Can a Battery Charger be used as Testing Power Supply?

[TimCollins]

I want to run some tests on my generator. However, I dont want to use my truck battery for this testing. My question is this... I have a Sears DieHard battery charger with a few settings.

1. 50Amp Engine Start
2. 10Amp Fast Charge
3. 2Amp Slow Charge

Can I use this Battery Charger for a test power supply in my workshop?

[Darrell]

Yes, but you will have to use a battery hook up to the charger while testing.

[TimCollins]

I figured I could use the battery hooked to the charger and then the cell hooked to the battery. However, what I was asking is can I get away with no battery in that configuration? Can I just hook the charger directly to the leads of the hho generator and eliminate the battery?

[myoldyourgold]

Can I just hook the charger directly to the leads of the hho generator and eliminate the battery?

Yes and NO. It depends on what you are trying to do. If you just want to run the reactor to watch bubbles come out then yes. If you want to test to see what it will do in a cart then NO. You will be limited to something less then 10 amps depending on the charge. You can not run most chargers on the start mode 50 amp circuit for very long or it might destroy it or trip an internal auto reset breaker.

[Darrell]

I figured I could use the battery hooked to the charger and then the cell hooked to the battery. However, what I was asking is can I get away with no battery in that configuration? Can I just hook the charger directly to the leads of the hho generator and eliminate the battery?

Tim, I use a Variac to control voltage going to the charger but I always run it with the battery as well.

If you plan on doing allot of bench testing I would buy a DC power supply that can be found on E-bay.

Just a thought. "D"

[TimCollins]

I have a Sears Diehard gold battery in my truck. 700cca which I know is only a short term burst rating. However, that is the only rating I see in the battery documentation. How can you tell how many amps your auto is really producing, to an hho generator for example, when you are driving? Would this be something related to the alternator, rather than the battery?

Thanks for all of your information!! I am home building a system as a project and it gets more interesting every day...

[Darrell]

Sounds like you have a good battery. Now you need to look at the rating of the altenator out put and how many amps it is rated for. If you run a cell with to many amps you will burn up the altenator.

Before you run a cell on the truck you would need to determine how much gas is needed for the size of engine. Example: If you have a 2 Liter engine you will need only about 1 liter of HHO gas. It a real balacing act and requires testing.

Now with that being said, there is electronics involved if you have electronic fuel injection. There is allot of info in this forum to research in regards to fooling the computer when it see the extra o2.

Hope that helps. "D"