On Thu, 17 Sep 1998 20:58:24 +0300 Peter Cousens writes: >Tjaart van der Walt wrote: > >> Hi there >> >> I've been playing with all kinds of circuits to limit the current >when >> charging a flat lead acid battery. >snip > >Very low tec but I mostly use a lamp in series with the battery >and always have a stock of lamps in my workshop from 5w 12v >to 55w 24v vehicle lamps. > >You can't beat the price and it doubles as a fuse > > In fact, I've suggested this to a friend as a way of charging the batteries in the electric car he's builting. He has 11 12V batteries in series. The electrical supply here is 120VAC. Residential it's a 240VAC line with the center tap grounded (neutral). Business, it's a 3 phase Y with 120 VAC each line to ground (neutral). I've suggested connecting two or three diodes thru a big light bulb to the positive end of the batteries. The negative end goes to neutral. He can put a voltage sensor on there to detect when the battery has reached full charge (either by setting an end of charge voltage or watching for negative dv/dt), then drop to a lower wattage light bulb for a float or trickle charge. Pretty light weight charger. Harold _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]