Battery charger vs power converter

[kayco53]

I know there is a difference between a power converter and a battery charger but what is it.Some of the new smart chargers look pretty capable.In my old school truck camper all there is are a few led lights.
Uses very little power and very seldom plug in.

[wa8yxm]

NinerBikes wrote:


Your Kenwood TS-2000 is also a $1500 radio... KiloKilosixSanDiegoZoo...

Yes, Well as configured (With KAT-1 Tuner) it was closer to $2,000 but this only means I am highly motivated to feed and care for it properly.

And as I said, it can not tell the difference between
Progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard in float mode
Battery power (on receive) (on transmit it drops a few watts on battery only)
Both in parallel

It also can not tell the difference (on receive) between batteries only and the Prosine 2.0 in charge mode or inverter mode.

Try that with an MSW on 80 meters.

[red31]

My popup had no charging capability so I used a charger when I found hookups and charged overnight, any small load did not cause any issues. Pull out bed kept the charger out of the rain.

Poor solar charging meant I could use the little button 'recondition/equalize' yearly. The LED readout supplied useful information.

My xantrex xpower 15 was licensed to vector and then B&D.

[NinerBikes]

wa8yxm wrote:
In some cases the difference between a battery charger and a Converter is the paint job.

But in most cases it is filtering and regulation.

Battery chargers tend to be unfiltered rectified AC Some (non-smart) are not regulated so you go (sixty or 120 times a second) from zero volts up to around 15 or 18 and back to zero This is ok for charging batteries. but not so good for powering electroincs.

CONVERTERS have (at least most of 'em today) Filters on them.. So the output is 13.6 volts DC with very little AC ripple. In fact in my RV is a very sensitive radio. I have, many times, chatted with folks over in Italy, or France or Germany on digital modes pushing a great whomping 30-40 watts into the wire (Antenna) and they are doing the same.. A radio that sensitive will notice things like AC ripple on the power leads. My TS-2000 can not tell if it's running on Batteries, Converter or both the converter is that clean. (it runs on 12 -15 volts very nicely).

But the converter has both very good flitering, and very good regulation..

(I mentioned some older ones, Like the Magnetek 6300 which actually had two outputs.. Both were unfiltered and unregulated.. one was tied to the battery though and that one the battery acted as both filter and voltage limiter. Boiling dry if the voltage got too high.)

Your Kenwood TS-2000 is also a $1500 radio... KiloKilosixSanDiegoZoo...

[wa8yxm]

In some cases the difference between a battery charger and a Converter is the paint job.

But in most cases it is filtering and regulation.

Battery chargers tend to be unfiltered rectified AC Some (non-smart) are not regulated so you go (sixty or 120 times a second) from zero volts up to around 15 or 18 and back to zero This is ok for charging batteries. but not so good for powering electroincs.

CONVERTERS have (at least most of 'em today) Filters on them.. So the output is 13.6 volts DC with very little AC ripple. In fact in my RV is a very sensitive radio. I have, many times, chatted with folks over in Italy, or France or Germany on digital modes pushing a great whomping 30-40 watts into the wire (Antenna) and they are doing the same.. A radio that sensitive will notice things like AC ripple on the power leads. My TS-2000 can not tell if it's running on Batteries, Converter or both the converter is that clean. (it runs on 12 -15 volts very nicely).

But the converter has both very good flitering, and very good regulation..

(I mentioned some older ones, Like the Magnetek 6300 which actually had two outputs.. Both were unfiltered and unregulated.. one was tied to the battery though and that one the battery acted as both filter and voltage limiter. Boiling dry if the voltage got too high.)

[RJsfishin]

Quote:
If you boondock and really heavily cycle your batteries a charger may be the better of the two.
--------------------------------------------------------
I will never understand making such a statement !
There is no way a smart charger is better than a good converter for a dry camper, while camping, or plugged in at home.
The quote below is dead on

landyacht318 wrote:
A 'smart' charger Will likely get confused and shut off if there is a load on the battery, and it is removed, or if A DC load is turned on and it is a big enough load to drop battery voltage.

i seen this time and again with my Shumacher. It worked OK on the 12 amp setting but voltage would swing from 13.2v to 15.6v when my 2.7 amp compressor fridge would shut off. Shut off my charging laptop(~ 7 amps) when it was in bulk absorption or float, and Red blinking lights.

A converter is designed to both power dc loads when plugged in and charge the batteries. Any of the big three converters will 3 or 4 stage charge, like the magic whizz bang smart intellicharger, but they will happily do so while the kids are turning on and off every DC load as fast as Kids can.
The Fartcharger will remember the rabid female of a dog lawyer yelling at it and dutifully throw out the red warning light, and turn itself off when a load added or removed is big enough to change the voltage or the amps required to hold the voltage.

It depends on the state of charge of the battery, if and when the fart charger shuts itself off. Most problems occur at or near absorption voltage, and might work OK in bulk with loads, or in float with cycling loads.

Im sure there will be plenty stories of plenty of whizz bang smart chargers handling cycling loads 'just fine'.

Just realize people feel better when other people buy and use the same product, whether it is any good or not, but experience trumps theory, if it can be believed.

I've not owned many smart chargers. My Schumacher is in a paper bag in 25 pieces, I release flatulence in the general direction of smart chargers.

Because 92% is not 100%, no matter how green and bright that soothing green light is, or how badly the consumer wants to believe the marketing.

None of them will hold Absorption voltage for long enough on a deeply cycled battery, despite the vehemence of the 'just fine brigade' and the smart marketing loyal minions spouting their 'gospel'

[landyacht318]

A 'smart' charger Will likely get confused and shut off if there is a load on the battery, and it is removed, or if A DC load is turned on and it is a big enough load to drop battery voltage.

i seen this time and again with my Shumacher. It worked OK on the 12 amp setting but voltage would swing from 13.2v to 15.6v when my 2.7 amp compressor fridge would shut off. Shut off my charging laptop(~ 7 amps) when it was in bulk absorption or float, and Red blinking lights.

A converter is designed to both power dc loads when plugged in and charge the batteries. Any of the big three converters will 3 or 4 stage charge, like the magic whizz bang smart intellicharger, but they will happily do so while the kids are turning on and off every DC load as fast as Kids can.
The Fartcharger will remember the rabid female of a dog lawyer yelling at it and dutifully throw out the red warning light, and turn itself off when a load added or removed is big enough to change the voltage or the amps required to hold the voltage.

It depends on the state of charge of the battery, if and when the fart charger shuts itself off. Most problems occur at or near absorption voltage, and might work OK in bulk with loads, or in float with cycling loads.

Im sure there will be plenty stories of plenty of whizz bang smart chargers handling cycling loads 'just fine'.

Just realize people feel better when other people buy and use the same product, whether it is any good or not, but experience trumps theory, if it can be believed.

I've not owned many smart chargers. My Schumacher is in a paper bag in 25 pieces, I release flatulence in the general direction of smart chargers.

Because 92% is not 100%, no matter how green and bright that soothing green light is, or how badly the consumer wants to believe the marketing.

None of them will hold Absorption voltage for long enough on a deeply cycled battery, despite the vehemence of the 'just fine brigade' and the smart marketing loyal minions spouting their 'gospel'

[time2roll]

4 amps is a bit light but may work fine depending on the programming. Charger will need to hold absorption voltage for 12 to 24+ hours.

I recommend the 10 amp for about $100. A good converter will be $150 to $200.

If using a generator you really should have 15 to 20 amps per battery or the run time will be rather extended.

A 100 watt solar panel could serve you well.

[CJW8]

The charger in your link is only 4 amps. It is about the right size for a small motor cycle battery. If your battery is down to 12 volts resting voltage and it is the size of a car battery (group 24, 27, 29 or 31) it will take several hours for it to charge with no load being used for it to fully charge your battery. I'd suggest a 20-40 amp charger for a single battery. The charger you propose is a 4 amp charger for $76. That is pretty steep.

[BFL13]

Mex is right again. I forgot about when you get home for a while.

Now you need the converter that does Float or else a charger that does Float. But usually, the charger that does Float is only a trickle charger, so it is no good for fast charging off-grid when on generator.

So now you need two chargers instead of one converter that can do both jobs.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

And you won't have something screwed to the floor sitting on it's butt 99.99% of the time...

But a maintenance charger is very important for a flooded lead acid battery. Actually they are vital. Highly recommended.

[BFL13]

A converter stays on all the time it has 120v input while a battery charger shuts off when it thinks the battery is charged (called 'automatic'---if it is a 'manual' it stays on but lets the battery voltage get really high if you don't shut it off)

For an RV on shore power you normally want a converter or "power supply". If all you do is camp off grid and charge with 120v generator power, you can use either a charger or converter.

If you go on shore power and just have a charger, you can stay on the battery for 12v and still have the shore power 120v. With that 120 to run the charger, you can recharge the battery as required. Doing it that way, you don't need a converter.

[kayco53]

We boondock for a while and then get a plug in campsite for a day or so.Inthe winter we plug in about every second day.This unit never had a power converter.Thinking one of the battery charges that stays in place sort of like this maybe a bit more powerful as 5 leds do not draw much. http://www.geniuschargers.com/GENMini1

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Pretty much narrow it down to...

If you boondock and really heavily cycle your batteries a charger may be the better of the two

If you rarely boondock or generator charge your batteries and instead plug your rig in at home only, a converter may be favored over a charger.

A float charger would maintain the battery after it was fully charged.

Beware of converters with leads and clips posing as chargers. The market is rife with "Idiot Designed" chargers.

[toedtoes]

A battery charger simply charges the battery - the smart chargers do so in a better manner to prolong the life of the battery.

The power converter converts shore power into 12v power - allowing your lights to work while the RV is plugged into shore power.

The power inverter changes 12v power into "shore power" or 110 power. This allows you to operate items plugged into the household outlets in your RV and/or to plug the inverter into a 12v "cigarette" outlet and plug your 2-prong 110v plug into the other end of the inverter.

Some devices include the smart charger AND converter - some are just one or the other. The inverter is always separate (AFAIK).