Voltage drop at charger?

Frick

I have a Power Drive model 17930-11 charger. When I charge the cart in my garage the volts drop to 119 during a charge. I tried the charger in my barn, approx 100' from house, with a 10/3 extension cord and had 120 volts at the end. When I plugged the charger in to the cart it dropped to 113 volts so I unplugged it. I know that's not good to do, but I didn't want to damage the charger or cart. I am using a Kill A Watt power monitor like this one: http://killawattplus.com/ to check the volts/amps/killowat hours.

My question is, what is the least amount of volts under load can the charger operate on without doing damage to the charger/cart?

Thanks.

BGW

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jdunmyer

Frick,
I doubt very much that you'll hurt anything by running the charger on 113 volts. Most AC appliances are quite happy with voltages from 110 or a bit less up to 125 or a bit more.

You have a long run for the power, 100' to the barn, then an extension cord. How heavy is the wiring to the barn? It's not atypical to feed an outbuilding with #12 or #10 wire, and you're going to see some voltage drop in that long a run, given that the charger will draw about 10 amps when it first begins charging.

Frick

It's just a mini barn with no power, that's the reason for the cord. I am looking into running a 10/3 underground wire from the panel out to it. I think I will still have about the same drop at the end. I just wanted to know if 10/3would be big enough. My batteries were at about 70% when I plugged it in and the monitor showed 12.5 amps when it started. Thanks for the help.

sonicj

voltage fluctuation of the mains is normal (REL) and should be of little concern for charging your cart. consult the NFPA 70 for proper AWG for your distance and current needs.
-sj

Frick

Thanks, I'll check it out.

sonicj

np! heres a unrestricted pdf copy of the NFPA 70 <==right click, save as (127.4 MB courtesy http://bulk.resource.org/)

Frick

843 pages!!! Where do I look?

sonicj

lol... the index?

Frick

This may take awhile. Not sure of the terminology to search for.
Thanks again for the info. I would hate to burn up my charger when there's snow on the ground....kids want to go sledding!

Fishing Dude

The 113 is normal house hold current, as far as running the wire that far burried it needs a disconect to it.