Q: Charging batteries

[R Franklin]

I have 6 car batteries linked up in series, each one connected pos to neg.
This provides me with 72v.

So far, every time I need to charge these with a car battery charger, I am
having to disconnect the whole lot and do them all individually.

Would I be able to just link up my charger to the whole lot as connected and
leave them charging for longer?

Alternatively, would it be possible to connect the terminals with diodes so
that I can hook up the charge clips to each battery one at a time without
having to remove them from the circuit?

I don't know much about electronics. If I need to use diodes to do this,
what sort would do - the motor they are powering is 72v 4KW.

Cheers - Keith

 

[John Popelish]

R Franklin wrote:

I have 6 car batteries linked up in series, each one connected pos to neg.
This provides me with 72v.

So far, every time I need to charge these with a car battery charger, I am
having to disconnect the whole lot and do them all individually.

Would I be able to just link up my charger to the whole lot as connected and
leave them charging for longer?

Alternatively, would it be possible to connect the terminals with diodes so
that I can hook up the charge clips to each battery one at a time without
having to remove them from the circuit?

I don't know much about electronics. If I need to use diodes to do this,
what sort would do - the motor they are powering is 72v 4KW.

If the battery string is isolated from ground, and/or if the charger
output is isolated, you can just clip the charger to one battery at a
time with no modification. It might simplify things if the motor were
off during the charging process.
--
John Popelish

 

[Dimitrij Klingbeil]

"Costas Vlachos" <c-X-vlachos@hot-X-mail.com> wrote in message
news:bo3e02$okc$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

Not sure about charging the whole lot when in series... You'd need a
special
charger capable of producing 6 x the voltage of a standard charger.

Or 6 identical chargers in series ...

 

[Costas Vlachos]

"R Franklin" <r.franklin1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:7N9pb.952$3h5.7762@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net...

I have 6 car batteries linked up in series, each one connected pos to neg.
This provides me with 72v.

So far, every time I need to charge these with a car battery charger, I am
having to disconnect the whole lot and do them all individually.

Would I be able to just link up my charger to the whole lot as connected
and
leave them charging for longer?

Alternatively, would it be possible to connect the terminals with diodes
so
that I can hook up the charge clips to each battery one at a time without
having to remove them from the circuit?

I don't know much about electronics. If I need to use diodes to do this,
what sort would do - the motor they are powering is 72v 4KW.

Cheers - Keith

You don't need to disconnect them from the circuit when charging one by one.
Only the motor must be disconnected. Then, just hook the charger to each one
individually (without disconnecting from the rest). As long as the circuit
is broken in one place (i.e., there is no load), there will be no problem.

Not sure about charging the whole lot when in series... You'd need a special
charger capable of producing 6 x the voltage of a standard charger.

cheers,
Costas

 

[Peter Bennett]

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 16:02:14 -0000, "R Franklin"
<r.franklin1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

I have 6 car batteries linked up in series, each one connected pos to neg.
This provides me with 72v.

So far, every time I need to charge these with a car battery charger, I am
having to disconnect the whole lot and do them all individually.

Would I be able to just link up my charger to the whole lot as connected and
leave them charging for longer?

No - a car battery charger is designed to charge a 12 volt battery.
It won't produce enough voltage to charge two or more batteries in
series. It will, however, charge several batteries in parallel (all
positive terminals connected together, and all negative terminals
connected together).

Alternatively, would it be possible to connect the terminals with diodes so
that I can hook up the charge clips to each battery one at a time without
having to remove them from the circuit?

No diodes needed - just connect the charger's leads directly to the
battery to be charged.

You could charge all batteries simultaneously, using six chargers, one
connected to each battery.


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

 

[the Wiz]

"R Franklin" <r.franklin1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

I have 6 car batteries linked up in series, each one connected pos to neg.
This provides me with 72v.

So far, every time I need to charge these with a car battery charger, I am
having to disconnect the whole lot and do them all individually.

Would I be able to just link up my charger to the whole lot as connected and
leave them charging for longer?

Alternatively, would it be possible to connect the terminals with diodes so
that I can hook up the charge clips to each battery one at a time without
having to remove them from the circuit?

I don't know much about electronics. If I need to use diodes to do this,
what sort would do - the motor they are powering is 72v 4KW.

Cheers - Keith

If you can turn the motor off long enough (10-12 hours), this unit would
probably work:
http://www.mpja.com/productview.asp?product=6644+PS
output 75 volts DC, 6.6 amps; input 110/220 volts AC; US $172

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