Battery charging?

[JG777]

Hi

I recently bought a 70 mAh leisure battery and have 2 cigar lighter sockets which connect to the battery terminals. Probably a silly question but do I need to remove these when charging it up? Nothing would be plugged into the sockets when charging, If it is safe it would be handy to leave them permanently connected as the are fitted onto the terminals with a nut and bolt.

Thanks for any input.

[cotterless45]

Good choice, wish more folk would get leisure batteries instead of those hideous power packs. So long as you have room to clip on charging crocodile clips it's ok. Good to leave them on , saves playing around in the dark.

I use this to keep it tip top and ready,

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7405392.htm

If you can insulate your battery from the cold on the coldest of nights, it'll last longer. A lined box or comfy wrap will do ,

Nick.

[JG777]

Thanks Nick,

I will leave them fitted on, as you mention it would be extra playing about in the dark otherwise. I bought a charger similar to the one you listed when I bought the battery so hoping now this is the power issue solved, good point about the insulation so will look into that.

Cheers

[Blazar]

Just building a DIY toolbox with a leisure battery in it (75 Ah), though not got a charger yet....the battery is sitting in the garage at the moment, and has been for a month or two. I have seen the leisure battery chargers, but they seem to be quite expensive compared to the one mentioned above...assume thats due to different charging programs etc...how long have you had the battery Nick? and how long has that charger lasted you?

Regards

[Carbon Brush]

There is a simple way to charge any 12V lead acid battery. This works for leisure, car, bike, alarm, gel, etc.

Use a 13.8V power supply. For example.....

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-41w-dc-fixed-voltage-bench-power-supply-xm20w

Connect a diode in series with the output. This is because some power supplies don't like a battery connected if the mains is off.

The battery will take a charge current initially limited by the power supply. As the battery charges, the current will reduce. Eventually nearing zero when the battery is fully charged.

If you leave the battery on charge indefinitely there is no problem as the cells will not gas with this charge regime.

Other chargers, that supply >13.8V are a different proposition. For example the Argos charger referred to by Cotterless45 does not have an output voltage specified on the web site. It might overcharge (and therefore damage) a battery if left on too long.

Hope this helps.

[jnb]

Hi

I recently bought a 70 mAh leisure battery and have 2 cigar lighter sockets which connect to the battery terminals. Probably a silly question but do I need to remove these when charging it up? Nothing would be plugged into the sockets when charging, If it is safe it would be handy to leave them permanently connected as the are fitted onto the terminals with a nut and bolt.

Thanks for any input.

70mAh! I assume you have very short observing sessions! 

Silliness aside I have a home build power pack which has permanently connected to it; 3 12v sockets, a buck converter providing 3 6V sockets, 3 12V PWM and a couple of voltmeters. I leave them connected while charging and it seems OK. That said I am not worried if I break anything for the moment as I am about to do a rebuild and then I will include a three way rotary switch to select between on, off and charge. It's probably not necessary but it makes the unit tidier.

I also use a smart charger which provides a little more intelligence about charging the unit. The only downside is that if the switch breaks it's a weak point and the switch I have has a rater ambiguous rating for it's power limits and as I want to be able to move to a larger battery I'd like it to be able to take 12V @ ~4A for charging which is borderline for a lot of rotary switches. Oh well I'll put it in and fix it if it breaks. 

[JG777]

70mAh! I assume you have very short observing sessions! 

Silliness aside I have a home build power pack which has permanently connected to it; 3 12v sockets, a buck converter providing 3 6V sockets, 3 12V PWM and a couple of voltmeters. I leave them connected while charging and it seems OK. That said I am not worried if I break anything for the moment as I am about to do a rebuild and then I will include a three way rotary switch to select between on, off and charge. It's probably not necessary but it makes the unit tidier.

I also use a smart charger which provides a little more intelligence about charging the unit. The only downside is that if the switch breaks it's a weak point and the switch I have has a rater ambiguous rating for it's power limits and as I want to be able to move to a larger battery I'd like it to be able to take 12V @ ~4A for charging which is borderline for a lot of rotary switches. Oh well I'll put it in and fix it if it breaks. 

I thought every session was short thanks to our unpredictable weather!

I`m powering a HEQ5 Pro, nothing else plus I have to travel to a dark site so a bigger unit would be a hindrance. I got an advanced charger which I think was £36 so hopefully this will look after the battery properly.  Battery technology seems way more complicated than it should be, I was chatting to a 787 engineer the other day.....