Club 80-90 Forums

right i want to add a charger to the van when on hook up but i was always told if charging a battery with a charger to take the screw or lid off the battery for the gases to get out

now thats when im confused

can someone point me to a charger that can be left on with no fuss etc for a 110 ah leisure battery as the bloke in our local caravan type shop was trying to sell me a £80 silver box which was a zig copy

Batteries get charged by the alternator whilst the engine's running, right? Without any venting caps removed...

If you're slapping it on a cheap old low-tech charger until it bubbles merrily, then yes, but you'd be putting a much more intelligent charger in, designed to properly manage and condition the battery,.not just throw amps at it blindly. I'm happy with the Ctek mxs5 I fitted back in December.

Numax are pretty good a reasonable cost, The 10A one suffices for most uses.
http://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-Leisure-Ba ... P6127.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you look at the cell caps you'll probably find they have vent holes anyway, I think it is a throw-back to many years ago when they did not.

now i have one of the lidl specials they do every year would that be ok to wire in permantly

miggs wrote:now i have one of the lidl specials they do every year would that be ok to wire in permantly

Yes

Fit an inline fuse on the +ve output wire close to the battery though

ghost123uk wrote:

miggs wrote:now i have one of the lidl specials they do every year would that be ok to wire in permantly

Yes

Fit an inline fuse on the +ve output wire close to the battery though

superb what sort of rating for the fuse

bigherb wrote:Numax are pretty good a reasonable cost, The 10A one suffices for most uses.
http://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-Leisure-Ba ... P6127.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A most excelent charger... Good call

miggs wrote:

ghost123uk wrote:

miggs wrote:now i have one of the lidl specials they do every year would that be ok to wire in permantly

Yes

Fit an inline fuse on the +ve output wire close to the battery though

superb what sort of rating for the fuse

Same rating as the maximum output of the charger

I've just got one of these and it seems to do the job nicely http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... 06_s00_i00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That one is only 3.8 amps maximum output though...

Personally I would want double that, but of course it depends on what you want it for, a quick top up on a hook up, or more of a "maintenance" charge at home.

ghost123uk wrote:That one is only 3.8 amps maximum output though...

Personally I would want double that, but of course it depends on what you want it for, a quick top up on a hook up, or more of a "maintenance" charge at home.

It's a valid point but I tend to use it more for long term maintenance. I rarely bother with a hook up on site as I have 2 lesiure batteries, very little power draw (LED lighting, charging a phone and music basically) and I have a solar top up system (which I suspect makes little difference but it makes me feel good when I set it up!).

LeeME3 wrote: I rarely bother with a hook up on site as I have 2 lesiure batteries, very little power draw (LED lighting, charging a phone and music basically) and I have a solar top up system (which I suspect makes little difference but it makes me feel good when I set it up!).

Exactly the same as me there ! (except I only have one leisure battery, but it's a good one)

My (newish) Solar will put out 3.5 amps in bright sun, but drops to a couple of hundred milliamps or less when there is cloud i.e. most of the time And they advertise it as having "Good dull weather performance"

The low amp (3.5amps) Ctek copies will do the job (as you describe your usage) but in general, when recommending a 'permenant' charger, the simple maths dictates that you should fit a unit which exceeds the maximum possible draw of the setup to prevent a flat battery senario whilst 'ON CHARGE' so to speak.
Think about it....even if you don't usually have the 12v side of the fridge running, the stereo, the interior LED's, a laptop running off your 12volt socket (via an in car adapter) there is a possibility that all of a sudden you have a 10 - 12amp draw, far exceeding the input charge from a 3.5amp Ctek.....
Under these (rare) circumstances the leisure battery is in DEFISITE (discharging) even though the charger is plugged in. Eventually the battery will go flat.
This is worrying as eventually all those consumers will be running directly from the charger causing it to overload and or overheat.

Martin

The C tek charger eventually switches off the supply Martin, although you're correct the battery will be past the recall as the charger will crutch it down past 11 V