Date:         Sat, 11 Mar 2006 18:26:09 -0500
Reply-To:     Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject:      Re: Dual battery chargers
Comments: To: Jeffrey Vickers <jeff@VICKERSDESIGN.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <704A13FE-68D6-4A55-8AB3-1FD2C6DA1EEF@vickersdesign.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

These chargers are full, 3 stage charges. They will provide bulk,
absorption and float. They are designed to be connected and turned on
all the time. There is a cost penalty here for the dual output and the
harsh environment construction. If anything, the 5 amp output is too
small to be useful for anything more than maintaining a battery or
charging if you leave it connected all week. If you have a 65 amp hour
battery, using one 5 amp output of this charger will require 14 hours
for a full charge. This charger is designed so the two outputs can be
combined. However, at this point, just get a single output charger.

This is where smart charge separators or combiners come in handy. You
connect the charger to the auxiliary battery. As the battery is
charging, the combiner will sense the voltage increase and connect the
main battery now allowing both to be charged. It works the same when the
main battery is charged from the engine alternator to charge the
auxiliary battery.

Dennis



-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Jeffrey Vickers
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 2:07 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Dual battery chargers

Marinco sells a 110V battery charger that will charge two batteries
at once--two 5 amp outputs. (http://www.marinco.com/scpt/ProdPage.php?
loadItem=2610-230-B_Guest%20Industrial) My Westy mostly sits during
the week and I normally keep a small 1.25 amp charger attached to it
and that seems to work fine. I'm going to be adding a aux battery
soon and was thinking about one of these dual battery 110V chargers
set up to charge both. I would plug it into the fridge 110 outlet
under the sink. Question is: is 5 amps too much if I keep it plugged
in for 4 or 5 days at a time?

Thanks.

Jeff