battery charger output voltage

[solarman216]

Are you planning to use this as a stand alone unit or coupled with a battery for back up, if with a battery you will need a good fair sized one that will take the amps as a small sealed gell battery will not last long with the amps this PSU puts out, Rick

[96terrano]

I hadn't really thought about that to be honest, I've got a few decent car batteries.

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by 96terrano

I hadn't really thought about that to be honest, I've got a few decent car batteries.

OK then use one of these, the voltage from the PSU will be low for general charging purposes but a car battery will be able to take the amps if it is fairly discharged, but if you only use your load with the PSU on then the battery will not do anything other than smooth the DC, Rick

[96terrano]

Ok, one thing I did wonder is would the psu stand having a battery attached? As there designed to power hard drives and computer parts, not charge a full size car battery

[Lazy-Ferret]

I think there is some confusions here...

If you have a battery charger, they are too "Noisy" to run electronics. If you connect the battery charger to a car battery, then the battery smooths out the noise from the charger, and off you go. Some car radios draw more than the battery charger will provide, so the battery acts as a reserve giving the power when the radio is on, and then recharging from the charger when the radio is off.

Main problem is it is bulky, and only any good if you already have the battery laying around.

A Comp PSU will not need a battery as they put out a very high current, and it has to be very smooth for the computer, so no problem for a radio. The down side is, it depends on what PSU you get, as there are so many different types now, and you may have to fiddle with some of the control wires to get it working. For example, most computer boards now turn the PSU on and off, so you will need to find the pins that the board shorts to turn it on. Most times this needs to be a momentary action switch, as it only comes up once the leads have been shorted and then re opened. They also often have a voltage sensing input wire. This makes the PSU adjust it's out put, to allow for any volt drop over the cables. This leads will need to be permanently connected to one of the 5 volt leads. It is easier to tell you what to do once you have the actual PSU than give a generic answer.

To be honest, you said you had a couple of old batteries laying around, so I would use one of those, and just chuck the charger on it every few days.

If you are going to buy a PSU, the you might as well get exactly what you need, and look on EBAY for a CB radio PSU like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-AMP-COMP...item3f18ea0a02

[96terrano]

that cb psu seems better than a pc psu, so would the cb psu run a car radio?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by 96terrano

that cb psu seems better than a pc psu, so would the cb psu run a car radio?

It really depends on what sort of radio you are going to run from it.
E.g. a basic car Radio draws very little current, and would run from it no problem.

If on the other hand, you are going to plug a head unit, with a 300watt amp, and CD multichanger ... etc, you will need 30 or more amps, and that would not work.

To be honest, for the money you are going to pay out, you might as well get a little DAB radio that is already set up to run off of the Mains.

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

It really depends on what sort of radio you are going to run from it.
E.g. a basic car Radio draws very little current, and would run from it no problem.

If on the other hand, you are going to plug a head unit, with a 300watt amp, and CD multichanger ... etc, you will need 30 or more amps, and that would not work.

To be honest, for the money you are going to pay out, you might as well get a little DAB radio that is already set up to run off of the Mains.

lol no, just a basic head unit, no amps or subs, got all that in my terrano