Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
(OP)
I don't like mains wires stretching across drive unattended so instead of putting car battery charger under bonnet I was thinking of extending the 12v output leads to 10 mtr so charger in house just 12v running outside.
Would I lose any output voltage due to longer output cable or would it still charge battery ok.
I would be useing orange 2 core mains cable as used to power electric lawn mowers.
Would I lose any output voltage due to longer output cable or would it still charge battery ok.
I would be useing orange 2 core mains cable as used to power electric lawn mowers.





RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
I.e., at high currents, you need fat wires to keep the voltage drop reasonable.
If it's for charging the battery of a fueled car, you still need moderately large cable, unless the charger has remote sense terminals.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
However, you battery oughtn't be losing charge that quickly. You might want to check if there is a parasitic load that's draining your battery. If there is, you might want to add a kill switch to that particular load.
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RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
I will make a lead up and try in next time it fails to start as garage says it will still happen with a new battery so better to be prepared.
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
I'm pretty sure you would need a pretty big set of cables if your trying to "boost" a dead batter to start...That and a high amp charger.
Rod
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
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RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
"If it's for charging the battery of a fueled car, you still need moderately large cable, unless the charger has remote sense terminals."
I don't have access to any wire gauge voltage drop charts but think 6 gauge or larger for a distance of 10 meters !
I worked for a major automotive manufacturer in engineering. Frequently we had test vehicles with equipment that needed to be run in the field even when the engine was off. The standard vehicle battery had inadequate capacity so an additional battery was wired in the trunk (boot). Even with 12 gauge wire, the voltage available at the rear battery was not sufficient to completely charge the battery.
Of course modern charging systems (i.e. voltage regulator) are much more "conservative". Old vehicle voltage regulators would allow 15+ volts if the battery was in a very low "state of charge".
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
Well, just on the face of it, it had nothing to do with the wire gauge, since the IR drop of 24 ft of 12 gauge wire at 6 amps is only 0.23V. The bottom line is that taking a fully charged battery and hooking it up to a discharged battery leaves you with two partially discharged batteries.
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RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
My solution was to buy a small solar battery charger and plug into the cigarette lighter. Just lay the solar panel on the dash and let the sun (lots of sun in Socal) keep up with the alarm system/radio/clock display drainage.
We'll see how it works out in a few weeks.
Just FYI...The initial startup charge on the Dodge was 14.95v for several minutes and commonly charges at 13.9v.
The Chebby 454 in the motor home hits ~15v if any of the three batts are down significantly.
I've been at this a while and except for the NASCAR stuff we watched several years back (normal charge ~20v on an 18v battery), the charging rates on new cars are much unchanged in about 60 years. The limiting factor is the lead/acid battery technology. Perhaps we will see changes in the next few years since the first lithium-ion batteries are showing up in some 2011 imported cars.
Rod
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
Note that the regulator does the job of maintaining the voltage at the set level very well. However depending on where your voltage monitoring circuit is connected there may be a small difference between indicated voltage and the voltage at the regulator sense terminal.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
scroll down to pg 21 of the PDF file.
http://lo
RE: Can I Extend Car Battery Charger Output Cable
12v voltage drop charts