PV Gap

Yvonne Said:

Will a power wheels charger charge a car battery?

We Answered:

Should work,best to leave it overnight.

Penny Said:

I need a lipo (lithiyum power) battery charger?

We Answered:

ebay or an RC hobby shop.

www.towerhobbies.com

Roger Said:

can i use car battery charger without the battery as a power supply?

We Answered:

You are trying to build a boom box?

Dude, give up and let the chinese dude make a dollar. Buy the walmart boom box and keep your 12v in the car

Felicia Said:

Can i connect my 12V DC battery charger to my computer power supply?

We Answered:

I wouldn't try it. You could damage your computer. It's easier just to get a 12 VDC power supply to connect your battery charger to.

Dwight Said:

Any different between power supply and battery charger?

We Answered:

For the brick/box part, no. They are both the same animal.

The circuitry around the battery charger to prevent battery overcharging and discharge (reverse flow) is contained within the box that holds the batteries (either the phone/camera/mp3 player or an actual battery charger).

If you plan to try and use one for the other, make sure the output voltages are the same, as well as the polarity (many larger pieces of eqt will have a little diagram next to the power plug-in). However, to decipher that, it'll unfortunately require another question.

The amperage should also be in the same ballpark, as that'll also affect the amount of juice the power supply designed to provide.

Good luck!

Everett Said:

a. What is the power the charger delivers? b. How much energy does it supply to the battery during the 1.5 hrs

We Answered:

A battery is essentially an electrochemical capacitor, so hook up a circuit and put a capacitor in there with those specs.

Charge:
I = ?Q/?t
4.4 Amperes = 4.4 Coulombs/second = ?Q Coulombs / (1.5 hours * 60 minutes/hour * 60 seconds/minute) = ?Q / 5400
4.4 = ?Q / 5400
?Q = 4.4*5400
?Q = 23760 Coulombs

Power:
P = IV
P = 4.4 Amperes * 1.5 Volts
P = 6.6 Watts

Christina Said:

What are the good reasons not to use a regulated 13.8-volt power supply as an automotive battery charger?

We Answered:

The power supply is made to put out as much current as it can in order to maintain its 13.8V, or whatever the set voltage is. A battery charger limits the current to perhaps 10 amps or so, and even then, when it detects that the battery is reaching full charge, may scale back the current. If the power supply continuously charges at 10A or more, after the battery is full, the energy has nowhere to go but heat, and the electrolyte will boil off.

This assumes you don't have a fancy, current-limited supply (like an HP bench supply). If you were going to go with one of those, though, just buying a battery charger would be a lot cheaper.

I suppose if it were an emergency, you could take a chance and use a power supply to charge a car battery, but you'd have to check the battery for State of Charge every few minutes.

Some battery chargers may only deliver 2A, or in the case of trickle chargers, just 50 mA to maintain the battery.