[Elecraft] battery charging question

[John R. Lonigro]

John:
I doubt a 35 AH Gel Cell needs to be charged at 1 amp or less.  Go to 
the PowerSonic website (www.powersonic.com).  According to the 
"PowerSonic Technical Handbook", the maximum charging rate should be at 
most 20% of the battery capacity in Amps.  If I understand their rule of 
thumb correctly, your 35 AH battery could be charged at a rate as high 
as 7 amps.  If it isn't a PowerSonic, there may be slightly different 
charging limit recommendations.  In that case, go to the website of the 
manufacturer and see if they have a similar booklet for you to download. 
But you do need some sort of current limiting regardless.  The previous 
automobile light in series suggestion sounds like a good inexpensive 
solution.

I have no monetary interest in PowerSonic, etc.

John AA0VE

John Cooper wrote:

>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.  
>
>
>
>  
>