Battery charger recommendations?

[Blue Martin]

Any recommendations for the best charger to charge three 12V 30Ah SLA batteries at once? Under 5 hours and $120 would be great. I don't know where too start looking or what search terms to use. My PRS team is probably knowledgable about this topic, but they are busy!

[Bill French]

For 30Ah batteries to charge in under 5 hours, you want a charger that can do at least six amps.

So, you want a charger that:

• charges at the voltage you want (36V)
  
• supports your battery type (SLA... can an sla be wet or agm?  i don't know, actually!  You'll want to clarify)
  
• costs less than $120
  

The below looks like it fits the bill.  We use an old 30amp 36v forklift charger to quick charge to 90%, then a 12v 12a charger to top everything off and maintain (we have wiring harnesses to support this)

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-GBCPRO-Vehicle-Battery-Charger/dp/B005DKIIJW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433392995&sr=8-3&keywords=36v+battery+charger

Reviews seem mixed, but folks complain about everything online.  3.5 stars seems ok.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 12:03 AM, Blue Martin <bluem...@gmail.com> wrote:

Any recommendations for the best charger to charge three 12V 30Ah SLA batteries at once? Under 5 hours and $120 would be great. I don't know where too start looking or what search terms to use. My PRS team is probably knowledgable about this topic, but they are busy!

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[Blue Martin]

Well.... I need to charge *three* 30Ah batteries at once since I know it is better to keep sets synced. The linked charger supplies 12Amp for 36V... so that would take 7.5hr for my 90Ah set?

Thanks for the advice!

S

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[Patrick Callahan]

Keep in mind that chargers are not part of the vehicle and thus not part of the budget.
Do note that you might only have 10amps of 120v in the pits. In Detroit you might have less. When we in doubt, make an extra battery pack.

Thanks for the advice!

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[Tom Gralewicz]

In series the AH rating stays the same it doesn't add.

Three 12V  30AH batteries in series will be a 36V  30AH battery, the charger listed will charge a 36V battery at 12.5AH, so figure about 3 hours to a full charge.

Note:  three 12V 30AH batteries in parallel would be a 12V  90AH battery.

Tom Gralewicz

Chronic Maker

(414) 380-1716

milwaukeemakerspace.org

Thanks for the advice!

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