Automotive Battery Charger

by Walt
(NC)

A regular automotive battery charger costs around 50 bucks, even for the smart kind with jump capability and trickle rate at the end. So tell me, why should I pay three grand for a Manzanita Micro PFC-30 when all it does is charge 120 volts (my car's got a 120v system) instead of 12? I'm no Einstein, but even I can figure out that 50 times 10 is not 3000.

I'm sure there's a good explanation, and I'm patiently waiting to hear it.

Hi, Walt -
Darlin, you can charge your batteries with anything you want. Plenty of folks who convert their cars to run on batteries have kinda run out of money at the end of the project...
(is this you, too?)
...and think to themselves, "You know, all I've gotta do is get those electrons outta my wall and into my batteries. How hard could that be??"

The answer is, it's not. And if you want to get ten of those trickle chargers and hook up each battery to a charger, be my guest. Here's an article I've written about "bad boy chargers" to get you started.
But think about this: You spent a LOT of money for those batteries. And you could fry them in a second (or less) with a simple charging mistake.

Expensive chargers, like the very worthy Manzanita Micro that you mentioned, are always thinking about the health and welfare of your very expensive batteries. It is designed to dump a lot of wall-juice back into your battery pack, over and over and over, without damaging either itself or your precious Trojans.

Additionally, the Power Correction Factor allows you to sip juice or gulp it from your wall outlet, which is, in the immortal prose of some clever EV writer somewhere, "the key to polite opportunity charging." If you're at a buddy's ancient house with equally ancient wiring, you can plug in without burning his house down or popping his breaker.

If you're at your modern office building, you can download electrons as fast as your batteries can receive them. In practice, in everyday life, you'll LIKE this feature.

It's up to you, Walt. If you're only going to charge at home, you don't mind a little risk, and you've got a dedicated circuit so you don't trip your circuit breaker, by all means line up the ten sisters and let 'er rip.

Me, personally? I'll take the Manzanita Micro. It's the most sensible thing I've ever done with three grand.

Regards,
Lynne