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Subject Topic: Battery Charger Post Reply Post New Topic
Personyoggie5709
09/5/2023 at 10:41am
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Hello , Ive determined that my Battery charger on my Bailey is not working , my question is >> Is there any reason Why I cant do away with the charger and wire up an Optimiser charger ? , the charger on the van is £150 and an optimiser is around £50 I appreciate the van charger is 20 amp and the optimiser will be 8 amp , but so what ?? takes longer to charge , but with an optimiser I could leave it on 12 months of the year and not damage the battery , what im thinking is, cut the plugs of the optimiser and replace with a kettle plug (mains end) and then cut the other plug off the original charger (output) and wire it to the output of the optimiser . would this work ???


PersonPickled Onion
09/5/2023 at 11:44am
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As far as I'm aware intelligent chargers such as the Optimate or C-Tec can be used to replace the older style battery packs and be left on for extended periods of time without an issue, a number of people have done as you suggest.

One thing to look for is, does it automatically start charging, or like my C-Tec, need to have a 'select' button pressed a few times to initiate it each time it is powered down because that could be a pain, especially the time you forget to do it.


Dave.

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Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.


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Personyoggie5709
09/5/2023 at 3:24pm
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Thank you for your reply my main queerie is >> the size of cables ? ie the output cables on the older fitted charger are like 4 x 2.5 cables ie 2 for pos and 2 neg but obviously the output cable on the optimizer are 1 smaller pos and 1 smaller neg


Post last edited on 09/05/2023 15:30:15


Personyoggie5709
09/5/2023 at 3:29pm
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5mm is obviously an over exaggeration but the 2 cables going to th pos and neg are far bigger than the 1 each of the optimiser


PersonMonty15
09/5/2023 at 4:58pm
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Can't be specific as I don't know your van/charger, but the 240v-12v 'charger' usually also provides the 12v supply for most of the vans electrical control functions, water pump, lights etc. in the case of no leisure battery fitted/failed leisure battery! Things like fridge, heating etc. often require the on board 12v supply to run controls even if using 240v for the 'driving' power! No 12v, no functional devices!

That may account for the doubling up of 'output' leads - do they ALL go to the battery as charge leads? The 20A rating is probably to cover BOTH charging the battery AND powering systems at the same time! 20A is a very high charge rate - my inbuilt charger only outputs 12A (max) charge despite 20A rating!

You will almost certainly find a non standard charger can/will not perform that additional function, most 'smart chargers' only give an output AFTER they have sensed that they are connected to a healthy battery of the right type.

Worth checking in some detail what you have fitted.


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PersonPickled Onion
09/5/2023 at 6:48pm
 Location: Near Alton Towers
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Quote: Originally posted by yoggie5709 on 09/5/2023
Thank you for your reply my main queerie is >> the size of cables ? ie the output cables on the older fitted charger are like 4 x 2.5 cables ie 2 for pos and 2 neg but obviously the output cable on the optimizer are 1 smaller pos and 1 smaller neg


Post last edited on 09/05/2023 15:30:15


You will still need the original thicker cables FROM THE BATTERY, as said they will do the higher output current jobs on the van like mover and lights, pumps etc, so you will still need a battery connected. The input TO the battery from your charger won't be that high, it's only topping it up and the unit won't allow more amps charging than the wires can handle. Therefore if the battery is really discharged it will take longer perhaps than the original but the battery shouldn't be charged at 20 Amps anyway.

Dave.

-------------
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.



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