Chargers and Amp Draw - not output

[Volt_Ampere]

Which is why many higher current motors like pool pumps have power factor correction to reduce the power usage at the meter. Power factor on some chargers is not very good by the way.

[j.p.f.]

I just hooked my 36v powerwise charger to my kill-a-watt meter on a slightly discharged cart, I get 7.75 amp draw [804watts] with a charging rate of 17 amps to the battery bank.
I guess the rate of charge and the amperage draw will both drop as the cart gets closer to full charge.
I'll try this again when I have a cart with say 20-30% discharged batteries.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

Which is why many higher current motors like pool pumps have power factor correction to reduce the power usage at the meter. Power factor on some chargers is not very good by the way.

Some industries with a lot of electric motor that run all the time and other 24/7 inductive loads, add a bank of capacitors for PF correction.

That isn't practical for a typical household electrical usage, but using capacitor-run motors for pool pumps, HVAC fans and other high amp motors that run intermittently, rather than capacitor-start motors, helps you get what you are paying for from the electric power provider.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by j.p.f.

I just hooked my 36v powerwise charger to my kill-a-watt meter on a slightly discharged cart, I get 7.75 amp draw [804watts] with a charging rate of 17 amps to the battery bank.
I guess the rate of charge and the amperage draw will both drop as the cart gets closer to full charge.
I'll try this again when I have a cart with say 20-30% discharged batteries.

Kill-a-Watt meters display actual power usage (Watts), apparent power usage (Volt-Amps - "VA") and calculates the power factor (PF) of what is plugged into them.

Please post the PF for your Powerwise 28115 charger.

It is the Ferroresonant Transformer type and has a capacitor attached to the transformer, but I suspect the PF will be in the 75% to 80% range.

I'll check the PF of a 36V DPI charger later today and post it here also.

[j.p.f.]

I looked at the pf as it was charging yesterday but didn't really pay it much attention .
the cart wasn't discharged much it was only taking 17 amps and in two hrs it was down to about 3 amps draw and 5 amps charge rate.