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[Gregski]

So I am wondering about a couple of things, what would happen if I hooked up a 24 volt charger to four 12 volt batteries which I have connected in series for a 48 volt system, would it charge them just slower, or not at all?

Also I heard of guys using four trickle charger to charge four batteries, does that mean they disconnect them in order to charge them, or do they just charge them all at the same time?

Which brings me to my Subject question, can I connect two 24 volt chargers to four of my batteries and charge them that way, would that give me a 48 volt charge?

I am torturing myself with all this because 48 volt charger are expensive.

[Bogan]

It depends on how the earth/ground is done with the chargers. If the ground of the output 24V is connected back to the plug's earth, then it will not work. As it would connect the grounds of both chargers together and short the first 24V.

However, I do not think it is very common for battery chargers to be wired this way, so you should get away with it. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer.

Another option is to buy a more generic power supply (50usd sort of range), and set the output to a 48V charge voltage (somewhere around 55V), the downside with this is you only get a single stage charge cycle, rather than the faster 3 stage.

[frodus]

what kind of chargers are you looking at? I don't think two 24V chargers is going to be cheaper than one 48V charger.

[Tmentz]

Check out soneil chargers.  I found a 48v 2 amp for $100 or 4amp for around $175, at thunderstruck.com.  I haven't used them, so I can't give you any reviews, but they're small enough to mount on-board if you wanted.  By far the cheapest I've come across.

[frodus]

http://www.batteryspace.com/smartcharger30afor48vleadacid110-240v.aspx

http://www.batteryspace.com/leadacidsmartfastcharger6afor48vleadacidbattery6ah-60ah110vonlystandardfemaletamiyaplug.aspx

both under $100

[Gregski]

great information guys, I am learning a lot, I like the Soneil chargers you recommended, however I heard rumors that you should expect roughly 50% of the specs performance so a 4 amp charger can realistically deliver roughly 2 amps

I had the Zivan NG1 in mind which runs over $500 bucks - ZooWeeMama!

[frodus]

great information guys, I am learning a lot, I like the Soneil chargers you recommended, however I heard rumors that you should expect roughly 50% of the specs performance so a 4 amp charger can realistically deliver roughly 2 amps

That's because people don't know what they're looking at. 4A is max. It doesn't force current into the batteries. It gives a voltage to the batteries. The further the batteries are from that set voltage, the more current it gives. If they're not pulling 4A, it's not a huge deal. It all depends on how much they're discharged. Lots of other chargers do the same thing. Some more expensive chargers actually try to "pull" the voltage higher, and monitor battery voltage so it doesn't exceed a set value. I think Zivan, DeltaQ, Elcon do this.

I had the Zivan NG1 in mind which runs over $500 bucks - ZooWeeMama!

It's also over 700W