Re: (ET) Batteries

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

For those who would like to "roll their own," here's an easy to build, low 
cost cycle dropping charge controller.  You should be able to add this to 
the GE and make it an automatic charger.  

http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/charger2.asp?showcomments=all

This is essentially the same circuit I scarfed from an engineering manual 
in 
the mid-1980s to make my first homebrew automatic charger.  It's also the 
one used for the charge controller in the early-80s CVI Comuta-Cars (not 
that that's much of an endorsement).

http://www.evdl.org/docs/c_car_charger.jpg

I haven't tried this charge controller with the GE charger (I'm not even 
sure I have a working GE charger any more), but it's worked fine with 
other 
linear charger designs.  However, I'm an EE dropout and strictly an 
experimenter / hacker, so if you're an EE and think it won't work (or have 
improvements), feel free to shoot me down as necessary.

The circuit referenced is a 12v charger.  The voltage reference is D3, a 
5.6 
volt zener diode, with R1, R2, and R3 as a voltage divider.  To make it a 
36v charger, tinker with the values of R1  and R3. You might also have to 
use a higher voltage for D3.  I think I may have used a 12v zener in a 24v 
charger at one time, but my memory's kind of hazy on that point.

You'll also need to switch out Q6 for a triac with a much higher current 
capacity (maybe 25-30 amps).  Mount it on a heatsink.  Make C1 at least a 
100 PIV cap instead of 25v.

Omit D1 and the transformer, connecting the GE charger in their place.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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