Charging a powerpack

Helmet

I recently bought one of these http://www.ringautomotive.com/uk/products/Cars/Battery+Care/Power+Packs/RPP148
Does anyone know if it's possible to charge it using the 12v socket in my car?
I'm using it to power an electric cooler for camping.

biko

I would say no. These are usually charged by mains power in your house only.
The charging cable is a house plug yeah, and not removable?

Helmet

biko wrote: »

I would say no. These are usually charged by mains power in your house only.
The charging cable is a house plug yeah, and not removable?

It came with an AC adapter all right, it's detachable though.
It would be handy to be able to recharge it on the road, but not the end of the world if I can't.

coylemj

If you watched the polarity, you could probably hook it up to a 12V car battery, the polarity would need to be in parallel i.e. + to + and - to - but the current that would flow would be very small and it might even end up going in the wrong direction if the car battery was low in juice! It wouldn't be worth the bother.

Helmet

coylemj wrote: »

If you watched the polarity, you could probably hook it up to a 12V car battery, the polarity would need to be in parallel i.e. + to + and - to - but the current that would flow would be very small and it might even end up going in the wrong direction if the car battery was low in juice! It wouldn't be worth the bother.

Yeah, sounds like too much hassle/risk for a slow charge. Thanks for the advice.

coylemj

There's another issue - the battery in the powerpack is probably solid-state which means it uses different chemistry to a lead-acid (car) battery so in all probability there will be slight mismatch in voltage. This means that if you did hook them up in parallel, chances are that the current will always flow in one direction so the powerpack would always end up charging the car battery or vice versa.

Vic_08

The lighter socket connection allows trickle charging of the car battery from the powerpack and you can power a dead car's electrics that way.

AFAIK the only way to recharge the powerpack from the car is to use a separate inverter and the 240v connection to the powerpack.

Helmet

I contacted the manufacturer before posting here and they came back with this.......


You can recharge your RPP148 Power pack using the DC socket on the power pack and the cigarette lighter socket on your vehicle. The charging light on the powerpack will not illuminate and charging will only take place when the engine is running.

What do yis reckon, does this sound right?

biko

Well if it is from the manufacturer then yeah.