subject: Battery Charger Buying Guides [print this page] Certain electronic products require a special format battery charger, which is usually provided by the manufacturer. The average battery charger has a capacity of either four or six batteries. Ideally, you should have at least an extra pair of charged batteries on hand at all times, so make sure your charger can handle the load.
Avoid battery chargers that do not have an "end of charge control" too much output current can ruin a battery in just a few hours. Never leave an unregulated or so called "automatic" charger connected to your battery overnight, unless it shuts off completely.
One feature worth spending extra money on is a charger control. An expensive battery charger has an intelligent microprocessor that switches the charger off when the batteries are fully charged. It can also recognize how much charge is originally in the batteries and only add whatever's needed. Cheaper chargers, on the other hand, charge batteries for a fixed length of time, which can overcharge the battery and shorten its life. A simple LED is typically used to indicate when the charge cycle is complete.
The battery charger size you choose depends on the charging current required to restore the battery to full charge. Battery capacity is expressed in Amp Hours and is a figure of merit used to work out battery life between charges.
Determine if you want a linear charger or an electronic charger. Linear chargers monitor a battery's electronic charge. When the charge falls below 90 percent of full charge, the linear charger kicks in and fully rejuices your battery. If kept onboard, linear chargers require waterproof containers. Although electronic chargers work well on marine batteries, they do not monitor a battery's charge. They must be started manually. They are fully waterproof, however.
Now we know that we need 14 amps out of a solar battery charger daily to meet your needs. Since you have high power needs a backup battery will be required with your solar charger system. With a back up battery you can store power from your solar charger inside the battery and then run your equipment right off the battery. The specification to look for on our site is the battery size, which will be defined by amps. You will need at least a 14-amp battery in order to run your equipment for the hours per day you specified.
Decide between high-amp chargers or low-amp chargers. High-amp chargers provide 10 or more amps of quick charging power for immediate charging or emergency situations. Low-amp chargers provide less than 10 amps and take longer to charge batteries, which makes them best suited for casual, seasonal-charging purposes.
You are probably wondering how many hours will it take to charge a 14-amp battery with a solar battery charger? The answer is quite simple: A 1 amp solar charger will charge up a 14-amp hour battery in 14 hours. Simply take the amp hours of the battery and divide it by the amperage output of the solar charger. Example: 14 amps divided by 1 amp = 14 hours. If you want to reduce those charging times simply pick a more powerful solar charger.
Please note: If you do not have the amperage specification handy simply take the watts of your device divided by 12 to get the amps. Example: 5 watt cell phone divided by 12 = 0.400 (or 400 mah) Now you know your cell phone requires 400 mah per hour to run. If you just need to run a cell phone most solar chargers generate 400 mah an hour to run your cell phone with out back up battery. While shopping at Earthtech Products simply look for solar chargers that generate 400 mah per hour. This information can be found in specifications on the products detail page.
by: judy
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