2 amp trickle charger on 2ea 6v Batteries

[dutdut1981]

Ok I'm planning to convert to 48v this summer but the 48v charger is messing up my budget. My queston is, can I use a 2amp/1amp charger/maintainer to charge the other two batteries untill I can get the 48v charger. I want to use the small 2v charger becouse one, I already own one that I need to do something with and two, it turns it self on and off and will mount easy under the seat. This is the link to the charger http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=263602_304652

[Wynelocked]

Originally Posted by dutdut1981

Ok I'm planning to convert to 48v this summer but the 48v charger is messing up my budget. My queston is, can I use a 2amp/1amp charger/maintainer to charge the other two batteries untill I can get the 48v charger. I want to use the small 2v charger becouse one, I already own one that I need to do something with and two, it turns it self on and off and will mount easy under the seat. This is the link to the charger http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=263602_304652

Might take you a lifetime...but I dont know why not.I have charged them with a plain old 2/6/12v charger.Still takes a long time.

[scottyb]

I don't see this working well. The cart deep discharges the batteries and the charger will only trickle charge. You will need something a lot closer to the 15 to 20amps they need.

[madoc1]

go to harbor freight. nice chargers for $29 or less.

[COURTESYCART]

charging the batts at 2 amps will take about 3 days or so b4 they charge if they fully charge at all.

[scottyb]

Here is some good battery charging info:



Most battery manufacturers recommend sizing the charger at about 25% of the battery capacity (ah = amp hour capacity). Thus, a 100 ah battery would take about a 25 amp charger (or less). Larger chargers may be used to decrease charge time, but may decrease battery life. Smaller chargers are fine for long term floating, e.g. a 1 or 2 amp "smart charger" can be used for battery maintenance between higher amp cycle use. Some batteries specify 10% of capacity (.1 X C) as the charge rate, and while this doesn't hurt anything, a good microprocessor charger of the appropriate charge profile should be fine up to the 25% rate. You talk to different engineers, even at the same company, you get different answers.

Three Stage Battery Charging

The BULK stage involves about 80% of the recharge, wherein the charger current is held constant (in a constant current charger), and voltage increases. The properly sized charger will give the battery as much current as it will accept up to charger capacity (25% of battery capacity in amp hours), and not raise a wet battery over 125° F, or an AGM or GEL (valve regulated) battery over 100° F.

The ABSORPTION stage (the remaining 20%, approximately) has the charger holding the voltage at the charger's absorption voltage (between 14.1 VDC and 14.8 VDC, depending on charger set points) and decreasing the current until the battery is fully charged. Some charger manufacturers call this absorption stage an equalization stage. We don't agree with this use of the term. If the battery won't hold a charge, or the current does not drop after the expected recharge time, the battery may have some permanent sulphation.

The FLOAT stage is where the charge voltage is reduced to between 13.0 VDC and 13.8 VDC and held constant, while the current is reduced to less than 1% of battery capacity. This mode can be used to maintain a fully charged battery indefinitely.