Battery charger cables

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Battery charger cables

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29 August 2014 at 19:54 #51663
Bob Abell 2
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@bobabell2
Just bought my wife a mobility scooter, it has two 12v batteries

The charger comes with OTT heavy duty cables, they must be at least 6mm dia!

The charger is intended to be plugged into a household wall socket

Question….Why are the charger cables so huge compared to household wiring?

I realise this is not a boating question, but it may be relevant to Paul's power supply for his Thor build!

Bob
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29 August 2014 at 19:54 #8439
Bob Abell 2
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@bobabell2
Why so big?
29 August 2014 at 20:45 #51665
shipwright
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@shipwright
Bob,

Basically the current drawn from the supply determines the diameter (or more correctly the cross sectional area) of the copper cable. There are tables for looking up the diameter of the copper cable for a given current rating. Maybe your charger has a fast charge mode – that could easily require a cable capable of carrying a current of 10's of amps. The same rules apply to mains cables. The larger the cross sectional area the lower the resistance per metre. There will be a voltage drop between the ends of the conductor and for long cables this might be significant. The other factor is that there will be energy loss in the copper which will heat the cable – and if the current is large that heating effect could be significant and undesirable from the point of view of the cable insulation.

Ian
29 August 2014 at 20:55 #51666
Bob Abell 2
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@bobabell2
Thank you, Ian

What is the point of chunky cables, when the household cables are so thin in comparison?

It seems almost dangerous?

Bob
29 August 2014 at 21:40 #51673
shipwright
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@shipwright
Bob,

Without seeing the cables it is difficult to comment further. Do you know the Ah capacity of the 2 12v batteries and what does the user manual say about the typical time taken to fully charge the battery (from a fully discharged state) ?

Ian
30 August 2014 at 08:05 #51675
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Bob. I recon they probably use the same charging leads for several products, so they make only one type and supply them on all their chargers ???

OR it may be a safety thing…if there is a fault somewhere, its your house wiring that melts first, and not the charger leads…

Ashley
30 August 2014 at 08:10 #51677
Bob Abell 2
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@bobabell2
Hello Ian

The batteries are two 12v of 12AH each

They take from 8 to 12 hours typical charge at 2amp

They recommend a 48 hour continuous charge, once a month

But thinking about it……Household wiring is very long and can dissipate the heat quicker than the short charger cable?

Thank you for replying

Bob
30 August 2014 at 08:16 #51678
shipwright
Participant
@shipwright
Bob,

2 Amps isn't much current – so I don't know why your charger leads are 6 mm in diameter.

Ian
30 August 2014 at 08:21 #51680
Bob Abell 2
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@bobabell2
Exactly!

Bob
30 August 2014 at 08:27 #51682
lnvisibleman
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@lnvisibleman
The truth is that Bob only bought the scooter so he had a readily at hand source of low speed, high torque motors.
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