Charging batteries in the car

Gunter

Draganflyer X4
I have a potential job coming up where I need to run at least 15 batteries dry in a day. I only have 6 and don't want to invest in another 9 batteries costing probably £750.

I was thinking of purchasing a leisure battery which I could use to run the battery charger. I can charge 3 at a time with this charger. (I could run it off the main car battery, but that would mean I have to keep the car running continuously and at £1.40/L running a V6 doesn't come cheap!)

So a leisure battery would costs £60-80 not too serious and I'm sure it could handle 10-15 amps. The thing is, can I charge this battery with a cigarette lighter socket? I have a socket in the boot of the Chrysler, but I would need something intelligent to charge it with...

Also, it would be good to have a device I could connect to the battery to constantly monitor the voltage...any ideas?

Your thoughts please!

Thanks, Gunter.
 

gadgetkeith

likes gadgets
hi Gunter sent you a pm

what you are looking for is a caravan charging circuit

look online for (towsure) or if you have a camping or trailer centre near by

this will keep a spare or second batt charged while you drive etc

then just use it for your rc stuff chargers etc with no fear of draining your main down

keith

also if you make sure the second batt is same as main you have an emergency backup batt
 
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jes1111

Active Member
Thank you, Gunter, for asking the question and thank you, Keith, for answering it. It never occurred to me that there was any way other than keeping the engine running. Nice one!
 

WillM

Member
Charging through the cigarette lighter is NOT a good idea. Those plugs are typically fused at 5-10 Amps and their wires are very thin. I don't know about you, but I routinely pull 15-20 amps while charging a single battery. The other issue is fire. I recently saw some pictures of a charging error that happened inside of a car. The owner was flying while charging and came back to find that his car was completely burnt to bits.

Carrying an extra automotive battery could work. Batteries that hold 50+ Amp hours are available, but they can be big and are heavy (50+ pounds). Something like the Optima Battery Yellow Top, which is designed for large amp draws and reliable recharging, is probably a good choice. If you wanted more capacity or even quicker charger, you could run 2 of them in series, if your charger can handle 24v input.

Either way is good because you could do the charging from outside of the car. If you are going to use your automobile's battery, or if you are going to add a 2nd battery to the car, you could use jumper cables to keep the charger & lipos away from your car.
 



Gunter

Draganflyer X4
Thanks for the answers guys, I'll have a look into it a bit more when I get home tonight, but it looks like a viable option. I can get a leisure battery for £70 (80A battery) and I will speak to my local caravan shop about charging solutions.


Regards,

Gunter.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
maplins do 60W @12v solar panels....a few of them should keep your spare battery charged up, make a mount for the car roof ;)


Ross
 

AIRCONROB

Member
Thanks for the answers guys, I'll have a look into it a bit more when I get home tonight, but it looks like a viable option. I can get a leisure battery for £70 (80A battery) and I will speak to my local caravan shop about charging solutions.


Regards,

Gunter.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You want somthing like this Gunter, cheap and easy to install. I fit hundreads of them, they work well.View attachment 3407
 

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Charger

Buy a simple 300W inverter, you can get them from all over the place, connect to your car/leisure battery (you can get a good second hand one from a scrap yard for under £20) and your lipo charger to the inverter. A fully charged 80AHr car battery will last you all day no problem.
 

Kari

Member
I have Optima yellow top 55Ah and it really is great. Mostly i've been using it for work when shooting (photos) in outside locations. I've been running laptop and camera equipment with it for now but i'm planning to charge my lipos and keeping beers cold with it next summer when i'll spend whole days flying cinestar :)
 

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