Re: simple charger

["Peter VanDerWal" <peterv@peoplepc.com>]

You'll have to baby-sit it, but with flooded batteries this will work fine.
There were some battery chargers sold in the past that weren't even that
sophisticated.
And it will probably be pretty slow unless you have a really big variac.

You'll need to monitor charging current fairly frequently during the first
part of charge and keep turning up the variac, then at the end of charge
you'll need to keep an eye on the voltage and keep turning down the variac
until the current tapers off to 1 or 2 amps depending on how old the
batteries are.

FWIW there are some folks on the list that use what's called a "Bad Boy"
charger that is exactly what you have described...only without the variac.
They add and remove extension cords to vary the charge current.  Of course
it works best with about a 144V pack, you need a LOT of extension cords for
packs of 120V or less.


> The charger in my car has failed and one of the technicians at work has
> suggested a variac and rectifier can be used to charge the batteries. Is
> such a crude device likely to damage the batteries? They are 8V Trojans
>
> Jeff Owen
> Food Science Australia
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