Club 80-90 Forums

Thinking for trying to make my own battery charger for when we are hooked up camping, aka zig unit.

Has any done this, found this power supply shown below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12V-10A-Car-Lead- ... p1638.m122

Steve,
Would this be a better option?
HERE
Available from several traders.
Mike

I always wondered if I could use my normal battery charger from hook-up while still using the battery to power my 12v lights etc. Is there any reason you can't just use a normal battery charger?

malOr,
Be interesting to see what replies you get to that question.
Friend of mine who has his own little garage business just up the road had a battery explode in his face a year or two back. Needed hospital treatment and later some plastic surgery. Shortly after, I also had a battery explode (overnight) in the engine compartment of my bay window van. It was on a 2 amp charge in the garage with the vent caps off, usual crocodile clips securely attached, something I have done for many years, but for some reason, a little spark must have ignited the Hydrogen / Oxygen mixture and all I had was a pool of acid and bits of plastic for my troubles.
I think in a lived in van it could be a bit of a hazard to have clips onto the battery. They could easily be knocked as you move around and possibly cause a short. That is assuming your battery(s) is/are in the under seat position and not in the engine compartment. The little Black and Decker, which I only saw on line today, if wired directly would I think at least keep the battery charge topped up and would not overcharge and cause a lot of gassing. Whether 2 amps would be sufficient depends on what you run from the battery circuit and for how long I guess. Was just a thought.
I have a small battery charger to which I have wired a male plug that fits into the cigarette lighter socket. This way it is some distance from the battery when charging and it is very convenient to connect and remove. Handy for the chonologically challenged (like me).
Been using it for some years now with no problems, but not while camping in the van.
Mike

malor, yes you can

I want to hardwire something to the camper, like a zig unit which i keep seeing on ebay but are always more than i want to pay.

The the one on that link wouldnt be powerfull enough.

the one in the link is 10A, which is a very good sized supply! it will also supply charge to both your starter battery and your leisure battery dependant upon which needs it most, this in it's self is not something that a lot of zig type units do!

the unit in the link is similar to the ones used in profesional conversions and as such are designed to have an out put of upto 10A constantly, this can then be used to charge your battery (ies) while at the same timepowering your lights, heater, stereo etc!

as for using a normal car battery charger this can be and is done by lots of people many on this forum. yes in the odd case problems can occur but the same can be said of gas and electricity, but we still have themin our vans!

personally i think a proper charger (like the link) would be better, but if you go down the car batt charger route, hard wire it via a double pole isolator switch (so it can be completely dissconnected from the battery at the push of a switch) and use a good intellegent or automatic charger, this way it will turn it's self off when charging is complete - over charging is often the cause of battery explosion!