Portable Charger or Onboard Charger
I would like to know what are the benefits of using an onboard charger
instead of a portable charger.I have been using rechargers for many type of household electronic
equipments (such as digital carmera, toy cars...etc). Therefore, I am
very familiar with portable recharger. But I notice that there are
many onboard rechargers available in marine supply store when I was
trying to shop for a recharger. I can imagine one benefit of having an
onboard recharger: It is neatly mounted inside the battery compartment,
instead of being sliding around on the floor of the battery
compartment. What are the other benefits? Can I connect the recharger
with the various batteries (I have 2 batteries, will be 3 in the
future) in a permanent fashion instead of using alligator clips? Then
I only need to run a power cord from an outdoor power outlet to the
receptacle of the recharger. Then I don't need to remember which
alligator clip goes to which terminal on the battery. That will be a
very nice feature if I understand this correctly. A side-question:
Should I use a 10-amp or a 15-amp battery charger? I believe a
regular 110-volt household power outlet should provide at least 15-amp.
This means either 10-amp or 15-amp charger should work if I understand
this correctly. Then why would one person choose 10-amp over the
15-amp version or the other way around? Does a 15-amp version simply
charge the batteries faster? If I want to charge two 12-volt batteries
plus one 24-volt battery overnight (12-hours), does choosing the 15-amp
version makes any difference to me? I urgently need to know this info because I need to buy a battery
recharger pretty soon. Thanks in advance for any info. Jay Chan |
jaykchan
Nov 13
2005
|
| Again, in basically an open boat, a portable charger makes sense. You can
use it for other purposes as well, like charging your car battery if
you leave the lights on, or if it's a GOOD one (see below), for keeping
your batteries charged through the winter. Current draw at 120VAC (your "15A circuit") is not the same as the current
output TO the battery: the output is about 10 times as much (1/10 the
voltage, 10x the current, not including efficiency) So the current draw is
not a factor. Yes, the more current, the faster the battery will charge, but you can't
use TOO much charging current: typically 1/10 the ampacity, which is about
10-15A for a Group 24. Problem is, the cheap "10A" chargers don't really put out 10 amps, so some
buy the 15A instead. I'd buy a GOOD 10A "Smart" Charger, like the Xantrex
Statpower series, which actually DOES put out 10A with a proper charging
"curve". Your batteries will thank you! Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36 c/w onboard Xantrex 40A |
Nov 14
|
