Bank Charger in Fire Engine

[Jongage]

I am attempting to install a bank charger in an engine in our department. I charges about six P1220 radios at the same time. The vehicle is equipped with an auto charger and will be plugged into a shore line while in the station. The charger gets its power from a AC to DC converter with an ouput of 14VDC. My question is, how can I hook this charger up so that it can charge the radios while plugged into the short line and while the vehicle is running. And if the voltage drops below 14V, could this damage the batteries on the radios??


-Jon Gage

[BDB]

You may have thought of this already but have you considered installing an inverter and powering the bank charger off of that ?

[thebigphish]

You may have thought of this already but have you considered installing an inverter and powering the bank charger off of that ?

Not the best solution, and that only really solves half his issue.

Couple of things you need to consider. Lets talk about efficiency... 120vAC shoreline into a charger converted to 13.8 vDC for charge, into inverter BACK to 120 vAC THEN into a wallwart to 14vDC output.
I would not be worried about the batteries in the charger as much as i would be worried about the wallwart. It's gonna make up as much of the difference as it can. Find out if the charger has a vehicular power source option for it, some units can operate as low as 12 or 13 vDC and have no issue, so find out what kind of tolerance the charger as for input...you may see somehting like 11.5 to 14.5 as a range, if that is good for you then you can do something like a battery saver function.

The chargers that kussmaul makes (i am NOT A SHILL - but i live and die by their chargers, never had a problem with them). They have a circut that is battery voltage, but is supported by the charger INDEPENDANT of the vehicle battery when it is plugged into the wall, and then automaticall switches to battery power when the vehicle is unplugged and running. This way you don't have this to contend with (120-->12-->120-->12). Spend the money do it right, a AutoCharge 20/20 will run you about $700 dollars, but will support a 20 amp load for battery demand As well as charge your battery upto 20 amps. The additional capability can go to handlights, radios etc so that you can have other things not being parasitic loads on the battery.

Less moving parts, more uptime, less possibility for failure at some point in that chain, plus...you will use less current for what you need.

it's been discussed before, i will search out some of the other threads i talked about it in, and post the links for you.

[Jongage]

Well I would just be using the bank charger hooked directly up to the batteries . If it just received 12 V would that damage it????

[thebigphish]

so then you would have a constant load on a battery, that is hooked up to a charger?... The charger is not designed to power 12v items, and it might mess with it's sensory circuts, by detecting a constant load on the batteries, which it might interpret as a fault or it might charge the batteries too high or something. This is not what you want to do, you will spend more money replacing batteries and chargers than you want to.

[tvsjr]

so then you would have a constant load on a battery, that is hooked up to a charger?... The charger is not designed to power 12v items, and it might mess with it's sensory circuts, by detecting a constant load on the batteries, which it might interpret as a fault or it might charge the batteries too high or something. This is not what you want to do, you will spend more money replacing batteries and chargers than you want to.

Phish is correct. Kussmaul builds "Battery Savers" which are 12VDC power supplies with automatic transfer switches. The load runs off the power supply when on shoreline and from the batteries when running.

I would recommend a 40A unit... one 20A line for the MDC, the other 20 for all chargers (radios, Litebox, etc.)

That said, I don't like the idea of a bank charger in a piece of apparatus. The radios won't stay in the charger bays, the batteries will get cooked, etc. Buy enough radios to issue one (with two batteries, speaker mic, and holster) to every firefighter. Require the FFs to carry them at all times as part of their duty gear (station clothing and turnouts).

[thebigphish]

I would recommend a 40A unit... one 20A line for the MDC, the other 20 for all chargers (radios, Litebox, etc.)

for those that are wondering, that would be the AutoCharge 20/20
Part # 091-20/20 and it retails for $655.00 directly from them. It's actually quite easy to buy, send them a fax on company letterhead, with a request to purchase one...they ship it right to you and bill you for it. It's a nice deal. Add a LED display to it, direct wire it off your battery and you will be all set.

[Jongage]

i do agree that issuing each firefighter an individual radio would be the best option however currently we dont have that option. With an anual budget of 8K, and no tax income, we completely donation dependant. We received about 12 radios as a donation and are trying to make the best of what we have.

I believe one engine that we have has an auto charger in it, I will look at it and se what option are available. That is a really good point about over charging the batteries. I definaly am not going to hook it up that way.

[thebigphish]

limited budget? Contact Kussmaul and ask them about a trade-up...they might be able to hook you up there.

[joparka]

off the shore line should be a 120 vac plug in the truck if not install one then plug in a vehicle battery condinator charger to it , you will also need a high current inverter that hold a good ac wave

[thebigphish]

off the shore line should be a 120 vac plug in the truck if not install one then plug in a vehicle battery condinator charger to it , you will also need a high current inverter that hold a good ac wave

riiiiiiiiight.

off the shore line should be a 120 vac plug in the truck if not install one then plug in a vehicle battery condinator charger to it

Most shore lines are installed to provide 120vAC to something, 99% of the time it's for a charger or a block heater. I would love to see the guy that installs a shoreline (disconnect be damned) and then installs NOTHING on the business end of it. And the point of the superflous shoreline would be __________ (what?)

you will also need a high current inverter that hold a good ac wave

read about seven posts up.




jongage, PM me if you want more details on the kussmaul stuff...

[aaknitt]

That said, I don't like the idea of a bank charger in a piece of apparatus. The radios won't stay in the charger bays, the batteries will get cooked, etc. Buy enough radios to issue one (with two batteries, speaker mic, and holster) to every firefighter. Require the FFs to carry them at all times as part of their duty gear (station clothing and turnouts).

I agree. However, like the originator of this post, the department I'm on can't afford radios for everyone. Even if we could, our call volume is so low that most people who have radios (officers) forget they have them until we get a call, at which time the battery is sure to be dead from neglect. I'm wondering if there is a good solution out there somewhere. I seem to remember reading about a bank charger that would periodically discharge the batteries and then recharge them...has anyone used one of these? Are they any good? What happens if you get a call while it's at the bottom of the discharge cycle?

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Andy

[MetroMan]

There's a six bank charger available that will run on AC or DC with interchangeable pods so you can charge different units in the same charger. We've sold a few and they seem to be popular with the local Fire Departments.

Check http://www.impactcomms.com/index.php?cP ... 944bd92772