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Charging 12V batteries

Charging 12V batteries

Old 04-27-2004, 06:06 AM
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Default Charging 12V batteries

hello all.

I just purchased my first dyno, though it is a cheap and older dyno, it will be better than nothing.

I will be running this off of a battery as a power supply is out of my price range. ( max amp draw from my dyno is abotu 20 amps )

I was advised that the lawn tractor batteries works the best and last longer than car batteries. so this is what I was told to get:

Deep Cycle battery

Now, I am pretty much going to go to walmart and look for these.

Anyone know for sure I can get that there or do I need to go somewhere else?

Also, what all is needed to be able to charge up these batteries and where can I get the charger at?

I know these are pretty basic questions, just never had to work with a battery like this before and I want to make sure I do it right.

Thanks!
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Old 04-27-2004, 06:50 AM
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Cain, that's where I got mine. I got their $20 lawn and garden battery, and also grabbed a charger while I was there for like another $20-$25 bucks. Came in handy too, my wife's car battery died, and I didn't have a charger. She stopped complaining about me buying R/C related stuff for a few days after that
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Old 04-27-2004, 07:28 AM
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Thanks for the info!

I see alot of sites talk about the amps the batteries put out, what one did you go with and how bulky was it?

Did you have to charge your battery up first before use?

If you have a stock number for what you got and the charger that would be REALLY great help!

If anyone also knows if you can run more than one thing off the battery that would be good to know too as if I go to some track that doesn't have AC sources and I want to run my dyno and charger at the same time if that is possible.


Thanks!
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Old 04-27-2004, 07:42 AM
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The battery number is U1. I attached a pic of the charger and the battery. I didn't charge the battery right away, but I only ran a few motors thru the dyno before I did charge it. That charger is a peak detection unit, so you don't need to worry about over charging. In a pinch I have run a charger and the dyno off this battery at the same time, no problems.
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Old 04-27-2004, 07:52 AM
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thanks for all the help!

I am assuming this is a lead acid deep cycle battery? I printed out the pic and logged the unit name you gave. Did the battery give any mention though on the amps it put out? Probably don't need to know though since you are getting success out of the dyno and it requires 20amps.

The battery charger unit would be good also for our cars as well as jumping and possibly blowing myself up just doesn't do it for me Was this about the cheapest charger they had for the battery there?

finally, when you ran both your charger and dyno at the same time ( in a pinch I know ) did you just wire it up directly or did you have to do anything special.

thanks again! I think that does it for me questions.
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Old 04-27-2004, 07:56 AM
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I just hooked all 4 leads up to the terminals and away I went. It is a sealed lead acid battery. I think they may have had a cheaper charger, but not for the smaller battery types like the Lawn and garden variety like this one. And yeah, this charger also works on full sized car batteries as well.
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Old 04-27-2004, 07:59 AM
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For the price and what I plan to do about $40 to $45 bucks is perfect as I don't need the 150+ power supply. Plus I can get dual use out of the charger and the battery if I need to use it to charge packs.

Thanks again for all your help!
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Old 04-27-2004, 08:03 AM
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Anytime. You went with a Tekin, right? I need to let you in on a neat little mod to it that makes it more useful to get RPM readings at a 15 amp load by just flipping a switch
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Old 04-27-2004, 08:25 AM
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Sure, go for it.

I am really green here with dynos, pretty much from what I was told the 20 Amp reading is supposed to be the best indicator?

I got a spreadsheet that some guys worked on that looks really useful. You punch in all the info and it does the conversions for you so you get values that look more correct. not sure if you have it but I can email it to you if you want.

Probably won't have the dyno till Friday ( hopefully ), race on sunday, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.


Will get the chance to do some testing on the following motors:

Reedy MVP with big jim conversion brushes
P2k pro motor ( basically new )
Reedy 19 turn spec motor, silver can with bearings ( great motor got it for $9 bucks basically new )
Reedy Quad Mag 19 turn motor NEW
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Old 04-27-2004, 08:38 AM
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There's a dial on the dyno where you can load the motor to test the RPM. We generally found a 15 amp load worked well. But you had to always screw around with that dial to set the amperage, while the motor was under a load while you were setting the amerage, heating up. What we did was wire a 25-amp auto switch in-between one of the slave motor's leads and the dyno itself. SO you can set the 15A load, yet still check the free-wheeling RPM by flipping a switch. You also need to turn the load on to get a power reading as well. It sound's more complicated than it is, but it works.
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Old 04-27-2004, 08:55 AM
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If you have pics of this that would be great.

Can you explain what advantage you get from this too?
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Old 04-27-2004, 02:46 PM
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picked up the battery and charger. They didn't have the model you had in the pic but they had something close to it. Only thing that sucks is that the state charges you some recycling fee so you can return your old battery but I don't have an old one to return so that money is just gone.

I am going to try and charge up some packs tonite with the battery and see how it goes. I may even use it at the track as the power out the outlets can be suspect and mess with what the charger peaking ( very strange ).

About how many charges can I get out of this battery into say GP3300 packs at 5-6amps?
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