Cheap 15A Portable Charger?
I need a 15 amp portable charger that I can run from my 450 watt inverter gennie. Battery bank will be right around 100 ah, AGM batteries. Here are some possibilities I found on Amazon: This: ...
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My RV's AGM batteries require a float voltage in the 13.5V to 13.8V range, so I float them using the RV's stock 13.8V Parallax converter. They also charge fairly well from this voltage range too, due to the low internal resistance of AGM batteries.
For faster charging of my AGMs using the quiet (54dB) 650 watt Honda non-inverter generator, I use a Sears 2/10/50 amp charger powered by the generator - at the same time and along with the RV's 13.8V converter being powered by the generator. The "50 amp" setting of the Sears charger is for "emergency starting" of an engine and should not be used continuously for too many minutes for starting in order to prevent burning up of the charger. However, I set it to it's 50 amp "starting" range and hook it up to the AGMs and run it in parallel with the 13.8V converter. This adds just enough more voltage to the AGM batteries's terminals so they draw about 50% more charging current from the little generator than with just the converter by itself.
Using the 2/10/50 charger this way on it's 50 amp setting for long periods does not harm the charger because it's actually supplying far less than 50 amps when hooked up in parallel with the converter. The little Honda generator will run 5-6 hours on 0.51 gallons of gas and can get the AGM batteries up to maybe around 90% charge using this converter-charger combination. Of course this procedure works in all weather and light conditions and creates about the same sound abosolute level as an idling small Honda inverter generator - this setup is actually less noticable on sound because our little Honda's "noise" is a very low muffled pitch that is different than that of an inverter Honda generator's.
I put together the idea to use this inexpensive and effective charging method by combining various suggestions made in the past by a couple of other popular posters in the forums: "MEXICOWANDERER" and "pianotuna". :)
For faster charging of my AGMs using the quiet (54dB) 650 watt Honda non-inverter generator, I use a Sears 2/10/50 amp charger powered by the generator - at the same time and along with the RV's 13.8V converter being powered by the generator. The "50 amp" setting of the Sears charger is for "emergency starting" of an engine and should not be used continuously for too many minutes for starting in order to prevent burning up of the charger. However, I set it to it's 50 amp "starting" range and hook it up to the AGMs and run it in parallel with the 13.8V converter. This adds just enough more voltage to the AGM batteries's terminals so they draw about 50% more charging current from the little generator than with just the converter by itself.
Using the 2/10/50 charger this way on it's 50 amp setting for long periods does not harm the charger because it's actually supplying far less than 50 amps when hooked up in parallel with the converter. The little Honda generator will run 5-6 hours on 0.51 gallons of gas and can get the AGM batteries up to maybe around 90% charge using this converter-charger combination. Of course this procedure works in all weather and light conditions and creates about the same sound abosolute level as an idling small Honda inverter generator - this setup is actually less noticable on sound because our little Honda's "noise" is a very low muffled pitch that is different than that of an inverter Honda generator's.
I put together the idea to use this inexpensive and effective charging method by combining various suggestions made in the past by a couple of other popular posters in the forums: "MEXICOWANDERER" and "pianotuna". :)
