allen18 wrote: What is the right way to measure volts from the converter? Do you just use a voltmeter on the battery? If my auto charger is 10 amps what volts should it put out.
The easiest and most practical measurement is voltage across the battery terminals. This won't be the full voltage the converter is producing, since there's a drop in the cable to the battery, but it's what you're really interested in, and when the battery is fully charged, there will be little current and little difference from the voltage at the converter.
Does "autocharger" mean the converter/charger or an external charger? In either case, the output voltage is likely to depend on its design and the state of charge of the battery. You hope it's up to 14.6 volts, but it may be as low as 13.5. A charger is usually rated against a discharged battery, 11.8 volts or less, and its output decreases as the battery gets charged and generates higher "back" voltage.
allen18 wrote: Thanks Guys on the info.The converter works fine i just wanted to know what would charge the battery faster.A manual would be nice.I don't know the model # on the charger i think it is a older model it has a switch for Automatic/Manual/Maintenace Free.
PS I do have the model # CRMF612 Schaver
Use both at the same time. When the battery is real low they will both put power into the battery. As the battery charge level and voltage increase the converter will taper off the charge current and the battery charger will supply more of the power. On the automatic setting the charger should taper off or shut off as the battery becomes fully charged. You can take voltage readings right on the battery terminals.
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Good info on getting the converter to the high voltage mode and on measuring the voltage. (Thanks to those with the info on the jumper - I now know how that feature is manually operated on the Todd and early Iota converters.) That is the best way to charge from the generator with the equipment you have.
For convenience, your DC fuse board may have large terminals for the converter cable and the battery. When charging, you may be able to use them once you see the difference between the voltage at the battery and at the board/converter.
Get the model of the Schumacher as the manual might be available online. I suspect it is similar to the ones I have - there were several variations of the basic design, but the basics appear to be the same.
In the Automatic mode for conventional batteries, the voltage will rise as the battery charges, and the current will decrease as the battery nears full charge. (These are sometimes called "taper" chargers.) When the voltage reaches about 14.1 volts and the current is less than 2 amps, the charger shuts off. It will then "monitor" the battery voltage and when the surface charge goes down and the battery voltage is about 12.6 volts, the charger will turn on. The sequence repeats, at first fairly quickly and, with time, it is quite a long time between cycles. (This feature is sometimes called a "battery maintainer".)
In the Maintenance Free mode, the voltages are about 0.1 volts higher, but the operation is the same.
In the Manual mode, the charger does not shut off. The voltage will go to 16+ volts and will "boil" a battery. This is the fastest mode to bring a battery to full charge, but YOU must monitor it. Also, this feature can be used to "equalize" a battery when sulfation builds up on the plates - and if you do a fair amount of boondocking your battery will probably need an equalization once in a while.
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