24 volt charger

[Darrendude]

I just got my 'ebay' 24 volt 5 amp charger this evening. Looks like new for $30. I is an Invacare. Originally for a power wheel chair. 24 volts 5 amps. It has a 12 hr timer on it as well. Question, how many hrs do I charge the batteries for? I have two 12 volt deepcycle trolling batteries wired in series. Should this charger be good enough for my application? It sez 'automatic' on the charger, but I dont know if the 'automatic' is just that it has a timer. On the back it sez 'dont over charge batteries'<br />Thanks

 

[Triton II]

Re: 24 volt charger

How many amp hours are the batteries rated for? It sounds like the charger switches itself off "automatically" when the timer cuts out. So if it provides 5 amps it would fully charge a flat 5 amp hour 24 volt battery in one hour... a 10 amp hour in two. As the 12 volters are wired in series they behave just like a single 24 volt battery (I think) so the maths should be pretty simple

 

[Darrendude]

Re: 24 volt charger

The batteries have 115 amp hrs each . Is that right? That would be charging for 46 hrs. That doesn't sound right. hmmm

 

[chuckz]

Re: 24 volt charger

No, 23 hours if both batteries were completely discharged.

 

[Darrendude]

Re: 24 volt charger

Chuck<br />So after a day on the lake, I wouldnt have to worry about letting it charge for 12 hrs on the timer? The timer only goes for 12 hrs max

 

[Darrendude]

Re: 24 volt charger

What should the voltage be at (per battery) before I should charge or stop using? I have a FF wire to one of the batteries and it has a voltage meter, so I can monitor the voltage in one of the batteries that is in series. I assume that the batteries will equal out since they are wired in series, so a voltage reading on one of them should give me a good idea on battery condition.<br /><br />Thanks all

 

[chuckz]

Re: 24 volt charger

A fully charged battery when first taken off the charger should read 13.2 volts. If allowed to sit for a couple of hours the voltage will decay to just over 12 volts.<br /><br />If you know how much current you are drawing from the batteries and for how long you can calculate the discharge (Amps X hours) You need to put the same amp-hours back in that you discharged.

 

[llfish]

Re: 24 volt charger

Wheelchair should use deep-cycle so the charger will work on your batteries. If the charger is not for deep-cycle batteries it will not work properly.

 

[Darrendude]

Re: 24 volt charger

Thanks for the input guys. At what voltage (on the meter) should I pull up the trolling motor and call it a day? I am just trying to figure how to gauge when my batteries are getting low. And how low can I go with out causing damage to the batteries. Remember I have a fish finder with a voltage meter on it, attached to one of the 12volt batt that is wired in series.<br /><br />Thanks again

 

[cmyers_uk]

Re: 24 volt charger

Darren,<br /><br />After you have taken the surface charge of the battery i.e run the motor for 30 seconds first if its been on the charger<br /><br />>= 12.6 = 100%<br />12.4v = 75%<br />12.2v = 50%<br />12.0v = 25%<br />11.9v = 0%<br /><br />While this gives a state of charge it does not tell you whether it can deliver the current you want. <br /><br />Regards<br /><br />Chris

 

[Darrendude]

Re: 24 volt charger

Chris thank you , But these batteries are not connected to the motor. They are up front and are connected to the FishFinder and trolling motor only.