I have a readywelder that I use with my 24V bat bank and it does a nice job.
I use the stickwelder more, but this looks fun!
Would anyone care to throw out a guess as to the efficiency of the quick and dirty "light dimmer" battery charger???
I might build one for backup if my high priced thing conks out.
Finest regards,
troy
I'll put my kill-o-watt meter on the AC side and compare to the watts used on DC side and I'll get an efficiency. I know if you are going to charge at more than 4 amps or so on the DC side, you will need a cooling fan for the dimmer switch. With a cooling fan and thicker wires, you could maintain 20-25 amps into a 12 volt and about 10-12 amps into a 48 volt battery. Fan also helps the diodes too. You have to be carefull though, don't want to overcharge the batteries. I think it is great for a variable charger. It did wonders for my nicad batteries in my cordless phone. I did about 3 amps for a few seconds until they got warm. I let them cool off and did it again a few more times. Now the battery life is back in them.
Spelljammer
