small TRICKEL charger

put a trickle charger on the carbon cub, only puts about one tenth of a volt into system after several days, Alternator puts it right up to 14 with charger on it 12.1 to 12.2 does this sound right?
Volts

busbart1 said:

put a trickle charger on the carbon cub, only puts about one tenth of a volt into system after several days, Alternator puts it right up to 14 with charger on it 12.1 to 12.2 does this sound right?
Volts

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An alternator has a short amount of time to recharge your battery. And while it's doing this it must also run other systems in your aircraft, so it runs a higher voltage. A trickle charger operates on a different principle. If it is limited to, say, .25 amps it will adjust it's voltage (within reason) to push that amount of current through your battery. When it senses that the battery is nearing a full charge, it will adjust it's internal voltage to push less and less current. If your charger has a meter on it, you see this happening. At the initial stage of charging the needle goes up the scale. After a few hours the needle has moved back down, near the lower end of the scale. Trickle chargers do this but usually have no meter and are limited to much lower current outputs (amps). This makes the ideal for long term maintenance of batteries as they will not push enough current to heat the battery when left connected.

With all of the new types of batteries on the market be sure that you have the correct type of charger, for your battery, according to the manufacturer. Not all can be recharged with the typical automotive style charger we've been using for years.

Web

yes I understand the alternator and its capacity. I am just wondering why the charger never gets the voltage up above 12.1 or 12.2 volts. the battery is possibly the culprit. New charger, new plane to me..... it does start the plane ok but not any extra power I feel.

busbart1 said:

yes I understand the alternator and its capacity. I am just wondering why the charger never gets the voltage up above 12.1 or 12.2 volts. the battery is possibly the culprit. New charger, new plane to me..... it does start the plane ok but not any extra power I feel.

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Because 12 volts is what the battery is charged to. The alternator has about five to ten minutes to do this. Your trickle charger has days to do the same thing. It will normally not get more than a few tenths of a volt above the 12 volt mark.
You never said what battery you are using?

Web

I'm no expert, but I thought 12v batteries should hold a voltage around 13.2v?

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No. 12 volt batteries hold 12 volts. The unit charging the battery must put out a higher voltage in order to drive a charging current to the battery.

Web

A lead acid battery should hold 12.6, 12.7 volts, make sure your voltmeter is accurate. Do a load test on your battery to check power ( cranking power CCA )

All batteries will vary a few tens of a volt one way or another. But anything above approx. 12 volts is a 'top' charge. Let the battery sit for a couple of days and it goes aback down to 12 volts. The static voltage of a battery means nothing unless its to low to begin with. If you check voltage of a battery, it needs to be charged completely and have a relatively large load placed on it, such as a carbon pile or just cranking your engine without starting. The voltage needs to stay above 9 or 9.5 volts for about fifteen seconds. If it does that it's in good shape.

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Frenchy said:

A lead acid battery should hold 12.6, 12.7 volts, make sure your voltmeter is accurate. Do a load test on your battery to check power ( cranking power CCA )

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Here's the rate of charge chart that I use as a general reference.

With a trickle charger connected, my voltmeter shows 13.4 volts across the battery terminals. Disconnected, it shows 12.6 volts when the battery is fully charged.

Get a decent battery, fly every once in a while and you shouldn't need a trickle charger. I parked outside in winter in Fairbanks for 20 years.....never needed or used a trickle charger, after I installed a good battery.

MTV

busbart1 said:

put a trickle charger on the carbon cub, only puts about one tenth of a volt into system after several days, Alternator puts it right up to 14 with charger on it 12.1 to 12.2 does this sound right?
Volts

Click to expand...

Are you measuring your battery connected or disconnected?

http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/us-ody-tm-001_0411_000.pdf

A fully charged 12V lead acid battery should indicate 12.6V with no load and the surface charge removed. A trickle charger must produce more than 12.6 V in order to charge the battery.

Be aware that some inexpensive chargers supply rectified AC; where the voltage varies over time. A DC voltmeter may show an apparently low DC voltage value (usually an RMS approximation), even though the charger supplies sufficient voltage to charge the battery during the peak part of the cycle.

connected

thanks will dig into it this week. have lots of experience with farm and heavy equipment. something here just seems strange to me...... Starts ok, bat is original 2010 in a carbon cub

busbart1 said:

thanks will dig into it this week. have lots of experience with farm and heavy equipment. something here just seems strange to me...... Starts ok, bat is original 2010 in a carbon cub

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I've always taken the approach that five years is about time to change batteries in aircraft. I've had them go longer than that, but based on the fact that these things can leave you "out there" somewhere, I'd replace that battery, rather than screw with trickle chargers.

MTV