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murcod wrote:I bought one of the Super Cheap combined charger / power supplies yesterday- 20% off meant $159 reduced from $199.
It appears very well made (in China....) with decent sized alligator clamps and a nice case. While I haven't tested out the amount of current output and regulation of the power supply, I can tell you it is a proper three stage charger.
It will initially bulk charge and supply a constant 10 amps to the battery until the battery reaches 14.7V. It will then keep the voltage at 14.7V for up to 2 hrs with the charge current gradually reducing. The third stage is when it switches to float charging mode and keeps the output at 13.7V (meaning you can leave it connected permanently to a battery - it says it will switch itself off too?)
It's got an internal cooling fan that appears to only come on when needed. The adjustment potentiometer for the power supply side of things is a ten turn type which will make accurate voltage settings a breeze. The panel meter is also about as accurate as you can get (ie. 14.7V on my multimeter looks about right on the analogue meter readout... Hmmm future mod with a built in digital LCD meter readout....)
The instructions also state it has in built over current protection that will be activated when the current reaches "15-20% over" the maximum of 10 Amps.
It has decent full sized banana plug binding posts on the front panel for the charger/ power supply outputs (same outputs are used for both with a switch to control which mode it is in.)
For the money it appears like a good buy. BTW it comes with a 12mth warranty.
Quote above is from the "treacle chargers" thread, aka the "search killer".
Just wondering if anyone has had a good look at Supercheap inverters. I want to put just a small one in the Mav, it's going to come from Jaycar unless a cheaper one looks okay.
i have teh 150w Jaycar one, and it will JUST run a 120w PAR38 bulb if you dont turn the stereo up too loud! voltage drops kill it...
Go the 300w minimum- jaycar have em for under $100 most days...
When i get around to building the cargo drawers for the lux with the 2nd battery and everything in them, a 1000w inverter will probably wind up in there
There seems to be a lot of problems with using inverters and some types of devices like camera battery charges, but from what I can work out, in most cases these problems seem to be the result of working the inverters to their limit.
If you have an idea of how much power you are going to need, double it and buy an inverter of that power output or higher.
I’ve been using inverters for more than 20 years and never had a problem but I never operate them at anywhere near there maximum.
I disagree - I have run full atx machines off standard jaycar 300w inverters for years without any incident, run them direct to the battery and bypass the ignition.
I’m with RaginRaver, I’ve run laptops, VCRs, TVs, all forms of battery chargers and never had a problem with either the inverters or the equipment being power from the inverter.
I know stupid question but my mate just gave me his Jaycar 300W inverter. I want to use it but not sure what for yet. I'm sure i should be able to find a use for it!! He used it to run a computer in the back of his car that had all his music crap and so on.
I dont have camera battereis to charge either eheheheh
sorry, he asked what equipment has a switch mode power supply, computers do. and they run well enough on a mod sine wave. they more than likely wont work using a square wave inverter.
voltage drops kill it...
