Battery charger that also acts as a power supply (SOLVED!)

[Gnarlodious]

I have the ProMariner ProSport from GoWesty and am not too satisfied with it. My complaint is that it measures voltage rather than current. I often have loads running inside my van that cause my charger to imagine the battery is still discharged. In some cases it will never kick down to float voltage and continues to charge at recovery voltage indefinitely, something like 14.8v. I figure that a suitable charger for my conditions will only look at voltage as its reference to go to float voltage. This by the way is what a “power supply” does. The battery charger and the power suppy have always been two separate animals. Is it possibly that with modern electronic technology someone is making what I want?
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[CessnaJon]

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/powersupply/portPowerCharger12pip.php
_________________
1973 Westy (shared birthday)
1990 Westy Multivan
2015 Passat TDI 6sp
2015 Sportwagon TDI 6sp
LR-JET, Gulfstream 159

[Vanuber]

The Victron IP22 can toggle between power supply and charger using the Bluetooth app. It will also continue charging your battery when in power supply mode. This may be what you are looking for.
_________________
'85 Westfalia 1.9L
'72 BMW R75/5
'71 BMW R75/5
'02 Subaru Forester 2.5L

[syncropatrick]

These shore chargers.
Available in the USA.
https://sterling-power.com/collections/marine-battery-chargers
I use the 12V30A model in my Syncro to charge 240Ah leisure battery bank and power to the fridge.
_________________
Wanted: nearside part of full-height walk-through bulkhead behind front seat: 251 863 170

[Gnarlodious]

[Vanuber]

[dobryan]

[Gnarlodious]

Thanks, Vanuber. I’ve been running the Victron IP22 for over a month now and it’s just what I want. I can set it to “Power Supply” mode via the iPhone app and it runs at 12.6 volts when I’m plugged into shore power. The solar charge controller now handles the battery's recovery voltage and the "shore power" charger is just for long dark nights. In case of extended cloudy days I can always set the charger to manage the battery voltages.

I still have the Renogy solar controller but it looks like I can switch over to a Victron and use the same Bluetooth app as the charger does. That will allow me to get rid of the Renogy app.
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[Vanuber]

[Gnarlodious]

[9.5isCanadian]

[Gnarlodious]

[9.5isCanadian]

[Vanuber]

[Gnarlodious]

Nice diagram! Question. What is the porpoise of the DC-DC charger?
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[nocreditnodebt]

I get the desire for an 'automatic' smart charger.

The thing about smart chargers, is most, have No IDEA, how much of their charge current is actually powering loads, and how much of that output is actually charging the battery.

They can be easily fooled when one turns off a load, and they go into premature float, well before the battery is fully charged, or if there is a continuous load, and are waiting for amperage output into battery to fall to a certain level, can maintain high voltage well after the battery is indeed fully charged.

I got so sick of both of these screwing my batteries into premature demises, I went to an adjustable voltage power supply for ALL charging, and power supply duties.

The Key is to know When, to lower voltage from absorption to float.

When the amps INTO the battery, not the total amperage output of the power supply, taper to x amount, then that battery can be considered fully charged.

Some batteries will say when the amperage tapering, at absorption voltage slows to X amount then consider it fully charged.

Basically if you have an ammeter reading amps into the battery, you can set your power supply to 14.4 to 14.7v, add or subtract a little for ambient temperature, and usually 4.5 to 8 hours later, know you will be truly fully charged, and then lower voltage to float.

if you cant be there when this 'end amp' level will be achieved, then just set it to float, then when you can, bump it back upto absorption until amps taper to the prescribed level. One will often find that 48 hours at float voltage, when one bumps voltage upto 14.7v, it takes 45+ minutes for amps to taper to the prescribed level proving that float voltage, or perhaps any voltage below absorption on a more aged battery, was not able to fully charge that specific battery.

I've been using a Meanwell rsp-500-15 since september 2014. Its got 40 amps available for any voltage I choose between 13.12 and 19.23v
I live full time, 24/7. It has many housands of hours on it, but I have modified it with a better adjustment potentiometer heatsinking and ventilation.
I can and do use it as a portable, when others start complaining about the need to constantly jumpstart their vehicle even after their Noco or Ctek was left on overnight the week previous.

My last battery I replaced was a northstar group 27 AGM . I got ~1200 deep cycles from it over 6 years and did not even start using the meanwell on it until it was 2.

About 150 of those deep cycles were down as low as 30% state of charge. but these deep discharges were almost always promptly followed by 40 amps and 14.7v held until amps tapered to 0.4 or less.

TPPL AGms seem to love and appreciate the occasional high amp blast from low states of charge, and will be 'tickled to death' with a trickle charge only regimen, despite how often grandpa repeated this old wives tale. Even the cheaper AGMS which recommend no more than 30 amps per 100Ah of capacity seem to greatly benefit from charge rates up this high, on occassion, from low states of charge.

The sheer amount of KWH my Northstar battery provided from purchase until replacement was impressive, and I attribute that to the adjustable voltage power supply, the ammeter, a smart phone's timer. $ per cycle, it beat any other battery previous, by a factor of at least 2, and it was a 400$ battery.

With enough experience one can set their timer for 4 or 5 or 6.5 hours, come back and find the amps tapered to near expected levels and reduce voltage to float with a flick of the wrist.


If one really wants a charger that can function as a power supply, consider that a power supply can be far more effective as a charger when one has an ammeter counting amps INTO THE battery, and the temperament to actually use it, and a timer.

[Vanuber]