A lot of confusion and mostly caused by thinking 'battery charger'
From around 1993 many UK vans were being fitted with a 12v 'power source' this carried on until a couple of years ago when some vans got more of a battery charger that a power source, albeit their very similar.
A battery charger proper must be capable of providing approx 14.4V to fully charge a battery, it then must have good control to switch it back to approx 13.8v to keep the battery high but not over charge and do any damage.
The main difference then is; battery charger is 14.4v/13.8v and a power source is conveniently set at the lower 13.8v. Because of this the charger always needs a battery or the control will go haywire!, but the power source being set can work on it's own and do a fairly good job of charging a battery when fitted.
The other big difference is how many amps either can supply, 10A or above is needed to run the 12v stuff without real problem. So either type with less that 10A output is going to need a battery to cope with usage.
So answer to the question is it all depends on exactly what you have installed
|