charger cable

[gedex]

If someone can help- I use a mobility scooter, it has a charger supplied but cables are not very long, i have a little shed in the garden where I shall keep the scooter, there is a socket in the outside barn so that would be about 5 mtrs to the scooter.

The charger is 24 volt and rated at 5-8 amps. ( output ) 240v in.
If I extend the mains cable that would mean having the charger in the shed with the scooter, but if I extend the output lead I just have to that to the shed to plug it into the machine, ( this I would prefer )

Would there be any worry about voltage drop, or anything else.

Thanks
gedex

 

[TicklyT]

You may need quite chunky cable to make up a charger output extension lead to minimise the voltage drop, and the appropriate connectors.
IIRC many of the chargers use multi pin XLR style connectors.

The lead may have more than just a +ve and -ve connections. It may include +12V, 0V, -12V outputs, and possibly battery temperature monitoring facilities etc. etc. so you may end up needing 4 or 5 core cable.

Sealed batteries can be quite fussy about their charging requirements, and extending the charger output cable may upset the battery voltage monitoring done by the charger.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You may need quite chunky cable to make up a charger output extension lead to minimise the voltage drop

8A over 5m, not that onerous...

But your other concerns may well be valid.

 

[gedex]

Thanks both,
I think I'll give it a whirl, at the end of the day, what's the worst thing that could happen?

Cheers
gedex

 

[mattylad]

go bang... electrocute someone, not work & your stuck in the house a lot longer

 

[stargazer]

Over-charging could have unexpected consequences

 

[Click-Sure]

Nice one stargazer!

I saw one going round the Benhall roundabout (near GCHQ's doughnut) in Cheltenham once.

Anyone who is familiar with said island will share my concern.

 

[TicklyT]

You may need quite chunky cable to make up a charger output extension lead to minimise the voltage drop

8A over 5m, not that onerous....

I agree the current may be well within the capacity of a relatively small CSA cable. My concern was the effect of any increase in the lead resistance if the battery state is determined by measuring the voltage across the charger output, as less than half a volt may be significant.

Plugging the numbers into the TLC voltage drop calculator suggests a voltage drop of 0.458V for 4mm, or 0.750V for 2.5mm cable.

The charger used for my stepson's wheelchair is 24 Volt, 215 Watt. The charger output lead is a single insulated 'figure of 8' flex (well, it was made in the US...). The cores are somewhat larger than 2.5mm flex cores, and terminate in a 3 pin XLR connector.

Part of the function of the connector is to disable the chair speed controller when the charger is connected.

 

[gedex]

Thanks, a very comprehensive reply but a bit above my head, briefly, what I did before once, was to use the 5 mtr. length of cable, which in turn was the twin flex cable from a hover mower, this was let into the output side of the charger using Lukar terminals, and it seemed to work OK.
It is a feature of this charger that everything else is disconnected while in use.