Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Distributed Charging Solution


This post will cover the installation of my home charging station. The type of charging solution I chose is a distributed charging solution. This means that each charger will charge 2 6volt batteries. 24 batteries, 12 chargers. The chargers that I chose are Samlex 1215A 3 stage chargers. They complete their charging cycle with a float stage and can be left connected without worry of overcharging. A distributed charging solution is more battery friendly. As a battery pack ages, batteries develop voltage differences. A single pack charger cannot take these into consideration. If a battery must be replaced this causes more issues with a single charger. This is why I chose this solution.
I began with 2 pieces of 1/2 inch plywood which I painted green. I just happened to have a gallon of leftover paint which worked well. The color was not too obnoxious. Next I anchored these to the concrete block wall with anchors, 6 per board. I then made measurements to mount the chargers on the boards and began to attach them with 4 wood screws each. On the 120v side, there were 2 new 20A circuits added to the breaker box. (Of course all 120v wiring was done by a licensed electrician) Each circuit feeds an on/off switch that feeds 6 outlets. Once all the chargers were mounted and plugged in to ac outlets, I began running the 12v wiring to a barrier strip. There will need to be a total of 13 wires running to a plug that will plug into the truck where the gas cap used to be. The photos show the completed wiring. The barrier strip will be connected to a length of wires (13 wires ) to a cannon plug. This has not been started yet and will be done at a later date. More to come....keep moving forward.

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