Heat from battery charger?

[bobnlibby]

Hi folks,

The built in charger in our Abbey does not work so i had a 2/4 amp Ring 3 stage smart charger in my garage which i used instead recently and works a treat. I wanted to place it in the base of one of the seat units that houses the 12 volt stuff but i have a concern about the heat that comes off the charger as i do not want to over heat it or risk a fire in the van, is this heat some thing that any of you have come across before?

Many thanks, Bob.

 

[RogerL]

I used a transformer-based "smart" charger in the same bedbox as the battery for nearly 20 years back in the '80s/90s without any problems.

A modern switch-mode charger like the Ring will produce even less heat so it should be fine - don't believe any nay-sayers that tell you it won't work.

If the output is 4 amps at 14 volts, that's 56 watts - the inefficiency would be about 20% of that so say 11 watts, and this would need to dissipate as heat - but 11 watts is nothing to be concerned about.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I agree with Roger, and further most of the smart chargers will have to comply with EU safety regs which I believe will have built in over temperature cut outs.

 

[bertieboy1]

I don't know what you expected,every electrical device gives off heat - even your original charger installed in the caravan.I'll bet that got pretty hot ! The rule of thumb is - if it is too hot to touch then the heat given off is excessive.

 

[bobnlibby]

I don't know what you expected,every electrical device gives off heat - even your original charger installed in the caravan.I'll bet that got pretty hot ! The rule of thumb is - if it is too hot to touch then the heat given off is excessive.

I could not compare the heat coming off to the original one as it was already non functional when we bought the Abbey, i was just seeking reassurance really

 

[Craigyoung]

Hi all , I've got a baileys orion , less than a year old , and whilst in France last week , my charger burnt out and put me down from 14v to less than 9v ! It's fan assisted but in a concealed small space air tight ! It cost me nearly €2oo for a new one and 3 hours driving about to find a caravan shop for a new charger to get me going again . Couldn't even flush the toilet or pull the water through !