Today on ‘Engineering photography’ series
You may have bought a new DC (direct current) battery for your automobile unknown to you that the old one just needed recharging and was not damaged as you thought, when all you needed was a DC battery charger. Here is what you must do before you decide to get a new one. You could just save cash.
First, let’s learn about the DC battery charger
What is a DC battery charger?
A DC battery charger is an electronic device that works on AC voltage. The AC voltage (220volts) is drawn from the plug point on the DC charger. The DC charger converts this AC (Alternating current) voltage received to DC (direct current).
A DC battery charger. You can clearly see the output and input.
3D view
This DC battery charger is designed to vary the conversion of alternating current to either 12volts DC or 24volts DC. Your car battery should mostly use a 12volts DC battery. If otherwise, it will be stated at the top of the battery where the instructions are located.
Confused on what AC and DC voltages really are? I’ll maybe do an article on that if I receive enough replies to.
How to connect your battery to the DC battery charger
Remember what I said about polarity in my post on ‘How to connect a lamp-holder’? Think of that as we’re about to start. Following polarity is also very important here.
So, Step 1
Locate the positive and negative terminals of the DC battery charger and also those of your battery.
Positive terminal of battery with positive peg of DC charger
Negative terminal of battery with negative peg of DC charger
Showing the polarity of DC pegs
Red is always positive while black is negative except stated otherwise.
Step 2
Place the positive peg from the DC charger on the positive terminal of the battery. Do same for the negative peg as shown in the images above.
Step 3
Now go to your DC charger and set the switch to 12volts (If confirmed your battery is a 12volts battery). Switch to boost. This will make the battery charge faster. The fuse should be intact.
Step 4
Plug in your DC charger input to the mains (220volts). Immediately you plug in, check if there is a deflection on the charging current meter. Deflection means it should move just a little usually not up to 10 amperes (A)
Step 5
Elevate the battery a little from the floor and allow it charge. Charging is complete when charging current pointer drops to zero again.
This will be all for today. I hope this helps you save some money now or in the future! Thanks for reading!
The images here are my original works
Tell me if this was educating. Thanks.
Resteem to enlighten and follow for more on my 'engineering photography' series.
Here’s a previous post I also did on ‘Engineering photography'... 'CONNECTING A LAMP-HOLDER EXPLAINED WITH IMAGES'
https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@omonosa/connecting-a-lamp-holder-explained-with-image