Alternator v. no alternator - 10% gain @ 70 km/h

[JanGeo]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Me too. An alternator that only charges during braking, idling or engine over-run would rarely get used in my car. I hardly do much of those things - the battery would be dead pretty quickly.

Add to that my xB adds more fuel if the electrical load increases even at idle.

[GasSavers_Brock]

Jangeo Deltran actually makes a 5.5 and 20 amp version as well but once you get up to about 20 amps I would suggest the Iota line with a smart controller, they are cheaper for charging amp.

Gregg you are correct, maybe I wasn't clear. Overcharging a battery is bad for it. When I say a fully charged battery I am assuming a safe good full regulated charge, definitely not over charging the battery. Also deep discharges in particular a complete discharges will and do damage a lead acid battery. The longest life, or most watts out of a battery will be obtained by cycling the battery to abut 70% charged or sucking about 30% of the power out and then fully correctly charging it again.

And yes most car alternators do a poor job of correctly charging a battery and often over charge the battery thus shortening its life.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

OT - Silveredwings: You sold the BMW too? Did I miss a thread? Are you bicycling everywhere now?

Yes I sold both the Passat and the BMW convertible (I'll sure miss that one) and got an '02 BMW 325 wagon. It's really nice. Of course 2 days after I got the 'new' one someone ran an '06 Cadillac into it but that's a whole thread wannabe.

I'm getting 32 - 37 depending on traffic but I'm still getting used to the clutch and its short gearing.

I need to learn how to fix the entries in my GS garage...

[MetroMPG]

You should definitely start a new thread. Let's hear the whole messy story. (While Matt's updating the garage code - note: looks like he didn't understand part of your post in the link you provided above.)

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

You should definitely start a new thread. Let's hear the whole messy story. (While Matt's updating the garage code - note: looks like he didn't understand part of your post in the link you provided above.)

OK I will. Yeah, I saw that. English isn't my first language ... confusion is.

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by Brock

And yes most car alternators do a poor job of correctly charging a battery and often over charge the battery thus shortening its life.

I remember seeing in a car magazine once a writeup on a battery out of a very old 6 volt VW beetle.
Aparantly true , this car had the same battery and it lasted 40 or so years before finnaly giving up.

Amazing.

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by theclencher

My '94 F150 still has factory battery and alternator. Plus it still has factory coolant, exhaust system, brakes, etc...

Thats prety good

[JanGeo]

Originally Posted by Brock

Jangeo Deltran actually makes a 5.5 and 20 amp version as well but once you get up to about 20 amps I would suggest the Iota line with a smart controller, they are cheaper for charging amp.

YIKES the price for 20 amps is just CRAZY $315+ as I recall so I went on eBay and picked up a 20 amp variac (not the china version) and added a 35 amp full wave bridge and POOF a variable 20-25amp charger for less than $50 just no regulation. But what happens is I set the voltage with the Variac dial and it automatically tapers off the current as the Hawkers reach their peak charge. But I give it a little extra at the start of the bulk charging for the first half an hour to an hour. My problem is that I want to charge 3 or 4 - 25ah batteries in series at a time so the adjustable Variac was the best solution and the cheepest. A little ripple at the high current is not a problem and towards the end of the charge all the caps in the system filter out the ripple pretty well so no overvoltage. I also got a motor on the Variac that I could use to run some regulation so that as the peak occurs the motor would dial back the voltage - that will come next.

More news from eCycle - they have been testing the next generation of controller with the regen voltage regulation/limiting and have been pushing 400+ amps from 48 volts (4 group 29 batteries) and the results look great. They will probably push the unit to 600 amps peak and 400 continuous (20kw!!) that you can hold in one hand!!!

[GasSavers_Brock]

JanGeo you are the regulator I have a similar setup myself. I just prefer to recommend an automated 3 or 4 stage charger to people who don't understand proper charging or don’t have the time to watch it themselves.

And ya the Deltran chargers are a lot for what they are, but for someone like my brother who wants to connect it and walk away and then forget it for a week, Deltran is the way to go. I really like the Iota chargers in the larger amperages as well and they are more reasonably priced. Again you can build them yourself for a lot less if you know what you’re doing

WOW, 20KW that is some serious power. Do you have a link to them?

[JanGeo]

I do have the Deltran 12 volt 5.5amp unit for the Hawkers and it is pretty smart in that it holds 14.9 volts for 6 hours to top off the cells and balance them then drops to 13.5 to float them. Fortunately I have PowerChek modules on the 3 in series so one Deltran does all three at the same time taking a little bit longer to fully charge by like you say - set it and forget it. BUT the variac can put out 1200-1500 watts on 3 or 4 batteries - darn line cord gets hot!

Yeah 20kw is going to be great - just wish it wasn't $995. I think I will setup my scooter and push the motors that I have to 200 amps or more and see how they handle it - from what I have seen they start to moan and really pull when I start pumping in the amps. They are rated at 225 continuous if properly cooled but I only need a lot of amps for a few seconds to get to full speed. The new controllers are not on line yet so don't look for them. They are a join venture with another big company and eCycle has taken the driver section of the controller from Navitas and adapted a newly designed control logic with the proper sensing and limiting to plug into the driver board and made a great new product. More testing is being done with it and maybe a price break will occure later this year. The only thing left is some programming of the limits to make it easier to set - right now it requires resistor changing and some jumpers. I already Told Dan I was interested in one before the end of this year.