Battery Charger - Use as an Inverter?

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Tony F - 30 Aug 2005 22:27 GMT

I have a Sears 10amp/2amp battery charger that I was thinking about using as
a power inverter for a Radar class I have to teach. I was going to buy a
cigarette lighter socket adapter with bare leads and use this to hook up to
the pos and neg terminals of the battery charger. I "assume" this would be
just as safe as hooking up straight to a car battery?

Thanks,

Tony

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columbotrek - 31 Aug 2005 01:11 GMT

Battery chargers are not filtered. They put out about 14VDC with a
raspy square wave. A pulsating DC. Ok for charging a battery but not so
good for electronics. I have used one to keep a 12V deep cycle
rv/marine battery charged which was used to power my electronics.
Either that or you will need to place a large capacitor (rated for the
voltage and expected current across the charger to smooth the output.

> I have a Sears 10amp/2amp battery charger that I was thinking about using as
> a power inverter for a Radar class I have to teach. I was going to buy a
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Tony

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I. Care - 31 Aug 2005 03:37 GMT

> Battery chargers are not filtered. They put out about 14VDC with a
> raspy square wave. A pulsating DC. Ok for charging a battery but not so
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> >
> > Tony

I agree they have terrible ripple and will mess up your electronics
unless you attach filters. How about going to Radio Shack and looking
at power supplies? Is there a Amatuer Radio store (Ham) nearby? The
carry good PS's most of the time. You can also look here->

http://www.astroncorp.com/

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Tony F - 31 Aug 2005 03:50 GMT

"I agree they have terrible ripple and will mess up your electronics unless
you attach filters. How about going to Radio Shack and looking at power
supplies? Is there a Amatuer Radio store (Ham) nearby?"

This is for a class I'm teaching at work. Of course, due to budget
concerns, my employer will not purchase an inverter or anything else for
that matter for the class. (They will already be forking out a bunch of
money for O.T.) I was willing to pay for some cigarette lighter sockets out
of my own pocket, but not much more than that.

Well, I can at least assume that I can run equipment off of a car or
motorcycle battery WHILE I'm charging it with a battery charger? Will the
battery act as a capacitor to smooth out the power output? Or should I just
stick with a battery without the charger and hope it doesn't die during
class?

Thanks guys,

Tony

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I. Care - 31 Aug 2005 04:02 GMT

> "I agree they have terrible ripple and will mess up your electronics unless
> you attach filters. How about going to Radio Shack and looking at power
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Tony

In some respects a battery is a capacitor, it stores a charge. I have
heard of people using the battery as a filter when using a charger just
as you suggest. I would grab a meter, check the DC output to see if
it's acceptable voltage level for your radar and then switch to AC and
see how much ripple there is. Hook an auto headlight or two to it for a
load during the test. If the ripple is low you should be OK

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MZ - 31 Aug 2005 04:06 GMT

> "I agree they have terrible ripple and will mess up your electronics unless
> you attach filters. How about going to Radio Shack and looking at power
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> stick with a battery without the charger and hope it doesn't die during
> class?

The battery will certainly help, Tony. If it's a good battery, you should
be able to run the stuff for a while if you're not drawing too much
current. IMO, the battery will do a better job than even a large cap for
your purposes. I think that in many chargers you'll find spikes. But it
should do the job. What are you hooking up to it? An amp?

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Tony F - 31 Aug 2005 04:46 GMT

"What are you hooking up to it? An amp?"

A police RADAR unit.

Tony

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