Arrid Twincharge Battery Charge Control BCTC20

It's not an isolator but a 12 volt input 14.8 volt output 20 amp battery charger.

Hi. What I understand is that the Arrid----------- is suitable for the application that I need but I believ that the Redcar is just a gloryfied soliniod switch??????? Engel market what they call "12v in car battery charger" Has anybody had any expirience of these as they are only 2/3 the cost of the Arrid

Ray,

Could you please put up your email address so that I, as one who is no longer a member, may contact you. Or send me a note: jimbest at internode dot on dot net.

I understand your black rig profile pic.

Cheers,

Jim.

Collyn , 1.4volts ,?????? surely you meant 14.1 ,, what would be the point of 1.4volts to recharge ????.

Sorry all (and thanks Alloy c/t.)

It's a typing error - should of course be 14.4 volts.

(My senior moments are on a much grander scale: went to introduce my son-in-law a time back - and simply could not remember his name.

Fortunatdly it turned out not to matter . My daughter left him a few months later - and has been trying to forget his name ever since!

Alloy c/t - would really like to learn more about your trailer.
Collyn Rivers

Collyn, have member messaged.

Collyn, are you sure that 14.4 volts is correct. The specs I read on the web stated 14.8

Ray,

Could you please put up your email address so that I, as one who is no longer a member, may contact you. Or send me a note: jimbest at internode dot on dot net.

I understand your black rig profile pic.

Cheers,

Jim.

Sure Jim,
desertdust@yahoo.com.

yeah well the mother in law passed away yesterday so the black pic will be there a little while longer while I look after my two little girls until the missus returns from NZ. I have just about mastered the skill of putting hair into a ponytail...hahaha

Collyn,

I'm interested in your theory regarding a 'normal' alternator not fully charging a normal vehicle battery - and accept it as correct.

I'm wondering however on the tolerances of equipment being powered at 14.8v or up to 15.5v with a three stage charge regulator on the alternator. Does it have a negative impact on them? I understand the positives of higher voltage on battery charging, but what about things such as lights that are rated at 12v and being pushed to near 15v by the charge system. Would they not have a shortened life with too much voltage?

I remember the days of 250v Perth power supply spiking over 260v and shortening the life of globes. I understand it's regulated now to 240v so better for our equipment. Wouldn't the same be the case for vehicle powered equipment - radio's, driving lights, inverters, fridges, etc etc etc.?

Regards
Tim

Tim
You raise an interesting issue.

When I started to research material for 'Motorhome Electrics' I became concerned about this - not least because the TWC smart regulator in my OKA ran up to 15 volts (initially charging at 100 amps). This unit has also been used extensively in boats for over 20 years.

With one exception (low wattage halogen globes) there is however no record of electrical equipment being affected or damaged by this. In my case, the OKA's original headlight and other globes still work, as do all other equipment (including a laptop computer, printer etc).

Boat people too appear not to have problems via this despite their complex electronic equipment.

Do note that many three-stage mains chargers boost charge at up to 15 volts. Here again there are no reports of damage through overvoltage.

Giving both sides of the argument however, some US makers charge the battery at the higher voltage but use various techniques to limit the house voltage to 12.6 - 12.8 volts (but this may be for insurance reasons).

As noted, low wattage halogen globes are an exception. These are actually designed to run at 11.8 volts and the makers warn that their life will be substantially reduced if run at over 13.0 volts. This is also my experience.

I think this is an issue that is slowly receding. There is a clear move to AGM batteries and these charge quickly and close to 100% at voltages as low as 14.1 volts.
Collyn Rivers

Hi Ray, did you have any form of load on the second battery when you took the measurement.

The best time to take a measurement is after you have spent the night somewhere and you are going to be doing about an hours driving.

Test the voltage at the front and rear battery after you start the vehicle and the after about an hours drive, take a measurement at both the front and rear batteries again and you will get an idea of the voltage drop occurring while charging the battery and by doing it an hour after starting off, you will also get an idea of weather the battery is charging quickly or not.

Cheers.

With these Arrids does the terminal voltage of the battery ever get to 15V? Even though the regulator is set to 15V during boost when this goes accross the battery terminals it will drop to whatever the battery is but a higher current will flow than if say 13.8 was put accross it, so therefore it will charge quicker as more current is flowing but as the battery charge level raises does the charger start to go intro float mode and drop to around 14.2V. As an example you cheap 4A batteyr charger can put out up to 17V as they are not regulated but oncew put accross a flat battery this quickly drops to the terminal voltage of the battery.