Camping battery charger.

[bigegg]

I'm looking at buying some sort of camping battery, 12v, deep cycle, around 100Ah.

The battery is easy enough to source, but can someone recommend me a charger?

It needs to run off a cig-lighter type socket so I can swap it between vehicles. (Van + lexus).
The van has a "smart" alternator if that makes any difference?

The idea is to build the battery, charger, and inverter into a "powerbank" that can be charged up via the vehicles, but lifted out into the tent when we reach camp.

If it can also be connected via mains, even better: although I have a 12-15V DC 600W mains transformer that I can add in to the box if not.

It also doesn't have to be "consumer friendly" - I'll probably end up re-casing it anyway.

 

[Bullet2012]

For the box I recommend one of the wham boxes.

Wham Plastic Boxes by Recycled

Browse our Wham Plastic Boxes range with Recycled Range

www.plasticboxshop.co.uk

 

[bigegg]

For the box I recommend one of the wham boxes.

Wham Plastic Boxes by Recycled

Browse our Wham Plastic Boxes range with Recycled Range

www.plasticboxshop.co.uk

I'm planning on using a "really useful box" to match my "bench top" PSU.





Unless there's a good reason not to?

 

[optima21]

how about using a bang buck converter like one of these, they have an input from 6V to 30V DC and adjustable output from 1.5v to 30V at up to 5amps. I was thinking of using one the other day to charge a car battery from another car battery. you can set the current as well as the voltage so that can provide a constant current as you charge the battery.

CC CV 36V 5A 80W 10Groups Power Module DC DC Buck Boost Converter Color screen |Voltage Regulators/Stabilizers| - AliExpress

having said that if you limit the current draw you could just plug the leisure battery into the lighter plug.

 

[optima21]

I'm planning on using a "really useful box" to match my "bench top" PSU.



View attachment 305844

Unless there's a good reason not to?

yeah that sort of converter would do, great minds think alike,

 

[Bullet2012]

Unless there's a good reason not to?

Nope no good reason, it’s just that in my experience the “wham boxes” are quite tough and durable.
I use them now for all the parts I sometimes carry.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I can't see that you would need the converter as the car will already have everything in place to charge a battery?
Why not just fit an anderson connector somewhere and plug your power pack into that?
Make sure the anderson is big enough for the inverter and you could use it with the engine running if it goes flat then as well.

The only issue might be your van with the smart alternator but there are normally easy workarounds like taking the supply from the towbar or a bodybuilder socket

For mains charging just put another anderson on the end of a regular battery charger. Either something chunky so you can use the inverter when it's charging or a trickle/float type so you can leave it on all the time. Just watch that you might want to add some ventilation to the box for charging but you will need some sort of heat management for the inverter anyway.

 

[bert]

What about sourcing 5 or 6 26ah power packs off Amazon? They are something like £20 each and find a way of connecting them up to make 1 pack.

I use 2 of them to run a 5v fridge when I go fishing for 24-48 hours

 

[Kram]

I use a skyrc imax b8 for charging lipo and lead acid batteries, the slightly smaller b6 is common, cheap and do a good job, though the b8 is disciontinued. I use an old laptop power brick to power it, which limits me to 5A but it will go higher.

This sort

Yosoo Health Gear RC Battery Charger, Balance Charger, Battery Balanced Charger with Radiating Metal Shell, Suitable for Parallel Charging of Li-Po/Li-ion/Li-Fe/NiMH/NiCd/Pb Batteries(without Plug) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Yosoo Health Gear RC Battery Charger, Balance Charger, Battery Balanced Charger with Radiating Metal Shell, Suitable for Parallel Charging of Li-Po/Li-ion/Li-Fe/NiMH/NiCd/Pb Batteries(without Plug) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Turbo]

If you have a smart alternator you will need to fit a battery to battery charger, otherwise your leisure battery will never get charged fully.