Radiant Charger for 1.5 - 9 V Batteries

[Wistiti]

Hi Tyson
For your 12v battery charging witch one do you use?
The alexkor, Re-emf, Bedini, etc...
Thank you for sharing!

[gyula]

Yes, too high input voltage

I am using a 24v scooter motor charger as my power supply (PS) and it will put out as much as 28 volts (max of 2.5 amps per the description on the PS).
I am wondering if this is just too much?

Yes, the 28V is rather high already for this oscillator, especially when you charge batteries that has less than 9V like 1.2V 1.5V 2.4V etc. This high input explains the heat in the small voltage charging batteries because it is able to drive dangerously high charging current into the battery.
If you or someone else wishes to reduce a too high voltage DC source (high up to 35V) I suggest using a linear DC/DC converter with variable output voltage to produce a lower input supply voltage for the oscillator, see this link: My first Variable DC Power Supply 1.2V to 30V 1A by LM317 | Eleccircuit.com

So when you have such variable output supply source and say you wish to charge a 1.5V alkaline, then you adjust the output voltage of this circuit to give say 13V while its input receives 28V from your usual supply source, then the risk for popping the 1.5V battery will be much less and a safer operation is insured also for the oscillator. This way the heat loss on the oscillator transistor would also be reduced, you divide heat between the LM317 and the oscillator transistor.
And you would still have the possibility to inject a 'beefy' charging current into a battery as if you were using your 28V input just by turning up the voltage control potmeter in the LM317 circuit.

Thanks for sharing your very good observations on the charging/radio noise etc.

Gyula

[wsxian2]

oops! and alexkor question

My wife was trying to listen to the radio and my charger was making a lot of interference. This while I had my charger in the house.
I have an outside work desk where I do some experimental work (like the 3 battery system) so I moved my charger outside, but I still got interference (about 30-40 feet from the radio).
So I thought to use a left over aluminum turkey holder or a aluminum sweetroll container (buy frozen and bake in the container) as a sort of Faraday cage.
I forgot that aluminum carries current.
I placed my charger in the turkey holder and pfft! My coil got smoked when it shorted out from contact with the aluminum.
You live and learn.
That seemed to be a nice toroid coil.

I decided to use a microware oven transformer for my coil as I have a few hanging around from finding old microwaves at our local solid waste transfer station. Hooking the end of the secondary to the beginning of the primary - and that is where the Negative of the charging battery is connected. Then using the other two ends as shown in the circuit. And it seems to work. The interference on the radio is different. Smoother and not as raspy.
I was trying to charge a 12 volt lead acid car battery and it seems to raise the voltage. Wheatbulb (neon) barely lit and the heatsink was not hot.

Went for a quick trip to the store and barely got back in time to save my charger from a sudden down pour - it's monsoon season here in NM.
Will continue the charging of the car battery and let you know how it works with the transformer instead of the toroid.

As for the smaller batteries (1.5v), I did notice that the power supply I used dropped in voltage - some times down to 12 volts. It might have circuitry that does this automatically as it is suppose to charge 24 (2x12) motor scooter batteries. But later, when I do want to use the charger to charge these smaller voltage batteries, I will try to get another power supply - I have lots of them in the house.

Gyula - thanks for all the help and suggestions.:

Skywalker -I do think that the toroid may not have had enough resistance as you mentioned -and am hoping the transformer will work out better. This may be why the wheatbulb (neon) I used got so bright and the heatsink got so hot. Then again, it could have been due to the high voltage difference in charging a 1.5v with a 24v power supply.

Question on alexkor: I have seen this mentioned on this thread but unsure as to where more information on it can be had. Any one?
Edited later in day: Never mind, I forgot about the search feature and found what I needed.

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, hi wistiti, i was using the alexkor for 12 volt batteries, though this rene circuit seems to work well also.
The alexkor is air coil, so much higher frequency and may desulphate better, though alexkor is very good for alkalines and such.
Hope that helps for now.
peace love light
tyson

[wsxian2]

How to build the Rene R Charger

Attached is a PDF document that explains how to build a Rene R Charger (Radiant Battery Charger).

How to Build
Parts list
Step by Step instructions
Notes
Instructions for use of the charger after building it
Circuit Diagram
Parts Layout diagram

If you find a problem or would like to add something to this PDF, let me know.

[Majestic81]

Thanks!
This guide is wat I needed!