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  • charging
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Related

Lead acid battery charging

Workshopshed
Workshopshed over 2 years ago

I have some small 12V lead acid batteries and was wondering how to charge these. I've previously charged 6v batteries using a constant current charger based on a L200 regulator. And I think I can tune that to work with 12v.

But I wondered if an easier option would be to use my bench power supply. That has a current limiting mode and can easily provide the charging current.

Has anyone done this? Any pitfalls?

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Top Replies

  • Gough Lui
    Gough Lui over 2 years ago +8
    You can certainly do this - usually for cycle-based charging, a safe voltage cap would be 14.4V with a current limit that matches the manufacturer's limitation. You should manually terminate charge when…
  • Workshopshed
    Workshopshed over 2 years ago +7
    Thanks for all the tips. Am in the process of booking flights to Canada to buy a cheap battery charger....
  • scottiebabe
    scottiebabe over 2 years ago +5
    As you suggest a bench supply works just fine as a current source. I consider it more of a battery tester than battery charger, it isn't something I would recommended you leave unattended. I use a schottky…
Parents
  • dougw
    0 dougw over 2 years ago

    As Gough explains using a power supply works fine. One thing to think about is how/when to turn off when it is charged. Lead acid batteries will continue to draw current after they are charged.

    Knowing what this residual current is can allow you to know when to turn off charging. It is different for different battery capacities.

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  • dougw
    0 dougw over 2 years ago

    As Gough explains using a power supply works fine. One thing to think about is how/when to turn off when it is charged. Lead acid batteries will continue to draw current after they are charged.

    Knowing what this residual current is can allow you to know when to turn off charging. It is different for different battery capacities.

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