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  #1  
Old 05-15-2015, 04:29 PM
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Car battery charger regulation

I have an older Motomaster (Schumacher) model 11-1159-4 6-amp manual battery charger. I would like to use it to power my car stereos on the bench. Any suggestions on what to use for outboard voltage regulation?
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Old 05-15-2015, 07:15 PM
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Besides the voltage, you'll get lots of hum from a battery charger, unless you hook it to a battery to smooth things out.
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Old 05-15-2015, 08:45 PM
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Even with a battery, you'll get some hum - I had my Honda Accord in storage for a while, and had the battery go down. I used my lil' Shumacher battery charger to charge the battery, and tried the radio while it charged - pure 120Hz hum.

It's probably best to hold out for a regulated 12/13.8V power supply - an Astron, an old Archer (Radio Shack), a Pyramid, or any one of the many off-brand supplies. I pick them up at flea markets - many sellers can't guarantee them or hook them up, so I offer what I'm willing to pay and usually it's accepted.


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Old 05-15-2015, 11:14 PM
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I have a "DVE" model DVP-112 power supply here... the output is only 2 amps and I have no idea if it's regulated. Would that be good enough for old car stereos?
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Old 05-16-2015, 01:48 PM
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If it is a 60Hz transformer and diodes style unit try a 2200uF 25V+ cap on the output...I use that and a 70's Tripplite 500W inverter/battery charger to run car radios with little hum.
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  #6  
Old 05-16-2015, 02:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
If it is a 60Hz transformer and diodes style unit try a 2200uF 25V+ cap on the output...I use that and a 70's Tripplite 500W inverter/battery charger to run car radios with little hum.
I assume it's that type... it's quite heavy for its size and hums a little when powered up. It's worth a try, thanks.
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Old 05-22-2015, 06:10 PM
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I used to have a Pyramid-branded supply. It was supposed to supply 12 amps constantly, yet it wouldn't power a high-beam headlight. My battery charger will power it, and only about half of the available 6 amps are used, go figure.
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Old 05-22-2015, 07:18 PM
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From a review on eHam:
Quote:
Bought one to power an RF Concepts RFC-2-23 VHF amplifier (6 to 8 amp load). Seems to work OK for that purpose just fine. Then I WANTED to use it to power up individual work lights for my tractor (about 4 amps each) to determine the total load and the minute I hook up the 14 amp surge/12 amp continuous power supply, it signals overload condition, beeps, protection LED lights up, ...
Does not seem to like 55W Halogen H3 bulbs at all!
It probably senses what 'appears' to be a short way too quickly and triggers protection. In my humble opinion, a design flaw.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3607

jr

Last edited by jr_tech; 05-22-2015 at 07:36 PM. Reason: add link to reviews
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Old 05-26-2015, 07:23 AM
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For bench-testing car stereos, I use a PC power supply. They usually have a decently strong 12v rail. Even a little 350w has a 13A 12V output (and a 12A 5v should you ever need it).

What self-respecting nerd doesn't have a pile of PC power supplies laying around?
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Old 05-26-2015, 01:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CoogarXR View Post
What self-respecting nerd doesn't have a pile of PC power supplies laying around?
This one. AT supplies are hard to come by here, and I'm still not sure how to keep ATX supplies going without a motherboard attached.
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Old 05-26-2015, 01:56 PM
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You just jump the PS_ON (pin 14, usually a green wire) to the common (black, usually right beside it).
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Old 05-26-2015, 05:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CoogarXR View Post
You just jump the PS_ON (pin 14, usually a green wire) to the common (black, usually right beside it).
Good idea to throw a small load of somesort across the +12V, +5V, and +3.3V rails to make things happy in terms of regulation. Depending on how new and to which version of the ATX spec it conforms, you may only need to load the primary +12V rail, experimentation will reveal what makes it happy. Better quality PSUs can run fine without a base load, but the really cheap ones usually need some consumption to stabilize. I use small automotive bulbs (think dome-lights, or small turn-signals, etc.) for the +5V and +3.3V rails, and a 250 ohm 2w power resistor for the +12V. (Edit: Hell, I just had the crazy idea to use some shorted or otherwise nonfunctional tubes as rail loads. As long as the filaments/heaters are good. Just pick a heater voltage that will pull around 100ma on each rail, so probably a 12AU7 would work fine on the +5v rail, since it won't ever heat all the way up.) Use the Grey(Gray?) wire for your pilot lamp(LED), if the power supply passes self test it will have +5VDC on it more or less directly after powering it on via the green wire to ground method. If the supply detects a fault (overload, failure to regulate voltage, thermal, etc.) the LED will go out in addition to whatever self protection process the supply itself does. (Most just power off, some will attempt to power back on after a delay, others just tie the damned pin internally to +5V and sneer.)


Also, don't forget that you can come up with some weirdo voltage combos with all the assorted rails, just mind your chassis ground reference. Examples: using the hots of the -12V and +12V rails will give 24V between them (max current here == max capacity of -12v rail, not usually a lot, 100mA min, 300mA average...) Need 9V? Easy to access using the +3.3V and +12V rails. (Yes, yes, 8.7V isn't 9V... Close enough!) How about some "A" battery? +3.3V and +5V, give 1.7V between them... That will extend filament life compared to 2V. (Switching noise is posibly an issue here, don't have any working farm-sets to verify with...) The possibilities aren't endless, but there's a whole buncha different ways.


Quote:
Originally Posted by CoogarXR View Post
What self-respecting nerd doesn't have a pile of PC power supplies laying around?
Any self-respecting nerd will have a whole pile of them, absolutely...



They're usually all quite thoroughly hosed though. (Skulls for the Skull Throne, etc.)


We keep the one known-good unit that is on-hand in a secured location.

Last edited by NoPegs; 05-26-2015 at 05:25 PM.
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  #13  
Old 05-26-2015, 06:43 PM
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I'm more of a math and science nerd, so any computer part that's no good has to go.
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  #14  
Old 07-22-2015, 06:47 PM
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I still have the charger, but selected this a while back for car stereo use and whatever other ~12 volt device I may want to use indoors. It powers my headlight just fine, which draws about 3 amps. I'm curious about how much a low-beam light would draw.
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  #15  
Old 07-22-2015, 08:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon A. View Post
I still have the charger, but selected this a while back for car stereo use and whatever other ~12 volt device I may want to use indoors. It powers my headlight just fine, which draws about 3 amps. I'm curious about how much a low-beam light would draw.
Depends on if its "sealed-beam" or a "halogen" type...

Halogens are usually in the 55 watt range for low-beam and 70 watt for hi-beams. I can't speak for the sealed-beam types but my initial thoughts would be "At least as much as halogens, probably quite a bit more because they're less efficient." Suffice to say the fuse for my low-beams is 10 amps, and high beam circuit is 15. Strictly speaking your rather handsome boatanchor there could run all four of my bulbs and still have a bit of margin left.
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