Charging batteries in van

[Bul]

Can anyone recommend kit for charging drill batteries in the van?

 

[jeremy]

A simple inverter should be adequate; Maplins, among others, sell them.

 

[shanky887614]

A simple inverter should be adequate; Maplins, among others, sell them.

if you do this makesure it only runs when the van is turned on or there is a over discharge protection on the van.

the last thing you want to do is kill your van battery so it wont start

 

[uksparks]

Does anyone on here use an inverter in the van for this?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I use one in the boat.

There used to be compatibility issues between 'quasi-sine' aka 'modified sine' inverters - generally all the cheaper models - and any kind of tool charger that has non-isolated output (i.e. the battery terminals have a voltage hazard warning). These use phase-angle control which the non-sinusoidal output defeats, possibly damaging charger or battery. I don't know which if any chargers on the market are still incompatible in this way, because I only use true sine wave inverters now their prices have come down, so it's some years since I bothered to check.

 

[UNG]

A lot of the main power tool manufacturers do 12v automotive chargers although if you have a lot of different kit it would be cheaper to go the inverter route

 

[sam400]

Apparently the makita battery chargers don't work on inverters you have to use there automotive one but there £80!

 

[jeremy]

I wasn't aware of the compatibility issues, and am very happy to be corrected!

 

[amlu]

measure how much power your charger draws and get adequately sized pure sine wave inverter. everything is supposed to work on it, same mains quality as in the socket.