Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 20:11:12 GMT
Oh, I hadn't noticed that! Bloody hell the prices of those have shot up. As i said, our 30a electroquest was Β£90 odd including postage! There's some super budget 30A chargers on Ebay for Β£40 but I would not recommend them: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-30A-Car-Battery-Charger-Motorcycle-Battery-Charger-Lead-Acid-Charger-EU-BS-/201730628696Notice the metal case and lack of earth connection at the plug! But if you can sort that out it might be a goer. Has a current control so could be run at 20A for extra reliability (hopefully). Agree that the prices of the Electroquest ones seem to vary but post Brexit I think you'd be lucky to get a new 30A one for Β£90. My old man always says it's OK doing wrong if you know it's wrong. What chance does your average punter have?! John Ruskin had it right. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better. There is a little middle ground if you buy wisely, trouble is, to do that you need knowledge of effort, I'm guessing the eBay tat sellers rely on lazy price conscious ignorant buyer's to pedal their tat!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 20:38:40 GMT
I often find good quality secondhand gear is okay. There are exceptions like boat engines - if it was a good engine why did they take it out - but with a lot of non essential gear second hand is OK in my experience.
|
|
|
Post by Clinton Cool on Dec 1, 2016 20:49:08 GMT
I bought a kipor IG770 and can definitely recommend this to your daughter. They have a clever switch that will limit the revs to that required, rather than hammering away at full revs all the time. This saves a significant amount of petrol. Mine averages 4 hours running for 1 litre of fuel. They are available for under Β£300. The best thing about it is probably its weight. At just under 11KG it really is easy to lug about, take on and off the boat etc.
The only things I can't comment on is longevity and availability or otherwise of spares.
|
|
|
Post by serena on Dec 1, 2016 20:54:47 GMT
Thank you!
|
|
|
Post by phil70 on Dec 1, 2016 22:29:59 GMT
Interesting thread, just to add that I couldn't find a 30amp Electroquest so settled for a Numax from Midland Chandlers. I have a PSW 1.2 genny from Screwfix which runs the charger just fine, it will also run my washing machine an tumble dryer Phil
|
|
|
Post by geo on Dec 1, 2016 23:42:21 GMT
Thanks, unfortunately my offspring thinks she knows it allπ Yes Kippor looks a goer They always do. Did you not know it all at her age. I suspect I did lol
|
|
|
Post by thebfg on Dec 2, 2016 8:03:51 GMT
Thanks, unfortunately my offspring thinks she knows it allπ Yes Kippor looks a goer They always do. Did you not know it all at her age. I suspect I did lolI did and I still do
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 8:07:31 GMT
I know nothing !
|
|
|
Post by tonyqj on Dec 2, 2016 10:21:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by serena on Dec 2, 2016 17:34:30 GMT
|
|
|
Post by serena on Dec 2, 2016 17:45:53 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 17:52:55 GMT
It's big, heavy and ugly with not a very sophisticated charging regime. You need to take heed of John Ruskin's advice above The electoquest stuff is quite well made, light and easy to mount out of the way.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 17:54:11 GMT
It's not really ideal. You should be looking at dedicated items suited to the job in hand. There are plenty on the market, and they are relatively easy to install.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 17:58:07 GMT
Ideally you install a simple 240v AC system on the boat, protected by an RCD and connected to the chosen supply via an appliance inlet. Trailing 13a plug top extension leads acrosss the towpath is a bit crap tbh. The charger should be permanently mounted and connected to the batteries using crimped ring terminals. Geo will have a fit if you connect it up with the supplied croc clips
|
|
|
Post by Telemachus on Dec 2, 2016 18:01:54 GMT
The problem with that charger is that it is unregulated. In order to avoid really high voltages when the battery is full, it inevitably means that the voltage mid-charge has to be set lower.
What all that means is that whilst it might produce 20A when first connected to low batteries, the current will tail off much sooner than with a regulated charger, and thus charging time is significantly extended.
|
|