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Why cant I use a 12V charger on the MEP's?

J

JRM

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im still confused why a normal auto 12V battery charger wont work, my Ohm meter shows my battery's at 12.8V Iget that the leads cross to make 24V after the battery unlike my dodge duel battery setup.
Thanks, Joe
 
Suprman

Suprman

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Civilian Dodge dual batts are a pair of 12 volt batteries in parallel for higher current at 12 volts. Military generator pair of 12 volt batteries are in series to get 24 volts. So you could use your charger on one battery at a time but not across both. Get a 24 volt charger.
 
Daybreak

Daybreak

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JRM said:
im still confused why a normal auto 12V battery charger wont work, my Ohm meter shows my battery's at 12.8V Iget that the leads cross to make 24V after the battery unlike my dodge duel battery setup.Thanks, Joe
Click to expand...
Howdy,
You can if you want. You just need to open each side, charge one battery and then open the other side and charge the other battery.
There are a few different ways.

24v charging thru slave port

A smart charger like the Noco Genius G7200, which does 12 volt and 24 volt stuff.

Or bolt on a Battery Tender waterproof 24 volt charger inside the unit and plug it in.

Or put a solar charger that is 24 volt on the unit in the sunshine. PulseTech 24v solar
 
C

Chainbreaker

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Or, just buy another 12V charger and hook it up to the other battery and then you can charge both simultaneously using 2 12V chargers. That way each battery is charged independently with its required charge which may vary between the two batteries depending on their condition. No need to disconnect the batteries either but you can if you want. Each charger only sees what is between their +/- leads. As a bonus it is nice to have two 12V chargers available to charge other 12V equipment when necessary.

In my configuration I use 2 12V BatteryMinders hooked up this way 24/7 via a power strip and my batteries are always topped up and ready to go. I turn the power strip off when running the generator since the generator will maintain the charge when running via its 24V output charger.

WP_20140210_003.jpg WP_20140116_004.jpg
 
J

JRM

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No problem leaving it on one battery then swapping it to the other side :) So, if I use a normal 12v auto charger I must in-hook the opposite side battery vs using the 24v charger I can keep it hooked up and if I want to charge both at the same time I need to run leads to both battery's?
 
K

kloppk

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JRM said:
No problem leaving it on one battery then swapping it to the other side :) So, if I use a normal 12v auto charger I must in-hook the opposite side battery vs using the 24v charger I can keep it hooked up and if I want to charge both at the same time I need to run leads to both battery's?
Click to expand...
If you want to us a 12 volt charger to charge both batteries at the same time you MUST disconnect the batteries from all the generator cables.

Then you can connect the two 12 volt batteries in "parallel". IE connect one battery's + to the other battery's +, then the one battery's - to the other battery's -. Then hook up your 12 volts battery charger connecting the chargers + clip to battery 1's + terminal and then connecting the chargers - clip to battery 2's - terminal.

When you need to use the generator disconnect the chargers, all the leads and then reconnect the 3 generator cables.

It's much simpler if you just use a single 24 volts charger or two 12 volt chargers (one for each battery).

I use a pair of 12 volt Battery Tender's to keep my 802's batteries topped off.
 
Daybreak

Daybreak

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JRM said:
No problem leaving it on one battery then swapping it to the other side :) So, if I use a normal 12v auto charger I must in-hook the opposite side battery vs using the 24v charger I can keep it hooked up and if I want to charge both at the same time I need to run leads to both battery's?
Click to expand...
Howdy,
That has the ability to charge either way. Charge each battery separately by hooking directly to each battery only. 12v charge.
24v charging would mean hooking the leads to each far end of each battery. The negative hooked to battery #1 and the positive hooked to battery #2. Or, hooked to each side of the slave port. + side and - side.

Or look into picking up a slave port cable end. Connect it to the charger and set to 24 volts and charge thru the slave port.
 
G

Gunnermac

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I have four of the Pulse Tech X2 Xtreme 2 station maintenance 12v and 24v chargers, two have the charging status indicators that work and two that don't. I have returned one other in the past for the same problem and found their customer service to be responsive. the two still charge but you cannot see the status of the battery. The warranty has expired on these two. Currently I am using a NOCO Genius 7200 with a slave plug attached and have found it to be less trouble to use and works well.
 
2

2hot6ft2

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JRM said:
Would this one work attached to just 1 battery? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W4L5LVG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AT7B7UCUVYVLX
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I have had that for just about 2 weeks and have filed for a return for refund.

After talking to the vendor I drained a battery to 10.1v then connected the charger and it operated as it should so it appears that it works and it finally showed something other than the lowest charge state after a while.

So I guess it was operator error and I am keeping it.:clinto:
 
Last edited:
J

JRM

Member
166
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Location
Brightwood, Oregon
Got my 24V charger today, it has tiny clamps but managed to get it onto the terminals of the battery on the oil filler side, the unit stays in 12v mode and will not activate 24v ;( Bad unit or do I need to hook it up differently somehow?
 
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