charging batteries

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
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Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
I have two coolers in my van I run off of 12V DC also a 2000 watt inverter.
I can crank the van to charge the batteries back, 2 of them, or hook to the CJ with my extension cord for the Ready welder. ( I have quick connects on them both. I have no idea what the amp rating is on the van, the CJ is a single wire 160 amp.
I assume(we all know what that can do) the best way to see where I am in the charge is an AMP gage. if there is a better way, please tell me. I would like to know when the batteries are full charged and not over do it(waste fuel)

Also, can someone shed some light as to how to wire in an AMP gage. Something I have never understood.
Thanks
 
An ammeter needs to be wired in Series. (voltage leaves battery, flows through gauge, then to load)
The guage will look like a switch in a circuit diagram.
For this reason an ammeter needs a heavier gauge wire than a standard volt meter to be done properly.

You probably already know this, but deep charging a battery off a car alternator (especially repeatedly) is not the ideal long term solution. The alternator charges too quickly for severly drained batteries and is designed to to simply keep batteries topped off. This will cause excess sulfitation in the cell.

Now WILL an alternator charge a dead battery, sure we have all jumped a car off and driven it. But it is not ideal, over time it will reduce the battery life, as well as the available voltage and kVA. And is also the #1 cause of batery explosion.

Sorry for the extra info, just a PSA :lol:
 
Why not hook a standard battery charger into the output of the inverter? Bingo! Perpetual energy! :lol:

If you want to see how much charge the batteries are still taking, an ammeter is the best way..

If you want to see what's left in 'em, a voltmeter is best.
 
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