Pd 9145 with charge wizard

[Kpackpackkelley]

So my batteries are charging let’s say at 13.6 volts how many amps am I charging with ? I know most battery charges with 2 , 6 or 10 amps but I don’t understand what my pd is charging at.

[wa8yxm]

By the way when my PD-8180 (with wizard) Died... of old age... I could not (Being as it was Sunday when I discovered it) get a new one. So I got a Deltran Battery Tender.. DELUX This puppy does 1-2 amp "Tender" charge, fully automatic

20 amp "Battery Boost" charges up to 14.1 volts then drops to "Tender mode" must be manually initated

And 70 amps Jump Start Assist, likewise must be manually selected

I've not used the 70 amp setting but the 20 amp took over 20 hours to re-fill my batteries that day.

Oh Wi-Fi to my smart phone so I can control it from elsewhere, or to the internet control it from ANYWHERE.

That was Sunday
On monday after i hit full I unplugged and drove to Teknonsha, MI where I overnighted at the T/A Truck plaza. For history buffs,. this was originally the TEKON Truck plaza, founded by a Truck Driver (Voshen) Farmer (Fousel) and a Barber (Mack) it was the first full service truck stop where TRUCKERS were 1st and if it got busy the sign "Drivers only" went up and the public was turned away... Pilot, Flying-J, T/A Loves all patterened after this station (and yes Ed Voshen's youngest son was a classmate of mine)

On Tuesday (Halloween) I drove up to Marshall, mi. Old 27 and Industrial, walked into the building carrying the old 9180, a woman said "Can I help you" I pointed to it and said "DEAD". She pointed to a set of double doors "in there".

Walked in and a woman said "Can I help you" I pointed to the box and said "Dead" (Sounds like refrain 2 don't it) she said "on my desk" and a short time later I walked out with a brand new Factory Refurb for 248 dollars. Back to Tekonsha (I was only driving the car to marshall) hooked up two wires, plugged it in, Nestled it in place and on the road again for South Carolina. Where it is currently keeping battery charged.

Hope you enjoyed. learned a few things (like where the fuses hide) when I pulled the old one out.. I may fix it when I get the round-tuit. (I am, after all, trained in electroincs per that document in my computer bag).

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Mr Wizard provided a link to a company that sells digital ammeters that utilize a ring donut pick up coil instead of a bulky exposed shunt. Pass the cable to be measured (permanently) through the donut, switch on power to the little red wire (12 volts, the mating black wire goes to chassis negative) and presto, an ammeter for you!

[Kpackpackkelley]

Ok I see the 13.6 is to maintain. I had a truck battery go down and my battery charger quit so I’m I’m trying to use my trailer pd to charge it. I set it to the 14.4. Thanks everybody.

[wa8yxm]

At 13.6 volts your batteries should be in FLOAT mode, neither charging nor discharging, IN BULK mode (The 9145 with wizard shoudl be kicking about 14.6 measured at the 9145, less at the batteries) It can kick out up to 45 amps.

The 4 Stages of charging (YES 4)

Bulk as I recall the 9145 tries to put out 14.6 and up to 45 amps. as the batteries charge this will taper down till it gets to Absorption which is still 14.6 volts but only a few amps.

Once the proper Max Voltage is sensed the thing switches to float, 13.6 volts, and at this point it provides power to the house.. Ideally keeping the batteries from doing so.

I have a 9180 with wizard

Oh the 4th stage,, after about 20 hours of FLOAT it will kick into an special limited overcharge mode (De-sulfate or Equlize depending on who is talking) this lasts. as I recall about 15 minutes, and it does seem to work.

My original batteries lasted 9 years with abuse (Occasional discharge to you don't want to know how low)

The new ones have also done that .. once, and I JUST added water..FOR THE FIRST TIME,, they will be 3 years old next month and I JUST added water..

The Wizard is doing it's job of babying these power holders.

If you have flooded wet cell batteries (IE: GC-2) a better choice.. I'v ve yet to find. Let's see if I can find the pdf. Yup here it is. company link


https://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_details/charge_wizard_9105.html

[mobeewan]

Also depends on power usage for lights, furnace, water pump fridge control board, parasite loads, etc. They are all using part of the DC power produced by the converter.

[ependydad]

For the information that you're asking, I get that from my Victron battery monitor:
https://www.amazon.com/Victron-BMV-712-Battery-Monitor-Bluetooth/dp/B075RTSTKS/

It tells me volts of the batteries + amps going in/coming out.

I find it invaluable to know the state of my batteries.

[time2roll]

Clamp the meter around all wires going to either battery terminal.
s/b less than 1 amp if the battery is charged and in good shape.

[Kpackpackkelley]

Thank you. I have a clamp on meter ac or dc how would I check how many amps I’m charging with at a given time ?

[time2roll]

Up to 45 amps. Will be reduced depending on state of charge and the wire that connects the battery and PD9145. If the battery is a bit low the wizard should put up to 14.4 volts on the battery for a faster boost charge for up to four hours. May take a bit for the voltage to climb to 14.4.

[DrewE]

You need an ammeter to determine that accurately. It's not a constant number, and could be anywhere from 0 A to a (nominal) maximum of 45 A. It depends on the state of charge of the batteries, the actual applied voltage, the physical characteristics of the battery bank, and various other such things. (It's also not possible to set the charge current and voltage independently of each other; for any given set of battery conditions, the charge voltage will determine the charge current or vice-versa.)

Incidentally, normal battery chargers are not constant current supplies, and their charge current will vary some too. In particular, as the battery gets towards full charge, the current will taper off.