Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:25:40 -0800
Reply-To: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Subject: Tests with eliminator/shumacher 2/8/12A charger.
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I've been looking for an inexpensive, yet efficient
coach battery charger and shore power supply for my '82
Westy. The '94 has a built in constant voltage (13.8V)
unit. However, that is not the ideal charge cycle, and
buying one also for my '82 would cost a ridiculous $400.
So I tried to use my $49 Canadian tire eliminator 2/8/12A
charger instead. A peek inside reveals it is a re-branded
shumacher unit. (says shumacher on pcb). The fan was annoyingly
noisy, but that can be solved by replacing it with a computer
chipset fan. This is a switched supply, but unlike most its
switching frequency is in the audible range, so it also has a
bit of high pitched noise. Not too bad though.
So on to tests:
1. I already knows it charges batteries well with it's 4 cycle
program. In fact much better than the alternator, so I use it
occasionally to revive the battery capacity.
2. Now connected it to the westy coach battery, connected a
100W load. This also worked fine. Charge current settled at 8A,
which is about what the load was using. Hence power supplied
by charger and not battery when connected to shore power.
3. Connected charger, charged battery, then connected load.
Here is where it failed to do the best thing. Normally after
charging it goes into a desulfatation mode, giving short pulses
of 15-16V. this is good to condition the battery.
However, after connecting load, the battery voltage would
drop to about 12V, but the charger wouldn't switch back into
bulk charge mode by itself. I had to power cycle the charger
to get it into charging mode again.
This is a bit annoying. Anyone knows if other "automatic"
chargers behave the same?
In particular I saw this very inexpensive one, which should
be good for my AGM:
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4506
(10A smartcharger for only $32)
Anyone have experience with this model?
Anyone knows other sources for chargers or 14V constant voltage
supplies useful for campsite powering?
Thanks,
Martin
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