Forum Discussion
BFL13
May 12, 2018Explorer II
I got the idea of clamping on first then powering up, when doing it the other way around kept frying the inrush thermistor in my charger. Much discussion on here led to how it was easier on the charger to clamp on first.
Meanwells and other chargers may do better wrt that. The charger design I have was changed with different size thermistors and other mods, so now they can handle it all better and can survive not clamping on first episodes.
I is moot when the charger is a fixed installation such as a converter in an RV. It is when the charger is a portable with clamps that it could matter.
It is difficult to have the adjustable voltage charger in a fixed installation able to have its voltage set with the battery disconnected, unless there is a disconnect switch in the picture.
I beat that by marking some favourite voltages around the dial with the charger disconnected before installing it. Then I can dial it to the marks instead of using the voltmeter. The voltmeter then shows the progress of the recharge along with the ammeter showing when the AGM is full and it is time to drop the voltage to Float (using the mark for that voltage).
Meanwells and other chargers may do better wrt that. The charger design I have was changed with different size thermistors and other mods, so now they can handle it all better and can survive not clamping on first episodes.
I is moot when the charger is a fixed installation such as a converter in an RV. It is when the charger is a portable with clamps that it could matter.
It is difficult to have the adjustable voltage charger in a fixed installation able to have its voltage set with the battery disconnected, unless there is a disconnect switch in the picture.
I beat that by marking some favourite voltages around the dial with the charger disconnected before installing it. Then I can dial it to the marks instead of using the voltmeter. The voltmeter then shows the progress of the recharge along with the ammeter showing when the AGM is full and it is time to drop the voltage to Float (using the mark for that voltage).
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