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Military multiple battery chargers

cranetruck

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Anyone in steelsoldierland has any info on chargers operated off 120/240vac (60Hz) or 28 volts DC? Military surplus, that is, to charge several batteries at a time off the vehicle.
Even references to TMs would be appreciated.
 

emr

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I would be interested in somepics of said equipment, if possible, I understand it as batt chargers run of the truck? I am not understanding i am sure, but any slave could have a pig tail and and charge batts connected ins series like i would bet 2 to 4 sets of em, its like filling a pool, but that is not what u are sayin, so i only know of gas powered ones,
 

Crazyguyla

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Bjorn,

Are you looking at mobile or stationary chargers? The TM for battery maint and care has a section on cherging batteries. The older TM's went into setting up a charging station. When I was in an artillery unit, we used a 4.2 gen as a mobile battery charger.. not to mobile since those things are heavy. We had a wall mounted unit in our battery shop that was connected to two thick copper beams. connect batteries to copper beams, turn on charger. The wall charger was 12v and charged the batteries in parrallel..
 
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cranetruck

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Thanks fellows! Just doing research to see what kind of sophistication was applied. It would have to be a 14 (plus or minus) volt setup, since the series 28 V charging on the trucks could never address the individual needs of each battery.
Also, if the charger was designed for "fast" charging.

In the sixties, NiCd batteries may have been used in some applications equivalent to deep cycle use and they would require a different charging procedure (constant current?).

The charger should be reasonably portable. I'll check the TMs, thanks for the tip.
 

phil2968

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Here's a link to a great brand of charger. I have used many of the onboard chargers and have never had to replace one! I also purchased my 64 volt golf cart charger from them.
The onboard chargers are extremly rugged and compact and simple to use.
 

rlwm211

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There are Power supplies that are regulated with variable output that are available that produce up to 28 volts. You can use a circuit breaker on each feed line to limit amperage and charge several trucks at the same time. Some of these suppies are capable of 25+ amps and on the surplus and hobbiest market are not all that expensive. If you figure you can trim the overall voltage to not overcharge batteries this would make for a good setup to keep your trucks up and ready to go.

RL
 

Westech

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I just cut mine up for use with my camper! and one a side note.. the chargers are ment for use with radio batteries. They WILL NOT fully charge a Auto type of battery. I was having problems with my camper battery only charging to just over 12V. They seam to work fine with smaller batteries. Dont know why but there not like a auto type of charger.
 

maddog

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I just cut mine up for use with my camper! and one a side note.. the chargers are ment for use with radio batteries. They WILL NOT fully charge a Auto type of battery. I was having problems with my camper battery only charging to just over 12V. They seam to work fine with smaller batteries. Dont know why but there not like a auto type of charger.
I use to race electric vehicles... long story, anyway, I used to up the charge voltage of the chargers before a race so the batteries would be seriously over voltaged for a short while just prior to a race. (yes this was legal)
To do this, open the charger, hook up a volt meter on the battery being charged, and adjust the pot (found somewhere on a circuit board inside the charger) with a screwdriver until the max voltage is achieved.
The battery will need to charge up to that voltage while charging the battery.
Note - most lead acid batteries dont like charging voltage above 14.4 volts. Anything above that will boil the electrolyte (gassing) (there are some exceptions)
 
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