Photo: Solar-powered battery chargers, like this one made by BEAM, are sure to become increasingly common as more of us switch to electric cars. The overhead canopy contains a 4.3kW, photovoltaic, sun-tracking solar paneland feeds onboard batteries so it even works at night. It can charge up to six Contact online >>
Photo: Solar-powered battery chargers, like this one made by BEAM, are sure to become increasingly common as more of us switch to electric cars. The overhead canopy contains a 4.3kW, photovoltaic, sun-tracking solar paneland feeds onboard batteries so it even works at night. It can charge up to six electric vehiclesat a time. Photo by Erin Rohn courtesy of US Marine Corps and DVIDS.
If you''ve read our main article on batteries,you''ll know all about these portable powerplants. An example of what scientists refer to as electrochemistry,they use the power of chemistry to release stored electricity verygradually.
Photo: Ordinary batteries (like this everyday zinc-carbon battery)are only designed to be used once—so don''t attempt to recharge them. If youdon''t like zinc carbon batteries, don''t start trying to recharge them: buy rechargeable ones to begin with.
All battery chargers have one thing in common: they work by feeding aDC electric current through batteries for a period of time in the hope that the cells inside willhold on to some of the energy passing through them. That''s roughlywhere the similarity between chargers begins and ends!
There are, broadly speaking, two different ways to charge a battery: quickly or slowly.Fast charging essentially means using a higher charging current for a shorter time,whereas slow charging uses a lower current for longer.That doesn''t mean the charging process is just a simple matter of passing a steadycurrent through the battery until it''s charged.There are several common methods of charging (plus a few more we won''t go into here).[1]
Photo: Battery chargers look simple, but they''re surprisingly complex inside.Different types of rechargeable batteries need charging in different ways, for different times,sometimes using several different methods in turn, which make up what''s called the charging algorithm. A charger like this is constantly sensing what the batteries inside it are doingand adjusting the charging process accordingly.
In taper-current charging, the charger starts off using a high, constant current,which progressively lowers to a trickle as the battery fills with charge and reaches its peak voltage. Inexpensive chargers often work this way.[8]
Photo: This "fast-charge" battery charger is designed tocharge four cylindrical nickel-cadmium (nicad) batteries in five hours orone square-shaped RX22 battery in 16 hours. I think it''s an example of a constant-currentor maybe taper-current charger, though I''ve not tested it to find out ''s easy to use, and just as easy to misuse: there''s nothing to tell you when charging is complete. With a battery charger like this, charging batteries is complete guesswork.
The final method is called trickle charging, and is similar to constant current charging but uses a much smaller current (perhaps 5–10 percent) for much longer. Some appliances (like cordless phones and electric toothbrushes) are designed to sit on trickle chargers indefinitely.
Graph: Batteries get harder to charge in the later stages. It can take as long to charge the last 25 percent of a battery (red area) as the first 75 percent (orange area). [2]It''s worth remembering this if you have limited time to charge a battery and worry that it''ll take too long: you might be able to charge it halfway in much less time than you think. If the battery in thisexample takes an hour to charge, you can see that it would reach 50 percent charge (dotted lines)in just 6.5 minutes.
Different charging methods are suited to different types of batteries. Simple pulse charging works well for nickel cadmium and nickel metal-hydride batteries, which are also widely charged by the constantcurrent (CC) method, but pulse charging is quite crude and unsuitable for lithium-ion batteries, which are generally charged by CCCV instead.
Better chargers work more intelligently, combining different types of charging in sequence according to how the battery performs as it''s being charged. So, for example, a battery may be slowly pre-charged (by trickle charging) for a short time to test how well it''s accepting charge, then fast-charged fully by CC and CV, which may be alternated multiple times. [3]The combination of charging methods used by a particular charger is known as its charging algorithm.
Photo: The Innovations Battery Manager, popular in the 1990s, was sold as an intelligent battery charger capable of recharging even ordinary zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries. Right: A digital display showed the voltage of each battery as it charged (in this case, 1.39 volts). After charging, a little bar graph appeared showing how good a condition the battery was in (how many more times you could charge it). Many thousands of these chargers were sold, but there were differing opinions on how well they worked.
If you''re charging batteries, you probably think fast charge is automatically better—youwant to use your laptop or phone as soon as you can. But it comes with major drawbacks.The chemicals in batteries take time to absorb charge and faster charging can shortenthe life of a battery (a big problem for things like expensive electric car batteries), or risk safety problems such as overheating and fires.[5]
Nickel cadmium(also called "nicad" or NiCd), the oldest and perhaps still bestknown types of everyday rechargeable batteries, respond best either to fairlyrapid charging (providing it doesn''t make them hot) or slow tricklecharging.[10]
Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries use newer technology and look exactlythe same as nicads, but they''re generally more expensive because they can store more charge (shown on the battery packaging as a higher ratingin mAH or milliampere-hours). NiMH batteries can be fast charged (onhigh current for several hours, at the risk of overheating), slowcharged (for about 12–16 hours using a lower current), or briefly tricklecharged (with a much lower current than nicad), but they shouldreally be charged only with an NiMH charger: a rapid nicad chargermay overcharge NiMH batteries.
It''s generally agreed that nickel-based batteries need to be "primed"(charged fully before they''re used for the first time), so be sure tofollow exactly what the manufacturers say when you take your newbatteries out of the packet.
About How do battery chargers work
As the photovoltaic (PV) industry continues to evolve, advancements in How do battery chargers work have become critical to optimizing the utilization of renewable energy sources. From innovative battery technologies to intelligent energy management systems, these solutions are transforming the way we store and distribute solar-generated electricity.
When you're looking for the latest and most efficient How do battery chargers work for your PV project, our website offers a comprehensive selection of cutting-edge products designed to meet your specific requirements. Whether you're a renewable energy developer, utility company, or commercial enterprise looking to reduce your carbon footprint, we have the solutions to help you harness the full potential of solar energy.
By interacting with our online customer service, you'll gain a deep understanding of the various How do battery chargers work featured in our extensive catalog, such as high-efficiency storage batteries and intelligent energy management systems, and how they work together to provide a stable and reliable power supply for your PV projects.
