battery charger setting?

[Grehan]

I've got four batteries (2 domestic, 1 engine, 1 bow-thruster), a device that parcels out the charging up (I just know there's a proper name for it . . ) and a (mains) battery charger, a largish car type.
The charger has two settings a) fast charge and b) slow charge.
Under normal circumstances (i.e batteries reasonably full, engine not running, connected to mains, sitting around using a moderate amount of 12v) is it preferable for the charging to be 'slow' or 'fast'. Is there actually a potential problem with 'fast' charging if the batteries don't actually need that degree of input? Presumably the charger regulates itself anyway . . .
I'm not experiencing problems, you understand, just wondering.

 

[halcyon]

is it preferable for the charging to be 'slow' or 'fast'. Is there actually a potential problem with 'fast' charging if the batteries don't actually need that degree of input? Presumably the charger regulates itself anyway . . .
I'm not experiencing problems, you understand, just wondering.

It depends on what the charger output is, you need to match use to charger output.

Presuming that the charger regulates is dangerous, fast and slow ( high / low voltage ) could just be transformer tappings, and current is limited by VA rating.

You need to find more detail on battery charger spec.

Brian

 

[Grehan]

I don't have a lot of information about the charger. It's a GYS CT180, made in France, charge rate from 30 to 180 Ah and suitable (by pictogram) for cars, lorries, tractors. "Protection against over-voltage and polarity reversal". 'Traditional' not 'automatic' category.
Think I'll just keep to 'trickle' (tortoise) setting rather than 'fast' (hare).

 

[VicS]

I hope you can understand this. It means F.A. to me! But I suggest if you use it on "hare" you keep an eye on it ... don't go away and leave it. Monitor the volts and turn it down to "tortoise" once the volts have got up to 14.4.

Ton chargeur n'est pas un chargeur automatique qui régule et stabilise la charge, mais un chargeur avec une courbe classique en W.

Sa description telle que j'ai pu la trouver sur un ancien catalogue de Gys
"Gamme CT (professionnel) Chargeurs de batteries traditionnels pratiques et puissants. Indicateur de charge par ampèremètre. Protection contre les surcharges et inversions de polarité. Disjoncteur thermique à réarmement automatique et fusible. Logement pour rangement des câbles."

Sur le nouveau catalogue Gys : Charge traditionnelle "Le courant de charge décroît, et la tension monte. Arrêt manuel pour éviter toute surcharge"

En conséquence, il ne faut pas laisser raccorder à la batterie avec le chargeur branché au secteur au delà d'un temps de charge normal. Je ferais le calcul plus tard.​

 

[Sybaris]

Translation: "Your charger is not an automatic charger that regulates and stabalizes the charge, it is a charger with a classical W curve."

"Stop manually to eliminate overcharging."

 

[Grehan]

merci, mes braves

 

[Playtime]

I hope you can understand this. It means F.A. to me!

Sur le nouveau catalogue Gys : Charge traditionnelle "Le courant de charge décroît, et la tension monte. Arrêt manuel pour éviter toute surcharge"

It is a simple transformer/rectifier charger with no 'intelligence'. The hare and tortoise settings are for different tappings on the transformer that give different open circuit output voltages. The hare setting might give 16V and the tortoise setting 14.5V with no load.

The W curve shows voltage (U) versus current (I) as it charges a typical battery. You will note that the current drops as charging progresses and the voltage continues to rise, to the maximum set by the hare or tortoise switch. If the maximum output voltage is set to be greater than say 14.5V (i.e. in hare mode), then the battery will overcharge if left for any length of time at that voltage. There is no float mode (13.8V) when the battery is fully charged.

My advice would be to run the charger in tortoise mode unless the domestic battery is known to be discharged, otherwise there is a real possibility of overcharging, boiling away the electrolyte and permanently damaging the battery.