Diodes for 12v battery charging
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From: Stumpy on 31 Jan 2010 11:56 I put in a 12v solar panel to charge up 2 ATV's and a mini tractor. Ran some speaker wire and battery clips to charge all of them in parallel. The tractor battery seems to not hold a charge very well. I'd like to add 3 diodes to protect the other 2 batteries in case at night with no input current, the low battery would siphon off power. The setup is in a very remote location with no power lines and I've misplaced to specs for the panel and the 7amp regulator, but they both came from Harbor Freight. The bigger battery is 14 amp-hr, the 2 smaller ones are 10 amp-hrs. Can someone please suggest an appropriate diode to purchase at Radio Shack or Fry's that will handle up to 7amp and not waste too much charging ability?
From: Sjouke Burry on 31 Jan 2010 12:19 Stumpy wrote: > I put in a 12v solar panel to charge up 2 ATV's and a mini tractor. Ran > some speaker wire and battery clips to charge all of them in parallel. The > tractor battery seems to not hold a charge very well. I'd like to add 3 > diodes to protect the other 2 batteries in case at night with no input > current, the low battery would siphon off power. > > The setup is in a very remote location with no power lines and I've > misplaced to specs for the panel and the 7amp regulator, but they both came > from Harbor Freight. The bigger battery is 14 amp-hr, the 2 smaller ones > are 10 amp-hrs. > > Can someone please suggest an appropriate diode to purchase at Radio Shack > or Fry's that will handle up to 7amp and not waste too much charging > ability? > > Assuming no broken batteries, just put them in parallel, the batteries will distribute present charge. One good quality diode in series with the panel is however important, because the panel itself is a bad quality diode, and will discharge the batteries in dark weather and at night.
From: Jamie on 31 Jan 2010 12:55 Sjouke Burry wrote: > Stumpy wrote: > >> I put in a 12v solar panel to charge up 2 ATV's and a mini tractor. >> Ran some speaker wire and battery clips to charge all of them in >> parallel. The tractor battery seems to not hold a charge very well. >> I'd like to add 3 diodes to protect the other 2 batteries in case at >> night with no input current, the low battery would siphon off power. >> >> The setup is in a very remote location with no power lines and I've >> misplaced to specs for the panel and the 7amp regulator, but they >> both came from Harbor Freight. The bigger battery is 14 amp-hr, the 2 >> smaller ones are 10 amp-hrs. >> >> Can someone please suggest an appropriate diode to purchase at Radio >> Shack or Fry's that will handle up to 7amp and not waste too much >> charging ability? >> > Assuming no broken batteries, just put them in parallel, > the batteries will distribute present charge. > One good quality diode in series with the panel is however > important, because the panel itself is a bad quality diode, > and will discharge the batteries in dark weather and at night. we do that at work how ever, we have breakers on each battery with a large DIODE across each breaker leads.
From: Tom Biasi on 31 Jan 2010 13:38 "Stumpy" <perilmung(a)spamnet.con> wrote in message news:qdmdnapAr4fVK_jWnZ2dnUVZ_gGdnZ2d(a)earthlink.com... >I put in a 12v solar panel to charge up 2 ATV's and a mini tractor. Ran >some speaker wire and battery clips to charge all of them in parallel. The >tractor battery seems to not hold a charge very well. I'd like to add 3 >diodes to protect the other 2 batteries in case at night with no input >current, the low battery would siphon off power. > > The setup is in a very remote location with no power lines and I've > misplaced to specs for the panel and the 7amp regulator, but they both > came from Harbor Freight. The bigger battery is 14 amp-hr, the 2 smaller > ones are 10 amp-hrs. > > Can someone please suggest an appropriate diode to purchase at Radio Shack > or Fry's that will handle up to 7amp and not waste too much charging > ability? > I assume by the application that they are lead acid batteries. I am never comfortable charging LA batteries in parallel because of the different states of discharge when you put them on charge. Your batteries are close to the same capacity so I suppose that you can get away with it. You need to know the maximum charging current you will be using and select a diode with about a 50% safety margin. BTW: What is "speaker wire" What I really am saying is gauge your wire appropriately. Tom
From: Stumpy on 31 Jan 2010 14:38
>> >> Can someone please suggest an appropriate diode to purchase at Radio >> Shack or Fry's that will handle up to 7amp and not waste too much >> charging ability? >> > I assume by the application that they are lead acid batteries. I am never > comfortable charging LA batteries in parallel because of the different > states of discharge when you put them on charge. > Your batteries are close to the same capacity so I suppose that you can > get away with it. You need to know the maximum charging current you will > be using and select a diode with about a 50% safety margin. > BTW: What is "speaker wire" What I really am saying is gauge your wire > appropriately. > Tom They are all lead acid batteries and physically about the same size. I was planning on putting a diode on each individual battery so that it could not be drained if another one took too much current. It's embarrassing that I don't remember, but I believe that the panel is 25 watts. The system is simply supposed to maintain charge on reasonably new batteries. The "speaker wire" is probably 14 or 16 gauge. I am unable to go check because of distance. Want to get parts before the next 3 day weekend. Can't run to the store very easily .:. any minor modification takes ~ 3 months to plan and try out. |