Frenchieboy Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Just a quick question. I use a sealed lead acid 12 volt 7ah battery for lamping and with my "lamping season" starting shortly I will be requiring my battery to be fully charged and ready for use all the time and often at short notice therefore my question is: If I were to make a plug up to go in my cigar lighter socket in the motor and run a wire from that to the lamping battery (Maybe with crocodile clips) would that give sufficient power and be safe to use to recharge the lamping battery while I was using the car please? Any practical thoughts please gents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekers Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Just a quick question. I use a sealed lead acid 12 volt 7ah battery for lamping and with my "lamping season" starting shortly I will be requiring my battery to be fully charged and ready for use all the time and often at short notice therefore my question is: If I were to make a plug up to go in my cigar lighter socket in the motor and run a wire from that to the lamping battery (Maybe with crocodile clips) would that give sufficient power and be safe to use to recharge the lamping battery while I was using the car please? Any practical thoughts please gents? No reason not too but you need to be careful with bare crocks, fusing and power draw! I run the 7AH and 9AH batteries, 3 of them, and use them all year, seems to work for me, they get used and rotated regularly and that way I always have a spare. I smack mine on charge the instant I get home and they are charged appropriately! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eccles Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Hi Frenchieboy I,ve seen this question + answer somewhere on here or another forum, can,t remember what was the correct answer was though i,ll try to find it mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Hi, Don't honestly know the answer, but have I read it right that you are proposing to use a 12v supply, the power (amps) output of which is only limited by the cigar lighter fuse to charge a 12v 7Ah battery? As said, I don't know but it doesn't seem right to me. On safety grounds alone, I'd go for a second battery and the usual mains charger set up. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchieboy Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 No reason not too but you need to be careful with bare crocks, fusing and power draw! I run the 7AH and 9AH batteries, 3 of them, and use them all year, seems to work for me, they get used and rotated regularly and that way I always have a spare. I smack mine on charge the instant I get home and they are charged appropriately! That makes sense! I could always use a male cigar lighter connection on both ends as my lamping battery is already fitted with a female cigar lighter socket to plug my lamp in to. That would save the possibility of the two (bare) crocodile clips touching and shorting out! I would be quite happy to buy another 7ah battery as a sprae so that I could rotate them even though mine gives me more than enough to last a nights lamping! Thanks for the advice mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 All my batteries, when not in use, are connected to 5 mili amp trickle chargers. They keep the battery topped up, and cannot overcharge it. I paid around £5 each for them on Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchieboy Posted August 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 All my batteries, when not in use, are connected to 5 mili amp trickle chargers. They keep the battery topped up, and cannot overcharge it. I paid around £5 each for them on Ebay. I hear what you are saying Steve and I appreciate the advice! I was thinking more on the lines of being able to charge a bettery up as I was driving if I were away from home for any time or reason (Like staying with relatives or friends or on holiday) when the thought of charging from the cigar lighter came to me so I now have a conecting lead with the male cigar lighter socket on each end which I will be trying. My only concern on this is the possibility of "overcharging" - if that is possible. However I can go along the lines of what you are suggesting about using a small trickle charger while at home. I have a spare one that is marked as: Output 12 Volts DC 500mA. (It was originally on one of those "Emergency Jump Start Units) If I were to put a male cigar lighter plug on this to plug in to my battery (Which is hard wired with a Female Cigar Lighter Socket for my lamp to plug in to) would this be the right one to use for keeping one battery charged up and ready for use while at home - I don't know if this has any sort of "cut out" for when the battery is fully charged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog546 Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 Frenchie you can by a lead for this purpose which has a diode in the line to stop you frying the battery and bending the plates ,as all batteries last longer the lower the mperage they are charged at,in other words if you charged your battery at 1 amp for 7 hrs it would have a reasonable life bt if you charged it t 1/2 amp for 14 hours it would not pull down quite as fast and have a longer service life.Alot of the smart chargers ,chrge at 1 amp until the battery is at 70% then drop back to 1/3 of an amp to finish.They are worth every penny.I think Deben sell the cable for charging in your car,be careful with sealed batteries charging them to quickly,you will notice the sides of the battery distorting if you over charge them and they gain a memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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