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Eddie
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Joined: 16/10/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 25

Posted: 04:05pm 25 Jan 2012

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I have a solar charger designed to keep 3 AA batterys charged to run 3 LED yard lights on at night.I no longer use it for that purpose,but am useing it just as a charger.
Is there any way I can use it to charge 6 AA batterys at the same time?

MacGyver

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Joined: 12/05/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1329

Posted: 12:30am 26 Jan 2012

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Eddie

Just off the cuff, I'd say put all the batteries in parallel. That means the "+" ends are all covered by one lead from the charger and the "-" ends are covered by the other. This will allow each battery to receive the same amperage as well as voltage and should work as long as you're not pinched for time. I'd immagine doing it this way would take maybe 4 or 5 times longer than doing it the way it was designed. There are lots of inherrant losses that creep in.

Before you make it a project, wait to see if anyone else chimes in with a 'yeah' or 'nay' and then procede.

. . . . . MacEdited by MacGyver 2012-01-27

Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas

Eddie
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Joined: 16/10/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 25

Posted: 04:17am 26 Jan 2012

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Thanks for the reply.What I'm wanting to do is charge the 6 batterys that are in my 2-meter radio at the same time.
Anyway to know when they have full charge without having to measure the voltage every now and then?

Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5078

Posted: 01:27pm 26 Jan 2012

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Hi Eddie

The battery temperature will go up. My old battery drill has a cheap and nasty charger with no cut out, so I test them by putting my hand around the battery pack. When charging, they are room temperature, but when charged they are very warm.

Its crude, and doesn't work with all battery types.

Glenn

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
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Warpspeed
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Joined: 09/08/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 4406

Posted: 03:55am 30 Jan 2012

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There may also be some issues if you suddenly parallel two rechargable batteries with vastly different states of charge.

While it may work fine, it may also create some rather interesting problems.
No way to really know for sure, but I would not call it good practice.

Cheers, �Tony.

Eddie
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Joined: 16/10/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 25

Posted: 08:24pm 02 Feb 2012

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What I've got is a solar panel that puts out 5 volts and about 200 ma.I'm hoping to be able to charge 6 AA batteries at the same time.They should be run down about to the same voltage when they go into the charger.
It's been susgested to put them in parallel and charge them that way.
Does everyone think this will work?and about how long will it take to charge them that way?
The 200 ma was what I read on the meter while trying to charge one battery.With no load it looked like 35 ma.

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