Leisure Battery Charging (1 Viewer)

[CORNHYM]

Advice please : I've no solar but if my AGM battery gets low could I plug my CETEK battery charger into the AC plug socket on my 'ALLPOWER' 500w portable lithium pack ?
{ I'm presuming that the CETEK would act as a regulator similar to a solar regulator}

 

[RogerIvy]

As long as your power pack produces “normal” 230v and your charger runs on 230v then no problem. Inefficient but if it’s your only way …

 

[pappajohn]

Your 500w power pack will be dead long before the leisure battery is anywhere near charged.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[autorouter]

Yes, it's a good way to top up your AGM battery. You can calculate how many amp-hours (Ah) at 12V the power pack can hold. Look at the battery capacity in watt-hours (Wh), not the inverter watts output. If the battery spec says its capacity is 500 watt-hours (Wh) then it can hold 500 / 12 = 41Ah. That is the maximum Ah that it could theoretically put into the AGM battery. In reality it would only put in about 70% to 80% of that, so more like 30Ah to 33Ah. So you might have to refill the power pack several times to completely fill a big battery.

And CTEK chargers are in my opinion one of the best. Perfect for maintaining batteries in top condition.

 

[CORNHYM]

Thanks for the helpful info.guys, I've looked at the power pack spec.and it it 606Wh/12 = 50Ah.
I thought that I would probably only use it to top up the leisure battery if it got too low to avoid damage to it etc.

 

[autorouter]

Another way lead-acid based batteries degrade is if they are not charged up to 100% every month or so. With that power pack you have everything you need to solve that problem. Get the batteries up to around 100%, then take a full power pack and let it do a full 'absorption' charge. This might take several hours, so you could leave it overnight. If you do that every month or so that should keep them in good shape.

What happens is, when a battery discharges, the plate materials (lead, lead oxide) change into soft gooey lead sulfate. When it recharges, the lead sulfate turns back into the plate materials again. If the lead sulfate is left for several weeks, it gradually crystallises, and it's impossible to turn it back into the plate materials again. So the battery gradually loses capacity. Charging to 100% gets rid of any remaining sulfate, so it doesn't have chance to crystallise.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[CORNHYM]

Thanks for the information and advice I will try this.