AnswerID: 237587 Submitted: Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 06:19
Outa Bounds
replied:
Thanks for all the advice everyone!
I will contact exide and find out the preferred charge figures I think it's 14.6 volts which I read on the
forum last night. I will confirm and then look for a charger that closest matches those needs. At least I'm pointed well and truly in the right direction now - compared to looking for a 25amp previously.
Robin I realized after posting last night that however much I discharge before charging up doesn't make any difference to the type of charger. You must have a lot of patience for answering numerous questions from someone who doesn't know a great deal on the topic! Thanks.
I will need to convince the Master on the low voltage switch, I think it's a good idea and I am SWMBO after all!
Derek I saw that you sell Ctek as well. I'll be in touch particularly if I want some more specs on your up and coming models. I agree it would be surprising if there isn't much that doesn't come out of china these days, it can be made wherever but the componentry is very much guaranteed to come from elsewhere. But then again alot of people do have a notion that you have to pay more to get something good, I suppose it's true to some extent you do get what you pay for.
The Master says he doesn't mind paying a bit more to get a better quality product, he wants something that will last and comes with a warranty (which most things these days do). So I guess we'll probably end up with something in the middle of the price range to keep him happy.
If I had a store here locally, that probably would have been the first point of advice, even still I don't like to walk in somewhere and buy the first thing that is recommended unless I have done a bit of research before hand and know something about what I'm after. This is where a
forum can be very handy but of course there can be conflicting advice as well. As an example we decided to buy a generator without doing a great deal of research, we knew why we wanted it though and had a good idea about the size that would be suitable, and as a result we believed the salesman when he said that we can charge the battery straight off it. Well I suppose you technically can so he didn't mislead us but of course it's not ideal.
Anyway I'll be getting a 15amp charger to suit the battery requirements. The Master is probably most likely going to mount it in a box (which used to house an air compressor).
And I guess some finer details will determine which one we end up with.
Reply 17 of 18
FollowupID: 498641 Submitted:
Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 08:03
Outa Bounds posted:
He has a spare Orbital 50Ah in the shed and was probably going to mount it in the camper tool box. We did think about putting it under the bonnet, I didn't think there would be enough space and he wasn't quite sure how to best hook it up and
weather it would interfere with the dual battery system in any way. It was something to consider. I guess like you say in parallel it's just like having one 100ah there.
Seems like it may be a good idea, we'll be testing out how long the 50ah lasts running the
fridge this weekend (car staying in one spot). I reckon it will be about a day so I guess that means we would more than likely want to put the other orbital under the bonnet so that we have 2 x auxiliaries particularly for the longer stays.
The box he was planning on mounting it into is one of those tool boxes that house an ARB compressor, it opens up pretty well (the top half is taller than the bottom half), and the main idea of mounting it in there would be just for protection whilst not in use (not bouncing around inside the camper or car getting whacked by anything next to it, less risk of getting wet during water crossings etc). And some of the units seem pretty small so ventilation should not be an issue. I will take your advice on board and really
weather it's mounted in a box or not depends on what we end up getting too, design, size etc.
Thanks for the Orbital link, I did have a read through all that before, was more after some detailed info that doesn't seem as readily available like the charging voltage they recommend. And I also thought that the batteries were sealed units thus can't be checked for fluid levels etc.
I have noticed that some charger specs say operating temp 0 to 50, others say -10 to 65 etc.
FollowUp 2 of 3
FollowupID: 498657 Submitted:
Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 09:07
Robin posted:
Hi Outa
I cannot agree with some of comments in the replies above your post , in that many people who sell things are not professionals in their field and may tell you some surface knowledge they have or have gleaned from the web.
This includes the Exide
Australia link provided.
Unfortunately much information is also from overseas sources and not corrected for
Australian conditions as many even large corparations have limited and essentially just sales offices only locally.
The correct charging voltage is also dependent on the type of charging. for this battery it ranges 14.4 to 14.8 regime dependant.
Now that we agree on about 15 amps the reality is that the biggest factor in getting it perfect is temperature control which very few here do and none of the products under discussion do either.
If you wish a detailed charging note on this battery send email to robinannemiller @ hotmail dot com and I will forward you the appropriate document.
Robin Miller
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| Robin Miller |
FollowUp 3 of 3
