
SD> their cars going. (Google "bank charging site:visforvoltage.org" for 
SD> some interesting reading.)

SD> You can buy commodity 30 amp smart chargers to do your job.

SD> Best,

SD> Steve


-- 
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI    Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Ennos 31 "Honeycomb"
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter 
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca