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Peter Bennett
 
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Default AC voltage adjuster - how to do cheaply

On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 22:07:27 -0800, Panama
wrote:

yeh, you're missing something. I pull into marina 1 in town 1 - AC -
105V - charger puts out say 14.3 V - go to marina 2 in town 2 - AC is
114 V - charger puts out 14.4 V - now go to marina 3 in town 3 - AC is
130 V - charger puts out 14.7 V . So my genset puts out 120 V and the
charger does 14.5 V - all the 14 v voltages are regulated but
dependent on AC input voltage - I'd like to adjust the AC to the same
120 V no matter what town/marina I'm in - then I get the same
charging. The AC voltages are constant in each town but vary from town
to town.


You could use a variable autotransformer (one trade name is "Variac")
- cost US$200 - 300

However, despite your statement that you won't replace the charger, I
would strongly suggest installing a modern charger, such as the
Xantrex TrueCharge 40+ - they're around US$400, and have the advantage
that they are "install and forget" - they'll work from 90 to 135 volts
with no attention on your part, and will be much kinder to your
batteries than your old charger, even if you do remember to adjust the
Variac correctly.



--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
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