Im planing on building a small box with a deep cycle battery and an inverter in it. I am trying to figure out how to keep this battery charged during the day while i am driving. I want to just charge it from the cigarette lighter but im having trouble finding a DC to DC 12v charger. Wondering if anyone has any insight to this situation. Thanks!
Charge deep cycle from cigarette lighter
- Thread starter aaronf8
- Start date
workerdrone
Part time fulltimer
You don't need a charger, just hook it up to your car when driving. (Assuming your box is 12V and your car is 12V) Cigarette lighter will be weak though - better to run a separate fused connection to your starting battery that you can plug in or switch on once you're running, look at something like the Anderson Powerpole connectors and some decent gauge wire to go along with it.
Kerensky97
Xterra101
Keep in mind that once the batteries are connected they'll be in parallel, the battery in your box can siphon power off the starter battery if it's discharged and you shut off the engine to stop charging them both. So I'd be less worried about overcharging (as Verkstad said, the regulator won't do that), I'd be more worried that I left the batteries connected and drained the starter to the point it can't turn the engine over. Make sure the box battery can be isolated, either with dedicated equipment or simply manually disconnecting the battery when the engine isn't running.
It's a simple thing but you only have to forget once to be stranded.
It's a simple thing but you only have to forget once to be stranded.
jonyjoe101
Adventurer
its safe, solar charge controller wont be damage by battery or alternator. If the controller sees a full battery it goes into float mode.
The battery is more powerful than either the alternator or solar charge controller, it is capable of releasing more amps in one second than any charging system can provide. You can connect as many chargers as you want to it, the chargers will only see a 12 volt battery and if it needs charging they make amps available to it.
Once a 12 volt battery is full it wont accept any more amps, even if your alternator puts out 200 amps, the battery wont accept it. You can keep the battery connected 24/7 and it wont be damaged.
The only thing that will damage your battery is if the alternator is putting out more than 15 volts. Volts is what forces the amps into the battery, most chargers/alternators max out at 14.4 volts, this is enough to charge a battery without overcharging. But at 15 volts or higher it will force the amps into a full battery and it will vent.
As an example the 12 volt jump packs have a 17ah agm battery, those can be charged from a cigarette lighter (male to male plug) and I have connected them to my 240 watt solar panel without any problems, and that is one of the smallest agm battery.
The inverter has to be connected directly to the battery, hardwired is the best way.
The battery is more powerful than either the alternator or solar charge controller, it is capable of releasing more amps in one second than any charging system can provide. You can connect as many chargers as you want to it, the chargers will only see a 12 volt battery and if it needs charging they make amps available to it.
Once a 12 volt battery is full it wont accept any more amps, even if your alternator puts out 200 amps, the battery wont accept it. You can keep the battery connected 24/7 and it wont be damaged.
The only thing that will damage your battery is if the alternator is putting out more than 15 volts. Volts is what forces the amps into the battery, most chargers/alternators max out at 14.4 volts, this is enough to charge a battery without overcharging. But at 15 volts or higher it will force the amps into a full battery and it will vent.
As an example the 12 volt jump packs have a 17ah agm battery, those can be charged from a cigarette lighter (male to male plug) and I have connected them to my 240 watt solar panel without any problems, and that is one of the smallest agm battery.
The inverter has to be connected directly to the battery, hardwired is the best way.