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WAS: (ET) 36V Charger - NOW: Soneil charger experiences & advantages, Group order?
Here some experiences of using these chargers for the last
year:
I have about .5 acres to mow with my E20, this takes roughly
about 65 Ah out of the batteries which I replenish with
three Soneil 12V 3A chargers in about 20-24 hours.
I only use my tractors about once a week for this much, all
the other usages are less and the 1 day recharge is not a problem.
I have two E20s, one with AGM batteries that cannot be charged
safely with the built-in charger and thus need these smart chargers
and one with Trojan T105s. I have turned the shut off voltage
of each charger to about 14.4V (originally it is at 14.7V) which
prevents the AGM batteries from charging.
I usually connect the smart chargers right after I mow and leave them
connected for several days, as they keep the batteries at 13.6-13.8V
for a true float.
Jim is right that the small 3A chargers can take a long time if they
need to replenish a lot of energy in large golf-cart batteries. However,
from personal experience I can say that the 3A model puts out enough
to get Trojan T105 batteries to gas and equalize.
If you intent to mow a large lot and need the tractor to mow again
right the next day the small 3A chargers are not sufficient. However,
Soneil also makes a 5A and a 7A version of the 12V charger (you need 3).
Plus, all Soneil chargers are constant current chargers which means
they charge at their full rated current until the battery is almost full
then taper back. Basic transformer based chargers will start tapering
back almost immediately (I think the standard ET charger doesn't put
out more than a few Amperes once the batteries reach 14V, but it dumps
a whole lot (around 20A) into them a the beginning of the charge)
Soneil claims that their constant current charger equivalent in charging
time to a standard transformer based charger with twice the rated output
power. E.g. the 3A model soneil is equivalent to a 6A standard, or the 7A
Soneil equivalent to a 14A standard.
So in summary, I am very happy with my Soneil chargers (I guess you can
tell from the length of this email) , here the advantages as I see them
- Small and light, can be mounted on the ET or moved around (I also
use them to charge the kid's electric jeep, my car battery and some
other auxiliary batteries I have sitting around)
- Long MTBF
- very simple to use, just plug in and forget, your batteries are always
kept fully charged and the float voltage prevents sulfation and promotes
long battery life
- inexpensive if you use the 12V chargers (e.g. about $100 for a 3Amp
system
consisting of 3 chargers, probably about $250 for a 7 Amp system)
- better equalization and care of individual batteries as each set of two
(12v)
is charged separately. So no worries about tapping the pack for the lift
and
lights or a cheap 110V inverter. (However, disadvantage is that you need
to
make sure/control that all batteries got charged ... Chris Z.'s simple
battery
monitor would help you detect an undercharged battery but the status
lights on
the chargers also help)
- Probably more efficient than the built in charger which is a
ferroresonant
charger that is not used anymore today due to high inefficiencies, plus
no
worries about long extension cords and overloads due to the lower
charging
current
- multiple application, if you don't mount the chargers in the tractor than
it
is easy to use the same (set of three 12V) chargers to do multiple tasks.
You can even connect them in parallel e.g. to make a 9A 12V charger that
should charge a battery in the same time a basic 18A 12V charger does.
Drawback:
- if you have 3 chargers and don't mount them permanently you have to
hook up 3 wires instead of one. If you mount them permanently then there
are no worries, just plug in the power cord and you're done.
Ok, so I hope this helps. As a final note, as I am moving to Germany I am
changing to the international version of the Soneil chargers and thus have
three 12V 3A (1206) chargers (not quite a year old) that I may part with.
Send me email if interested. Also if you are interested in higher powered
Soneil chargers: I will be placing an order (prob. for the 5A 12V version)
in the next few days and we may be able to get a better price if we order
together. Anybody who's interested please just let me know.
Markus
1970 Elec-trak E20
1972 Elec-trak E20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu
> [mailto:elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu] On Behalf Of Jim Coate
> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 7:12 AM
> To: Elec-Trak
> Subject: Re: (ET) 36V Charger
>
>
> These are 1, 2, and 4 amp chargers and as such are too small for the
> golf cart type batteries usually used in ETs.
>
> - If you have used the ET fairly heavily, the batteries will need
> 100-150 A-hrs replaced, which would take 25-150 hours to complete the
> bulk charge and then a few more hours to top off... ie DAYS until
> completion.
>
> - to get batteries of this size to "gas" for equalization,
> around 3 amps
> is generally needed. So the 4 amp model is the only one big enough.
>
> Or changing my mind a little, for those who don't use the ET
> very often
> and/or for long run times, the 4 amp model may be big enough to be
> useful. It does have the advantage of providing float charge
> capabilities (although not temperature compensated). The 1-
> and 2- amp
> version are just too small to be useful.
>
>
> WRENT IOUR wrote:
> > would this work? http://soneil.com/36V_chargers.htm
> >
>
> --
> Jim Coate
> 1970's Elec-Trak's
> 1998 Chevy S-10 NiMH BEV
> 1997 Chevy S-10 NGV Bi-Fuel
> http://www.eeevee.com
>
>
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