Battery Charger

[markhankey]

Hi everyone. I am really sorry for this question but I was wondering if
you could use a normal "halfords" type car battery charger to give a quick
winter boost to a yacht that is laid up on the hard ?
Thanks a lot in advance for all of your advice

 

[rogerroger]

I did yesterday...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[Boatman]

No problem, just don't leave it connected

 

[Guest]

Oh Good Lord NO NO NO .. a car battery charger is for partially charging a car battery enought to allow it to attempt to start a car .. how many times have we been through this??
If you have a flat car battery on board - why??
If you have proper batteries on board - leave the car battery where it belongs - in the car.
Fit a marine grade charger - of proper capacity for the TOTAL batt capacity being charged .. there is NO NONE NADA other answer.

regards anyway
Brian Moffat
(Specialist in informing people that their Halfords charger has just cost them a lot of money - and I don't care if it has worked for two years - no it didn't)

Brian

 

[mikenda - delete]

THe Gunsten Electronic charger from Argos is one of the best. It even got a mention in Yachting Monthly as the only car charger suitable for marine use.

 

[VMALLOWS]

Brian, I'm going to strongly dissagree with you on this one.

The original question from Mark was about topping up his boat batteries while he's ashore to keep them in good condition. You and I and most other people know that the worst thing that can possibly happen to a lead-acid battery is that it becomes and is left discharged.

When charging, the fundamentals are that the charge current is limited depending on the capacity of the battery to avoid plate damage by overheating and the voltage is not allowed to exceed the gassing point. Once eventually fully charged the voltage should be maintained at the float voltage appropriate to temperature.

No 'Halfords style' charger is going to do this in a hurry because it simply doesn't put out enough current, and the current tapers off very rapidly as the battery charges. It's far more likely that the battery will still be undercharged after (say) 12 hours of charging. Of course there is a problem if an unregulated (ie cheap) charger is left connected for days/weeks on end, but that was not the question.

What's a 'Marine Grade' charger anyway other than a constant-voltage charger (maybe with initial programmed boost) with a Marine price tag?

 

[MedMan]

Can you use a normal "Halfords" type car battery charger to give a quick winter boost to a yacht that is laid up on the hard? Yes you can.

Can you use the same charger for all that is required of a shore power unit - No you can't. (see Brian's answer for more details)

David

 

[Guest]

I have for the past 8 years. Last w/e fitted shorepower and a Sterling charger, that seems to work too.

 

[markhankey]

Just to say very many thanks for the time everybody has taken
to answer my question, your helpful comments are much appreciated.

Regards to all

Mark

 

[vyv_cox]

Me too. Charger from Halford's at least ten years ago. Still works fine. Main problem is that the wires trail all over. Not a suitable alternative for shore power but fine to keep the batteries up to the mark.

 

[PhatBuoy]

I smell Daily Mail

 

[Avocet]

My Halfords charger charges a fully charged battery at less than 0.1 amps. I measured it one day out of curiosity. Having established that, I can't see it doing any harm - indeed, I've used mine on the boat for a few years now and both me and my battery are still here...