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[rodw]

The Ctek 25 amp is a fantastic charger (we have four of them) and we are testing the Oz Charge range of battery charges as we speak as they are cheaper then the Ctek.

Hmm Thanks for the good oil. You can get a 16 amp Oz Charge for about the same price as the 7 amp Ctek,sounds good to me. I rang one of the suppliers on Oz Charge's web site ( http://www.ozcharge.com.au/ ) and they are out of stock but have a shipment of chargers due in on Monday. Will try and pick one up next week.

Thanks for the infomration guys, a very informative thrread on charging and batteries.

Mods We got to sticky this one!

[olcoolone]

Battery stuff is pretty simple when it's explained, I see it to many times when you ask someone a simple question and they tell you you need this but they don't tell you why you need it... Huh does that make sense!

Rod, Just had a look at the OZ CHARGE web site and I'm are not on it YET, we started to sell TYRE DOG tyre pressure monitoring systems and the people who import and distribute them also does OZ CHARGE...have to speak to them about that.

I love CTEK chargers and they work a treat but they are also nearly double the price of OZ CHARGE and this puts a lot of people off.

Let me know what you think of the OZ CHARGE.

[Dluxv6]

So Olcoolone
can you put up a price to net members for the OzCharge 16amp if possible and freight costs
better to send business your way than someone else
pm if you prefer

Drew

[olcoolone]

I can see what I can do, I usually don't like to promote my business to other members of forums I'm on over the net...in person a bit differant.

I feel bad about doing it because I hate people who only join a forum to sell or promote, been on other forums that it has happened to or they only want to promote their own business interest......Someone asks a question about brand X and they (the business owner) come on rubbishing brand X and try and tell you brand Y is better....BECAUSE THEY DON'T SELL BRAND X.

I'm on hear because I have a Hilux and enjoy what goes on on here.

I will have a look at the prices and let you know....it might be against forum rules and the moderator might kick me off.

[Dluxv6]

Thanks
but i get the drift
leave it and i will chase else where
cheers for the reply

Drew

[bansheebuzz]

just looked at oz charge web sight, looks like a good product. has calcium setting to which is important. most people dont know that an ordinary charger will not charge a calcium battery properly and with calcium batterys becoming so popular these days you going to need it

[olcoolone]

Bansheebuzz, if a calcium battery becomes dead flat it can not be charge from the vehicle even if the vehicle is designed for a calcium battery, you can still jumpstart but it will not get a full charge.

They recommend you charge it up form a smart charger and then it will be OK.

Dlux I just don't want people to think I'm only on here to pedal my wares and sucking them in on a product.

I'm more then happy to give you and anyone else on this forum a really good price for the OZ CHARGE but you will have to wait until Monday.

[9W6VX]

I'm sticking this one on the wall.

It's a sticky now fellow Hilux lovers.

[rodw]

Battery stuff is pretty simple when it's explained, I see it to many times when you ask someone a simple question and they tell you you need this but they don't tell you why you need it... Huh does that make sense!

Rod, Just had a look at the OZ CHARGE web site and I'm are not on it YET, we started to sell TYRE DOG tyre pressure monitoring systems and the people who import and distribute them also does OZ CHARGE...have to speak to them about that.

I love CTEK chargers and they work a treat but they are also nearly double the price of OZ CHARGE and this puts a lot of people off.

Let me know what you think of the OZ CHARGE.

Well, guys, I took olcolone's advice and bought a 16 amp Oz Charge battery charger today from Brisbane Battery Traders in Moss Street Slacks Creek. Just parked my rig tonight so I got it running through its paces on my aux battery. Pleasently surprised as they sold it to me for $199 instead of the $229 RRP on the Oz Charge web site. The 21 amp charger was $270.

See the Oz Charge web site for more info http://www.ozcharge.com.au/index.html



It was bigger than I expected and is fan cooled. It has a 2 year warranty .

I had a bit of a chat to the guy there about solar systems and he makes up a portable folding solar unit that outputs 80 watts. It folds up like a suitcase with a catch and handle. Everything is contained inside the unit and he includes quite a long lead with an Anderson Plug on the end to plug into your car to charge. Anyway the good news he is selling them for $1,100. I thought that was pretty good value.

He said he had trouble finding a supplier to make up carry bags at a reasonable price so if anybody is into sewing, let me know and I'll pass on some details.. (Dute, you reading this? might make a change from doilies )

Anyway, I have got it charging away with the equalisation setting turned on for my wet cell battery and will give the rejuvenation settings a go later in the week.

[rodw]

Oh and I forgot to say, I have been driving around a fair bit with an OBDII interface so I can plug my PC into the Car. The ECU voltage reported is pretty constant at around 13.6 volts which is consitent wth the info earlier in this thread. It is marginally higher than the voltage my GME UHF radio reports (which could simply be due to voltage loss in the wiring to the UHF).

[Squid_87]

Rod,

Where did you mount your OzCharge?

Thanks

[rodw]

Not mounted mate, this one is a 240 volt battery charger, not a 12v-12 volt charger. That's why the pic shows it on the floor beside my rig charging the aux battery overnight. But it actually did have mounting hardware includes so you could mount it on the wall or something. Been on there for 3 hours so far and is not fully charged, it'll be interesting to see if it is fully charged in the morning.

[bansheebuzz]

hope you are pleased with it rod, i have been in touch with the qld rep for ozcharge chargers and getting some in, what type of deep cycle battery are you charging?

[Squid_87]

How would it go camping at a powered site running all appliances off my 12v system, while plugged into 240v using the charger? As long as I'm generating more amps then whats being consumed, there shouldn't be any dramas; right?

[bansheebuzz]

squid - you can do this but make sure the charger is plenty big enough to cover the load and still charge the battery. You dont want your charger maxxed out continously. A good idea is work out how much current all your accessories draw and double it, go with a charger as close to the current(amps) you come up with, that way your charger will not be working overtime.

[rodw]

How would it go camping at a powered site running all appliances off my 12v system, while plugged into 240v using the charger? As long as I'm generating more amps then whats being consumed, there shouldn't be any dramas; right?

The battery clips plug into a socket on the end of the cable and you can buy an accessory that has battery lugs instead of clips so you would fit that to your battery permanently and plug the charger into the socket which would be very convenient. Maybe you should spend the extra $70 and get the 21 amp one.

I actually saw a 4wd today that had a caravan power socket mounted in the front guard behind the wheel arch so I guess he has done something similar to what you are talking about. The Oz Charge is rated for indoor use only though and the fan makes a bit of noise.

hope you are pleased with it rod, i have been in touch with the qld rep for ozcharge chargers and getting some in, what type of deep cycle battery are you charging?

The battery ARB put in is an 80 amp hour Exide. Long term plan is to put a 120 amp hour batttery under the drawers. the 16 amp charger is rated to charge 300 Amp Hour batteries.

[Squid_87]

Thats a good idea, so I don't work the guts out of the charger. Even if I cycled it, say 12 hours on, 12 off; that'd improve the life of both battery and charger. Would it matter that my aux battery is a Trojan 115 amp hour wet deep cycle?

[bansheebuzz]

if your in a powered site and the vehicle is not going anywhere you might as well leave it pluged in, there automatic so it wont fry your battery and it will keep it at full charge while running your accessories, it wont matter its a trojan wet battery

[rodw]

Thats a good idea, so I don't work the guts out of the charger. Even if I cycled it, say 12 hours on, 12 off; that'd improve the life of both battery and charger. Would it matter that my aux battery is a Trojan 115 amp hour wet deep cycle?

Just an idea mate, why don't you check out Camec to see what sort of charging systems are out there for caravans and RV's? See http://www.camec.com

When I was in NZ in a camper van, the fridge was 12 volt only and the battery charged when plugged into the power.

[Squid_87]

Cheers for that Rod