Trickle charging batteries

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#1 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:15 am

Have been looking for a trickle charger for the bikes. The garage area is a long way away from the house and has no electric.(but does have a window)
I dont want to bring the battery off the bike and dont want the bike parked behind the house in the garden while im charging the battery (like i'd have to with an Optimate http://www.mdsbattery.co.uk/shop/produc ... oupID=1039)

I was looking at something like this. CLICK which could then be utilised for camping trips, etc as well as charging the car / bike

Thoughts? (sensible ones mind)

Thumper · #2 Post by **Thumper** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:30 am

Now that looks like an excellent idea, I have two batteries so always have one fully charged in the workshop but it can be a pain to change.

#3 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:38 am

Im just wondering if the charge rate would be okay.. It's not really that large, but would it suit a bike battery? (12v standard sized kinda bike battery)

Gio · #4 Post by **Gio** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:40 am

Nice idea, only trouble I can see is it won't work in the dark, as most batteries seem to get heavily discharged during the winter and with the shortage of daylight it might not recharge it.

#5 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:45 am

Yup see what you mean, however this would be sat in place of an optimate, so it wont have to charge quickly like a normal one, it can act like an optimate. It also has a built-in blocking diode prevents reverse charging from the battery to the solar panel at night

Gio · #6 Post by **Gio** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:31 am

Kwackerz wrote:Yup see what you mean, however this would be sat in place of an optimate, so it wont have to charge quickly like a normal one, it can act like an optimate. It also has a built-in blocking diode prevents reverse charging from the battery to the solar panel at night

Okay, how about fitting 2 then giving 3watts?

Thats if its discharged , then just leave one on after its fully charged?

#7 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:35 am

bacause I want to slowly trickle charge the battery as with an optimate.

Im just wondering if the charge rate would be okay.. It's not really that large, but would it suit a bike battery? (12v standard sized kinda bike battery)

Wouldnt 3 watts would kill it by fast charging it?

*edit*

1 panel provides approx 150mA per hour in the most favourable conditions

That answers that then

Gio · #8 Post by **Gio** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:04 pm

Kwackerz wrote:bacause I want to slowly trickle charge the battery as with an optimate.

Im just wondering if the charge rate would be okay.. It's not really that large, but would it suit a bike battery? (12v standard sized kinda bike battery)

Wouldnt 3 watts would kill it by fast charging it?

*edit*

1 panel provides approx 150mA per hour in the most favourable conditions

That answers that then

Yep

Fausto · #9 Post by **Fausto** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:04 pm

Hi Kwackerz.

I have one of these... http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/Su ... arger.html
which I leave plugged into the car (car doesn't get used very regularly). It seems to work although it's hard to know how to tell. The battery is fine and I seldom charge it in the normal way.I tested the output once but can't remember the result

One thing though - It seems to work even in low light conditions. There is a built in test LED to tell if it is getting enough light.
If I couldn't use my Optimate I would probably use one of these. Plugged into an Optimate socket on the bike.
If it's any use I can do a retest on the output for you.

#10 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:13 pm

If you got a chance, without going out of your way, it'd be appreciated! I can then check it against the bike battery specs and optimate ratings to see how trickle it actually is.

Cheers for the info!

BikerGran · #11 Post by **BikerGran** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:24 pm

Been thinking about this problem myself.

Don't know anything about Tantronics but I'd be a bit wary of anything from Maplin - I know people who've bought stuff from them that sounded good and has turned out to be rubbish - heated waistcoats that don't, and heated gloves that burn your hands.....

Gio · #12 Post by **Gio** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:40 pm

BikerGran wrote:heated gloves that burn your hands.....

Toasty

Fausto · #13 Post by **Fausto** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:41 pm

OK - I'll see what I can do.

Firstly here is the actual manufacturers website

http://www.solarcharger.com/s.nl/it.A/i ... ategory=62

I am doing some tests this pm and will post them up later. Presumably though if you want more charge you get a bigger panel.

Fausto · #14 Post by **Fausto** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:29 pm

OK - test results.....

But first a disclaimer!
I don't really know how to work a multi meter so these readings may require some degree of interpretation.

I fixed the panel to the inside of a south facing window in direct sunlight.

It was a mixed weather afternoon with some blue sky and a fair amount of cloud.
I set the meter dial to 200mA.

Most of the time it was reading between 3.5 and 10.0 (during cloudy and rainy periods)

When in direct sunlight it jumped up to between 30.0 and 55.0

It does make a big difference if you position the panel at 90 degrees to the sun so upright against the glass was much better than flat on the windowsill at this time of year.

I assume the readings are in mA and are all quite a bit lower than the stated 135mA max. That must be in bright summer sun.
Ooh, the very thought of it..

Hope this helps. Will be hard to compare to an Optimate as I think they only charge when they sense the need to do so as they apparently do regular battery condition checks.

#15 Post by **Kwackerz** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:33 pm

Hmm.. Cheers for that Fausto!

I shall ponder, email people of a learned persuasion and see what happens.