battery charger replacement

[Tom Warner]

While a truecharge is fine it is not satisfactory for those who want their
batteries to be efficiently charged in the quickest manner.

The rule of thumb is to have a charger that is capable of supplying
current at 25% of your battery bank capacity. That means for a FC35
for instance with 4 Trojan 6 VDC deep cycle batteries (450 amp hrs)
you should have a charger capable of supplying 25% of or 112 amps and
it will take approximately 2.8 hours to recharge them if you use the
50% rule to discharge. Increase the charger to 130 amps such as in
the Heart 2500 that I have and it would take about 1.7 hours of
generator running to recharge the battery bank.

It becomes more critical when you own a PT or increase your battery
bank size in a FC. My PT 40 is getting 6 new deep cycles now for a
total 675 amp hrs and recharging them with a Truecharge 40 it would
take 8.4 hours to recharge them if they were discharged to the same
50% level. Charging them with a 130 amp charger would then take 2.6
hours of generator time to get them back fully charged.

These figures are a little off since the chargers never charge at
their full rate due to their charge curves. Mine is fully on at 130
amps until the battery terminals reach 14.2 voltrs and then the
current tapers off since it is a 3 stage charger.

Everyone should consider this depending on your life style and how
you use your battery power.

In closing some have asked me to post information on converting from
the old battery boilers to a new 3 stage charger/inverter. I will do
that when my installation is complete. Installing a charger/inverter
in a forward control is a little trickier then in a PT because of the
long distance between the factory charger location and the batteries.
Installation in a PT can be very efficient since the batteries and
charger are very close together. However with that said if you want a
nice installation with the capability to monitor everything by
installing a Link 1000/2000 then the cables for the link have to be
run the length of the coach over 60 feet. In addition Bluebird ran
charging cables ina very strange way (they used the starter as a
contact point for cables from the batteries and chargers. Bad idea.
I have reconfigured everything in the battery area and am running new
4/0 cables from the charger directly to a new termination point just
above the batteries. This will really clean up the area nicely and
provide lots of current to the Detroit diesel (originally supplied
with a 2 gauge wire to the starter?





tom warner
Vernon center,NY
1985 PT 40


At 11:19 AM 7/29/2006, you wrote:

>I run 1 turcharge 40 plus it is rated at 45 amps total and it is more
>than suffiecient to charge my 3 banks of batteries
>2 coach and 1 Generator
>Stpehen 77fc35
>
>--- In
>WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com,
>"dlefty12" wrote:
> >
> > Curt,
> >
> > I have purchased 2-iota DSL-45 controllers (45 amp output each)
> > which was recommended by Blue Bird, but I just removed the old
> > chargers and found they are Triad-utrad 75 amp units. I now wonder
> > if the 2-45 are sufficient?
> >
> > Dan 87 35fc sb Somers NY
> >
> > --- In
> WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com,
> Curt Sprenger
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Dan,
> > > Our 1987 PT has that squirrel cage blower for the chargers. I
> > > disconnected it when the upgraded/newer charges with cooling fan
> > were
> > > installed. No problem in over a year.
> > >
> > > Curt Sprenger 1987 PT38, Anaheim Hills, Calif.
> > >
> > >
> > > dlefty12 wrote:
> > >
> > > > I have a '87 fc, and am replacing the original iota chargers
> > with two
> > > > iota DLS-45 chargers. The squirrel cage blower in the adjacent
> > > > compartment is frozen. I have removed it and wonder if it is
> > necessary
> > > > to replace it. The new DLS-45's have colling fans that cycle
> > depending
> > > > on temp. The screened opening in the floor where the blower unit
> > is
> > > > housed should provide a good convection air flow to the charger
> > room.
> > > > Any thoughts. DAN
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
>