Battery Charger

[stownsend]

Afternoon All

Could you in theory wire up a 240v battery charger (one from argos / halfords etc..) directly to the +ve and -ve bars on the fuse panel instead of directly to the battery terminals ?

Just looking at options on how to connect mine up !

Cheers

Stu

 

[sarabande]

although there are constant current chargers and constant voltage ones, plus clever variable/pulse ones, the idea of connecting a charger into the DC system directly does not appeal on practical grounds. There is usually some electrical "noise" associated with the output from a charger, and this might not be appreciated by the more sensitive instruments.

Switching on a heavy user of power might make demands on the charger to which it cannot respond, and the use of many circuits would challenge the charger too much.

The analogy is in your house. The water supply is small and steady into the main tank in the roof, and perhaps one tap in the kitchen. When you fill a bath, the water is drawn from the tank in the roof, which has the capacity to supply the boiler for hot water, and the cold tap too at the required rate. It is not filled directly from the mains supply pipe.

Stick to convention, and use a battery.

 

[VicS]

Yes but put a fuse in the positive connection as close as reasonably possible to the busbar, rated to protect the wiring from the charger. That's in addition to the mcb or fuse on the charger output! If there is an mcb on the output I think I'd switch it off when not in use.

You'd need the main battery isolator to be on, thus energising the whole system, in order to use it.

bus bars in the battery compartment might be a better choice IMHO

 

[jfm]

Afternoon All

Could you in theory wire up a 240v battery charger (one from argos / halfords etc..) directly to the +ve and -ve bars on the fuse panel instead of directly to the battery terminals ?

Just looking at options on how to connect mine up !

Cheers

Stu

In theory yes but

1. use fuse as vic S says
2. the argos/halfords chargers are very poor compared with intelligent Mastervolt/Victron units, which act as 230-12v transofrmers when on shore power and do all manner of things that are kind to your batteries
3. the output voltage of the charger will be set very accurately to what the designer intended, but connecting it where you say will result in voltage drop across the long cable twixt battery and fuse panel, so will likey not charge the batteries fully.

MUCH better to get a proper charger and connect it to the battery compartment busbars