Re: (ET) charging time

["Travis Creswell" <ozsolar ipa net>]

The chargers available at your local Auto Parts store or any of the big box
retailers is lucky to put out half of its rating.  Often much less.

So assuming 220 Ah golf cart batteries that were at ~60% when you started
charging that comes out to 88 Ah/7.5 amp charge rate for almost 12 hrs to
refill them. (ignoring charge efficiency)  So that sounds about right.

I recently purchased a 12v charger rated at 25 amps from Sam's which had
proven to be exceptional.  It has a digital readout.  It really puts out 25
amps (confirmed with a Fluke 337) and will do so for many hours.  I topped
off a 1400 ah 12 volt battery with it several times. It took 7 hrs but kept
chugging along.  It was right at $50 and made by Vector (I'm pretty sure).

Travis Creswell
Joplin, MO

-----Original Message-----
From: elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu
[mailto:elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu] On Behalf Of Dan Childress
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 11:04 AM
To: Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: (ET) charging time

My charger is not working at present and as a temp measure I purchased a 15
amp charger.  Connected it to two 6 volt batteries (12volts).  Batteries
were new, used approx 20 min to check out the tractor.  It took in excess 
of
12 hours to charge the two batteries.  Is this what I can expect?  May need
to get a larger charger.
Dan
E-14
E-15