Portable AC power supply for battery charger?

Hello fellows,

Here is my predicament:
I have recently moved into a condo and in my garage there is no electric outlet to plug my battery charger into. I was wondering if anyone knows of a "portable power supply" that I could connect to my battery charger? I have a Ferrari F430 spider and if there is such a device, which one would be the best fit for my type of battery?
Thank you ahead of time for you help!!!

 

You can have an electrician run power to the garage stale.

 

Unfortunately it's a condominium's garage. They do not allow this type of work to be done...

 

Then do it at night.

 

Seriously, there must be some source of power you could run a cord from. Even a light bulb. My garage does it from a valet station. I get condo boards have sticks up there arses, but maybe if you were politique they might relent. If not there are solar ones. All I can offer is good luck with the board.

 

Like I said before, I am really looking for a portable source that does not rely on any external source. You have mentioned a solar power supply. Do you know of any model in particular? I know that I need a source that supply at least 740 amp for my 12 V battery...
Thank you!

 

This post came into my mind:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q-sponsored-algar-ferrari/477435-charging-my-cars-battery-without-wall-outlet.html
"Here is how I hope to solve that problem: I bought a separate battery and an inverter which converts the 12 Volts of the separate battery to 230 Volts (that’s what we have here in EU) to power my trickle charger. Well, that sounds a bit complicated to transfer 12 Volts to 230 Volts just to feed my trickle charger which transfers the voltage back again to 12 Volts. I did not found a better solution."

I don't think you need 740A. That would be enough to blow every battery.
You need just a trickle charger which can supply approx. 2A.

 

To maintain the battery you need around 10-15% higher voltage than what the battery puts out but at low current. So, while your battery may be 740(cold cranking)amps a charge rate of a few hundred milliamps at 14 volts will keep it topped off.

Your choices are, "shore power" which is out, solar if you have enough light which is doubtful in a garage, or a convoluted battery/inverter/charger set up as described above, who/what charges THAT battery?
I don't see a good solution without external power.
The best solution seems to me to be either disconnecting the battery when the car is not in use(what are the consequences of this on a 430?)which will buy you more time, run the car more often or use a jump pack when the battery is low, a quick connect could rigged. OR lobby the condo gestapo for an exception.
Good luck
OH, while still not a good or convenient solution if you use the car very seldom you might just want to remove the battery and keep it on a maintainer in the home. I keep mine attached to the battery back-up system for my sump pump.

 

Or get a step-down transformer and run your charger off the E-V charging station.
(What!? No electric vehicle support?! How un-green! Call the GreenCops! )


When I would leave the Alfa long enough that the battery needed help, I'd just pull the battery and recharge it elsewhere before reinstalling. But the battery was easily accessed, in that car, in a niche in the trunk.

I've always hated "shared" garage space. No place to store tools, no chance to work on the car. Can't even vacuum the interior or wash it. And no protection from door dings ... or skateboarders.


But seriously; in an era where some states mandate E-V charging stations everywhere, you'd have a good argument to provide normal outlets around the garage. Vacuums, tire air pumps, ... and battery chargers.
Bring it up at the next condo association meeting.

Although they may want to prohibit doing *anything* on your car in a "common area" for insurance reasons.
In which case, any "battery charging" would also be seen as a fire hazard (even though tenders rarely cause hydrogen out-gassing from a modern battery).

 

just connect another battery to your car... a battery is nothing more than a storage tank... use a Deep Cycle, RV, or Marine labeled battery... they have larger RC ( reserve capacities than std car starting batteries allowing for several times the capacity of a starting battery... check the RC spec... unlike a fuel tank which can be used until empty, a battery changes it's spec as it is used up and becomes fully discharged at 10.5 volts, this is usually at 50% of the rated capacity eg a RC of 100Ah has only 50Ah that is usable before the spec goes beyond being usable

 

just connect another battery to your car... a battery is nothing more than a storage tank... use a Deep Cycle, RV, or Marine labeled battery... they have larger RC ( reserve capacities than std car starting batteries allowing for several times the capacity of a starting battery... check the RC spec... unlike a fuel tank which can be used until empty, a battery changes it's spec as it is used up and becomes fully discharged at 10.5 volts, this is usually at 50% of the rated capacity eg a RC of 100Ah has only 50Ah that is usable before the spec goes beyond being usables

 

there is no need to use chargers / transformers or any devices... basic electronics... no energy lost to running devices... it's like connecting to water tanks with a hose, as one is being used the other replenishes the water used until empty...

 

Dual battery connections usually recommend using identical batteries.
You can hook a second battery with an isolator.
When connected in parallel, it'll extend your "down" time.
For longer periods, you can take the second battery inside and charge it.

The isolator lets you charge the primary battery off the alternator before cutting in the second battery.

You see the dual battery hook-up on a lot of RVs and working trucks with inverters, etc.
Basic Dual Battery System

 

no need for an isolator, the extra battery is not installed in the car and will only be charged by taking it to a charger located elsewhere... a discharged battery will need a couple of days to get back to 100%

batteries do not need to be the same, just the volts, they will equalize which is the intent, a less than 100% good battery will use more energy

 

All you are doing is buying time, with a "bigger storage tank" to use you analogy. Perhaps enough though.
A deep cycle battery has no more capacity, it's just designed to be run down further than an automotive battery which sees constant charging in use and only brief periods of discharge when starting. Auto batteries are made to "run off the top".
10.5 volts won't start your car regardless of what style battery it is coming from.

 

The isolator is to let you charge both batteries off the alternator (when running), without straining the alternator.
Leaving both in the car would give you more time before you need to take one battery out for external recharge.

A temporary connection just to bleed some juice from one battery to another would require leaving them connected long enough to balance. Then you'd have to take the second battery back inside.
Not convenient for frequent use.

Rigging a quick mount for a second battery would take up trunk space, but would let you slap in the battery and go.

After imposing a $500 and up graduated fine for parking in handicapped spaces, Arlington mandated a ludicrous number of handicapped spots per lot (revenue generation). So lots always had tons of unused handicapped spaces.
After the R-A messed up my knee, I considered asking the rheumo about a "handicapped" hang tag.
But I figured a Ferrari in a "handicapped" space would infuriate the DC area denizens.

 

"But I figured a Ferrari in a "handicapped" space would infuriate the DC area denizens. "

Good call, prosperous people are not allowed to make use of such benefits.

 

I used to laugh at people in $70K luxo SUVs who were miffed at the "rich guy" in the .... 328.

But, if you think about it, hydrocarbons are just a storage cell for solar energy ...
... from sunlight ca 19 million years ago.
So Ferraris are "solar powered".

 

Ross you have some misconceptions...

the stored energy in a battery is measured as Reserve Capacity in Ah, typical starting batteries are designed to provide a burst of energy measured in seconds... typical starting batteries have a RC range of 50Ah to 100Ah of which only 50% is usable

Deep Cycle batteries have Reserve Capacities ranging 200Ah and more ( still 50% usable) ... the internal construction is designed to deliver power over time usually specified at 5A -25A... read the battery specss

a "12 volt " battery showing 10.5 volts is fully discharged and shouldn't be used to start anything... starters know only watts and make up the difference by drawing more current (amps) which can lead to burning up a starter from the heat generated by the extra current

 

Given that explanation wouldn't a deep cycle battery, as the primary, then be a possible solution for the OP? Could it deliver the power needed in a burst for starting?

 

it would be more beneficial to anyone having any car with accessories that need to be powered up... the current crop of deep cycle batteries have sufficient power to start a car, ( there are owners on this list that have switched to deep cycle batteries and solved their flat battery problems as their use is sufficient to keep the battery full)... there is one downside... it takes more run time to replace
the power used ... for the seldom used cars a maintainer will still be needed to keep the larger "tank" full