Quote:
Originally Posted by fb39ca4
Our team is building a new battery cart and we are thinking of getting this charger:
http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GEN3-Geni.../dp/B003JSO1X2
However, it charges at 10A, which I am pretty sure is too much for robot batteries. Does anyone know if there is a way to lower the amperage on these things? |
I recently bought the 4-bank version of the same charger. It appeared to be working well at first, but it isn't really working for us. It declares a battery to be fully charged way too early, goes into trickle charge for a few minutes, then stops entirely. When this happens, it indicates full charge, no errors.
It is not specified to work on batteries as small as FRC batteries (it specs a range of 25-230 A-hr, our batteries are 18 A-hr). It was probably a mistake to have assumed that a "smart charger" would be smart enough to adjust itself to the size of our battery. Some on our team believe it ought to work anyway (might be a little harsh on the battery and possibly reduce lifetime, but it should still work), so ours might be defective. We've tried other experiments with it that suggest it isn't really working correctly. I plan to call the company and ask about it. I doubt I can return it, because we already cut the wires to put Anderson connectors on.
The unit is completely sealed, so I don't believe there is any way to adjust the current output. If I can't return it, I might crack it open and see if there's anything I can change.
I've looked for another charger that has 4 or more banks, with 6 Amp outputs, but I've had no luck so far. It looks like the Dual-Pro, sold by AndyMark, is the best choice. I'd like to hear from anyone who finds a good charger with >= 4 banks and 6A each. I'd even be willing to make a summer team project building one, if I found a good plan for it.