12V Powered 12V Lead Acid Battery Charger with Indicator


Posted on Feb 7, 2014

Some of you might wonder why a charger is needed at all, to charge a 12 Volt battery from a 12 Volt source! Well, firstly the `12 Volt` source will typically vary anywhere from 11 Volt to 15 Volt, and then a battery needs a controlled charge current and voltage, which cannot result from connecting it directly to a voltage source. The charger descr


12V Powered 12V Lead Acid Battery Charger with Indicator
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ibed here is intended for charging small 12 Volt lead acid batteries, such as the gelled or AGM batteries of capacities between about 2 and 10 Ah, using a cars electrical system as power source, regardless of whether the car engine is running or not. I built this charger many years ago, I think I was still in school back then. On request of a reader of my web site, Im publishing it now, despite being a rather crude circuit. It works, it is uncritical to build, and uses only easy-to-find parts, so it has something in its favor. The downside is mainly the low efficiency: This charger wastes about as much power as it puts into the battery. The charger consists of two stages: The first is a capacitive voltage doubler, which uses a 555 timer IC driving a pair of transistors connected as emitter followers, which in turn drive the voltage doubler proper. The doubler has power resistors built in, which limit the charging current. The second stage is a voltage regulator, using a 7815 regulator IC. Its output is applied to the battery via a diode, which prevents reverse current and also lowers the voltage a bit. The resulting charge voltage is about 14. 4V, which is fine for charging a gelled or AGM battery to full charge, but is too high as a trickle charger, so dont leave this charger permanently connected to a battery. If you would like to do just that, then add a second diode in series with D3! There is a LED connected as a...




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