[Elecraft] battery charging question

Tue Dec 23 16:27:01 2003

There are several ways to limit the current. Here is a simple one: Place =
a 12V automobile headlamp in series with the battery. Set the PS to 14V. =
The lamp will be about 1/2 ohm cold. Connected to a discharged Gel Cell =
the initial charging current will be around 5 amps. If your supply can =
handle this it will work. When the current drops to 100 mA it's charged. =
If your PS cannot supply the initial charging current use a smaller =
lamp, such as an automobile brake lamp.

   Dave WX7G=20

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of John Cooper
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 2:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Elecraft] battery charging question

What precautions do you need to take charging a 35AH Gel Cel with a =
power supply that is not current limiting?  I believe Ive been told to =
use a curent limiting supply to keep it under 1amp, but I dont have one. =
 Ive so far just used my power supply to charge 7AH batterys for bout =
48hrs at 14V and this has worked fine.  I assume I can charge this big =
35AH for bout 48Hrs also. =20

Course when you hook it up to the supply it backfeeds before turning on =
the the supply ie the meters light and show the voltage on the battery, =
then I turn on the supply and use a dmm to set for bout 14V like the k2 =
internal battery but I wonder if I should be using a resistor to limit =
the current?  I do eventually plan to get a current limiting power =
supply but until then how can I limit the current so I can safely charge =
my gell cells?

Tnks WT5Y

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