All my chairs are now 12v chargers.

[Burgerman]

Everything evolves.

I now charge all of my powerchairs with 12v cars, 12v chargers etc. No need for any 24v chargers at all. That completely does away with any battery balancing issues and means I can charge in my van with just a single cable while I drive and no charger needed. And lots FASTER!

aLL just by discionnecting 2 battery terminals permanantly! Something was eating at me for ages and then I igured out how simple and safe this was. Disclaimer its safe when I do it! You may get it wrong!!!

Any cheap 3 stage 12v chargers are also fine at home. So a cheap 12v nmaintainance charger can go on the unused chairs etc.

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/faster- ... arging.htm

[TwoTeasChris]

That's really neat.
Just to complicate things, how do I run my 12v torch and blanket whilst the chair is moving? (With the Anderson 'key' in.)
Do I need to buy more Andys for the other side of the chair? And I thought buying 16 was o.t.t.!

[Burgerman]

You cant. Its either mobile and 24 volts. Or stopped and bothe batteries in parallel and 12v and double the Ah...

You cant do both at the SAME TIME unless you use a dropper (not efficient) or run it off 1 battery and balance it later with a dual charger or a 12v charger...

[TwoTeasChris]

The picture in your link (http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/faster-in-car-charging.htm) shows the anderson 'key' to link the batteries and the anderson 'triplet' for charging.
What wire are you using for the triplet? The black andersons I have here would not take 2 wires in each pin.
I'm using "10m 10.0mm 70A TINNED THIN WALL MARINE BOAT AUTO CABLE" mentioned in another thread:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290357105141&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1995wt_907

Strangly, the orange andersons I have - have more roomy pins. But still not big enough.

[Burgerman]

Andersons are available with all sizes of cable entries.

But when charging in parallel via the connecter with three ends the current is "split" so you only need half the cross section. That is if you use 10mm for the charge lead, then it feeds two batteries. So half the powerr goes to one, and half to the other. So I use smaller 6mm (actually a little bigger) for that three plug connector. If 50 amps is the total charge load then each smaller cable feeds 25 to each battery.

[TwoTeasChris]

Generally, where is the best place to put a fuse?
Near to battery/near to anderson/doesn't matter?

[Burgerman]

I dont have any...

But you SHOULD have a fuse as close to the battery as possible. Because if a cable insulation gets damaged or you connect something wrong it will blow. You will never charge at higher than 100 amps. But you may draw 150 amps at times via the control system depending on a bunch of things. If you wire it so as its a split system as I do you need a 150 amp fuse on both battery positives. Technically. Build it safely, good quality correctly routed cables and dont connect anything wrong then dont worry about a breaker, trip, or fuse. At your own risk!

[TwoTeasChris]

I'm fitting fuses!
I have some of these "100 amp continuous/200 amp blow" on the andersons on the side of the chair. (Not in use yet.)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DURITE-STRIP-LINK-FUSE-0-378-30-100-AMP-PACK-10-/290341438490?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4399b2c41a#ht_2014wt_991
Should I be using another 'size''?
(80amp power module on one chair, 70(?)amp on other.)

[apm36]

Bringing up this old post to see if you are still using this charging system and how it has been working. Anyone else make the change to a 12 volt charging system? What are people using to fast charge during the day from AC power?

My MK batteries are pretty much shot. After reviewing the info on this website, I think the Odessey’s will work better for me than the MK’s. My Omegatrac can pull a max of 200 amps for the driving motor and 150 amps for the steering and I use it hard. When I switch to Odessey’s, I am also planning on adding Anderson connectors. This system of 12 volt in parallel seems to fit my needs the best but I’m not sure what to do for charging at home. I would like something capable of a faster charge than the Hyperion 1420i so I could top off as needed. Seems like a high output 2 bank 12 volt charger would be best, so I have the ability to charge each battery individually. Have people used two Hyperion 1420i’s for this, one for each 12 volt battery? I’ve looked at a few other 12 volt 2 bank chargers, like Samlex, but seems hard to beat the Hyperion. Any suggestions?

All the great information on this site is HUGELY appreciated. Thank you.

[Burgerman]

Every day for 3 years I charge a set of odysseys at 24v, 45Amps at 29.4v from my bench charger as I eat, and sit at PC.

Also I charge several times a day at 14.4v from my vans system as shown on my site, at up to 100 amps.

Every night I charge all night at 14.7v at 20 amps, to 100thC point and then float at 13.8 volts, until I get up via the hyperion hobby charger.

I never got a full year from any battery using a mobility charger, but I am still using a set that are 3 years plus old as we speak.

[apm36]

Every day for 3 years I charge a set of odysseys at 24v, 45Amps at 29.4v from my bench charger as I eat, and sit at PC

How do you hook it up to charge at 24 volt? My understanding is the batteries are connected in parallel at 12v with the two Anderson's. They only change into series and 24v when you link the Anderson's together. What bench charger do you use? Am I correct in thinking you could connect a Hyperion to each of the Anderson connectors and be charging at 12v nominal 40 amp total?

[Burgerman]

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/faster- ... ing.htmAll here!

Look at the white diagram, but read all!

[Burgerman]

How do you hook it up to charge at 24 volt? My understanding is the batteries are connected in parallel at 12v with the two Anderson's. They only change into series and 24v when you link the Anderson's together.

Which can be done via the charge lead. See link above.

What bench charger do you use? Am I correct in thinking you could connect a Hyperion to each of the Anderson connectors and be charging at 12v nominal 40 amp total?

You could but that would need a huge bench power supply. Why not use that directly, set to 29.4v and max amps (45 in my case) as I do?

[Seajays]

BM, Last link NFG

[gologen]

BM, Last link NFG

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/faster-in-car-charging.htm

[Burgerman]

Oops - thanks for fixing it.

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/faster- ... arging.htm

[ex-Gooserider]

Just as a note, I am also a user of the BM setup with 12v charging from my van, and (embarrasingly) still using the mobility chargers via the XLR plug at other times and places...

The only downside I've found is that if you have a joystick that uses the mode switch and joystick to set the speed on a row of LED's (as opposed to using a real "speed knob" pot) it will reset to the slowest speed each time you unplug the crossover cable in order to plug in the 12V charge lead. This means that you have to go through the extra step of resetting back to "normal" every time.

Speed knob joysticks don't have this problem, they stay at whatever speed you set the knob to...

ex-Gooserider

[RobyG]

Hi,

first I want to thank you for you site and message board, it is the best source of information on power chairs, batteries and chargers that I have found.

Now a little backstory, my wife and I have a pride power chair in our camper van for times that require a lot of walking like museums etc. we travel about half of the year. I have been salvaging used power chairs that are for sale cheap, and reselling them cheap as possible or donating on occasion as needed. That is how we acquired the ones we use personally. Most times they are in fine condition but the batteries have been left discharged too long, and they are no longer needed.

I have been exploring ways to take advantage of the 2 55ah SLAs on the chair for powering LED lights, ham radio, CPAP, computer, kindle etc that we use when stopped. I also have several pair of SLAs from power chairs that I have on trickle chargers currently at home. I have learned about the need to keep the pairs balanced is most important.

So your method #5 really got my attention, I was going to try a similar method that would require more connectors, but unplug the batteries for the controller and use the andersen connector as a DPDT switch. Your method is cleaner.

Is there better newer information on doing this? I have searched the message board on hyperion chargers, etc. but I am starting from 2010 and working forward. Amazing amout of knowledge to be gained here.

Will the hyperion still be a good charger to use in the van as well as at home with a ham radio power supply to balance pairs of SLAs wired in parallel?

I will be trying fast charging, from the van, which came with a factory 100 ah auxilliary battery and an aftermarket 1800 watt inverter for 110v gear. I intend to keep the systems separated as much as possible. But the ability to charge one battery from the bigger on in an emergecy intrigues me.

I assume that since the last updates on this information on you website are in 2010, the it is still valid.

again this is an awesome site for information.

Roby

[Burgerman]

Hyperion is discontinued. Replace with Cellpro PL8v2 instead. It can do all the same tricks. But can charge at up to 40A instead... But will require careful setting up and programming via a PC to suit what you want to do first. It can run from 12V and charge 24V at 24A. Or can charge 12V from 12V at 40A. And can charge 24v from 24v at 40A etc. Antthing any chemistry, and anything less than 35V.

If you really mean trickle charger above you will ruin the sealed batteries...

[ex-Gooserider]

Electrically not much has changed - nothing really to change on that part...

I prefer to use PP-75's on the chair end instead of SB-50's, but that is essentially a cosmetic and convenience issue, electrically it's the same, I just end up with one slightly bigger connector block instead of two smaller ones....

In a camper situation, the wiring can be more tricky just because of the different setups that are possible, but I'd still run the wiring that the chair plugs into right off the main battery - and then use the already in place wiring to connect to everything else...

As an interesting thought experiment - have you considered using the CHAIR batteries as your extra backup reserve battery pack - if you can deal with the risk of having a not-fully-charged chair on occasion, I don't see why it wouldn't work....

ex-Gooserider