Charging flasher batteries

[Lungdeflator]

Might be a dumb question, but does it work to charge flasher batteries from a deep cycle battery?

Can I just connect using alligator clips on both batteries?

I have a big deep cycle in my skid house that is charged by solar. Deep cycle seems like it is always fully charged. So if the deep cycle is at Ex. 13.4v, the flasher battery would charge until it equalizes with the deep cycle right?

 

[guywhofishes]

not very well - you have to stay at or above the charging voltage to cause the chemical conversion that "holds" the charge

I think it wouldn't take long for the deep cycle to drop below that critical voltage

but I bet they make a little doohicky that efficiently ups the voltage from the deep high enough to cause the flasher to charge

(a little 12V powered 12V charger)

- - - Updated - - -

you could hook up a cheap 110 inverter to the deep cycle - then plug in the usual charger to the flasher

but that's two devices "converting" - each would be turning your power into heat that's lost for no reason

one would imagine there's a more efficient doohicky out there

 

[stalker]

Here's one option for a battery to battery charger.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011J76CFE/?tag=nodakangler10-20

 

[dschaible]

[FONT=&quot] Inverter

[/FONT]https://www.amazon.com/Foval-Power-Inverter-Converter-Charger/dp/B01KT26D68/ref=sr_1_26?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1538498540&sr=1-26&keywords=inverter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MDXS0U/?tag=nodakangler10-20

 

[sweeney]

how big is your solar charger in watts? how many amps does it charge at when connected to deep cycle? and what voltage does it read when not hooked to the battery?

 

[1bigfokker]

Hook up a Sunsaver 10 between panel and battery

 

[Lungdeflator]

I'll have to double check the specs and what the panel is putting out sometime. I do have a controller on it, actually had a sunsaver on it and it only lasted 6 months. The current one was almost half the price and has lasted over 9 months now.

Just seems like it should be simple enough to charge the little one right off the big one.

 

[risingsun]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stanley-...66001f5-46cfa622-32f88ede9a18a716&athena=true

 

[sweeney]

I'll have to double check the specs and what the panel is putting out sometime. I do have a controller on it, actually had a sunsaver on it and it only lasted 6 months. The current one was almost half the price and has lasted over 9 months now.

Just seems like it should be simple enough to charge the little one right off the big one.

Without knowing all the specs but since you have a controller on it, I am guessing it is over a 20 watt so if the solar charger is putting out its13.xx voltage and x amps and you put the small 12 volt battery in parallel with the big one it should charge, the different impedance of the batteries will probably cause a bit of a current difference to each battery however. I am not sure what the max current is for charging those small vex batteries, so this is where you might run into trouble, if you are charging at lets say 5 amps on that small battery. I know the chargers that usually come with them charge at a really low current. I would check into the specs of the vex battery and the solar charger. If you want do a small experiment and hook them up and take voltage and current readings just to make sure you are in spec and not going to ruin the small battery. If you aren't sure or don't want to mess with it like someone said get a small 12v inverter and just hook that to the 12v outlet or alligator clip it to the main deep cycle and use the 120v output to run the small factory charger. or have another solar charger with a smaller watt rating that will charge at a lower amperage, I have like a 8 watt solar charger I got for 5 bucks at menards that I would use it charged at .5 amps usually only used it to top off charge on my spare flasher or camera battery but it seemed to work decent enough during the day.