Re: A simple question - beginner stuff

[Paul G <neong@gte.net>]

>Now, if you were to buy 10 transformer isolated 12v chargers and connect
>one to each battery, ~that~ might work pretty well ...
>
>===================================================================
>                David Roden          THE VIRTUAL PD

Oh, now thats a can of worms.

Some here have tried this method. Most that have reported back disapointing
results. One trouble seems to be the most common. That is, most 12v
chargers out there (at least at reasonable prices) are really not designed
for long life. They are mostly purchased to sit on an ICE auto owners shelf
in a garage. They see only a few cycles of use, a few dead or dying car
batteries, perhaps some trolling batteries, but not thousands of cycles of
use. In an EV you have 10 or so installed. One charger may go out, but
often this will be noticed later. You drive away and the battery that
failed to recieve a charge gets reversed. Batteries fail badly when
reversed (I tried this on an old SLI battery, not pretty). You don't get
where you where going. A tow home and a new battery and charger are
installed. After a while another charger does the same, they just aren't
designed for life. This annoying cycle of not getting where you where
going, and the cost of a tow, and a new battery and charger, hit you again.
Perhaps if you chose 10 Todd DC>DC converters with a high voltage set, but
they are around $200 each! For that kind of money I'd look into something
like the smoother together with a good Russco or Zivan series charger.

There is one other concern. Are all 10 or so of your chargers pulling
together when they are working? Inexpensive 12v chargers are generally not
well calibrated to one another. An EVer really needs his batteries charged
up together. If they don't then partial charging and driving is more of a
problem. Since final charge is the slowest, partial charging is a common
way of making a trip with a destination in the middle that a bit larger
than 1/2 your EVs comfortable range.

This being said, I still like the *idea*. The implimentation is currently
the problem.

Neon