Finally, a voice of reason. --- On Sun, 6/7/09, dave <[email protected]> wrote:
From: dave <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Battery Charging with DC Power Supply To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected], "Bill Miner" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, June 7, 2009, 11:36 PM I'm not quite sure what is meant by the term 'uncontrolled source'. A regulated power supply makes a fine battery charger. Review the charging recommendations at the various battery manufacturer sites such as here: <http://www.power-sonic.com/index.php?doc_id=116> or here: <http://www.powerstream.com/SLA.htm> and you will see that constant voltage charging is one of several recommended charging methods. The charge voltage needs to be carefully regulated, which Aston and other power supplies should do, and it is certainly a very good idea to put a fuse in line with each battery to protect against the unknown. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with constant voltage float charging. At the phone co. we kept batteries on float charge for 20 to 25 years and they were instantly ready, indeed constantly on line, and fully charged. Keep the charge voltage set correctly, use proper safety precautions, follow the battery manufacturer's recommendations, and you should be fine. The recommended charge voltage varies by the type of battery. Flooded batteries require a somewhat lower voltage than do SLA or AGM types. For flooded cells the usual recommendation is about 13.5 to 13.6, but some manufacturers are lower than this, and for AGM it is usually a bit higher at 13.6 to 13.8. Check with the battery manufacturer to be sure. What you are trying to do is keep the battery fully charged but yet not burn off the water nor damage the plates. 73 de dave ab9ca/4 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
