Quick battery charger question
Submitted: Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 17:43
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109498
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Peter T9
Looking to upgrade camper battery charger which is only one of those 1.5 amp Projecta fighters.
Looking at a 5 amp CTEK MXS 5.0 which can be had for around $80 ish with the 15% off ebay sale.
CT battery is a 105 ah AGM powering a 50 litre Waeco plus water pump and led lighting.
My question is can this charger be used to actually run the electrics whilst not having a dedicated power supply mode?
At the moment I have been running the fridge off 240v when at a powered site which is a PITA with extra cords etc.
I know 5 amps is on the small side however I do already have a 10 amp CTEK which I use for most charging jobs and really just want a cheap charger that can stay in the CT permanently.
Reply By: HKB Electronics - Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 18:37
Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 18:37
Simple answer yes, but needs to be connected to the battery too. In my setup all accessories are connected to the aux, when 240V is available I just leave a charger on my batteries, haven't had any issue simply switches to charge when when fridge starts then back to float when fridge turns off. Have never had any issues doing this. Others will say if it has a power supply mode then use that.
Cheers
Leigh
AnswerID:
539076
Follow Up By: Peter T9 - Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 19:06
Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 19:06
Thanks Leigh
I was a bit worried charge voltage may be a bit high for some appliances as I used my 10 amp charger once before in this way and a flouro light cr****d itself.
I still don't know if it was faulty anyway or high voltage as everything else was fine.
Peter
FollowupID:
823679
Follow Up By: HKB Electronics - Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 21:07
Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 21:07
Most 12V appliance are usually rated at 13.8V or there abouts but can generally accept higher voltages. Items specifically designed for car applications need to be able to handle the max charge voltage the alternator will put out, generally it will be around 14.4V but can get as high as 15V-16V in very cold environments.
FollowupID:
823688
Follow Up By: HKB Electronics - Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 21:10
Sunday, Sep 14, 2014 at 21:10
I should have added, an intelligent
well regulated charger is assumed such as your Ctek.
An editing function would have saved another post.
FollowupID:
823689
Reply By: olcoolone - Monday, Sep 15, 2014 at 16:41
Monday, Sep 15, 2014 at 16:41
A 5 amp charger for what you want is a bit small, 10 - 15 would be much better.
Most who are after a quick cheap fix end up paying more in the long run..... but if your happy to have a $80 5 amp paper weight go for it.
A Waeco will pull more then 5 amps when running.
AnswerID:
539126
Reply By: Emerging I.T. - Tuesday, Sep 16, 2014 at 13:46
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2014 at 13:46
I have one of these chargers and also have the 25amp model. The 5 amp charger is more your trickle charger, it took 2 days to full charge a 120AH battery that had been sitting for a while. If you are going to be drawing from the bank the quicker you can put it back the better. 10-15 amps would be my recommendation.
AnswerID:
539167
Reply By: Peter T9 - Wednesday, Sep 17, 2014 at 16:38
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2014 at 16:38
Thanks for the replies.
I decided to get the smaller charger and not permanently mount it. That way I can swap between the 10amp and 5 amp charger depending on where the need is.
AnswerID:
539216