Power drive & charger/maintainer wiring thoughts

[carguy]

Hi all,

The idle mind is the devils play ground, so I'm trying to figure out how to wire my power drive charger and the Save-a-Battery charger, to eliminate some of the plugging & unplugging.

If I use a three way switch, wired to two separate outlets, I could switch the AC between the two different chargers, which would eliminate the AC cord swapping. The switch and the outlets would be in their own box, independent of any household wiring. I would still need to switch the DC cords.

Was thinking of putting an AC relay in the maintainer AC line and wiring the maintainer DC thru that relay, so that when the maintainer is on it would energize the relay and shoot the DC to the batteries. BUT the car sits in the garage all summer, where the temp is 120-130, so I don't know if leaving a relay energized for that long a period in those temps is a good idea.

I am interested in your thought please.

Thanks, Dave

[Sergio]

If I understand You correctly:

• You have a regular Power Drive Charger.
• Your have a save-a-battery charger onboard.
• You want a simple way to just flip a switch and go into float charge after the power drive finishes.

I think the 3-way switch is a good idea.

You can get (1) 2-gang box, (1) duplex receptacle and (1) 3-way switch.

Brake the tab on the Hot side of the duplex receptacle (to make the 2 receptacles independent).

Wire the Hot wire from the 120v through the 3-way switch so it either sends power to the top-half or the bottom-half of the duplex receptacle.

Orient the 3-way switch so it points to the receptacle that is live (top or Bottom).

There is no need to disconnect the Offline Power Drive charger DC cord from the cart when the save-a-battery is running. It cannot damage the unit.

If You want to disconnect the onboard save-a-battery DC cord from the batteries when it is not being powered by the AC supply, just use a continuous or Pilot Duty relay.

Even though the pilot relays are enclosed and designed to be around volatile gasses, it is still a good idea not to have them right on top of the batteries where there could be an accumulation of hydrogen gas.

Just wire the positive DC wire from the save-a-battery through the relay Normally Open contacts.

Since the relay coil is powered by the 120vAC coming into the cart, there is no drain on the pack when the save-a-battery is not plugged in.

Here is sample pilot duty relay for under $14.

http://www.hvacusa.com/functional-de...NJAaAs0d8P8HAQ

[tag50]

Since one of his concerns is having the relay coil energized for long periods of time, wouldn't it be better to have the Power Drive Charger on the N/O contacts?


.

[Sergio]

I guess there are many ways to do it, but the save-a-battery will always be inside the cart, so it could be a parasitic load when the save-a-battery is not plugged to AC.

The power drive charger gets unplugged from the cart, so need for a relay there.

Remember with the 3-way switch he is talking about using, only 1 device can physically be ON at the time.

The only issue I see is if the 3-way switch is left into the save-a-battery position for more than 15 days, simply flipping the switch back would not cause the Power Charger to run.

The DC cord would have to be unplugged and re-plugged as well.

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Hey Dave,

You're in good hands here. Nice talking with you the other day.

[carguy]

Sergio - THANKS for your advise.

Tahoe - Nice to talk with you. I got the parts installed and the charger is running great.

Dave