Camping... How to charge the batteries?

[Subarutex]

My wife and I are planning a week long trip to Glacier Natl. Park this summer, and I'm definitely wanting to bring my rigs.

What kind of setups do you use for charging away from home?

I have a couple of different batteries for my rigs, here they are:
MRC - 730mah 2s, 730mah 3s, 850mah 3s
SCX - 3500mah 3s
Slash4x4 - 5000mah 3s

I use a Turnigy Accucel 6 charger at home, and it is DC only (i run it off a PC power supply). Can this be run right off the car battery? How much charging do you think it can do before it drains the battery?

[BFGcrawler418]

I think most chargers have alligator clips that you can plug onto your car battery

[ped453]

this is the exact charger I got and yes you can just go direct to your car battery works great. I do bring a booster with me at all times, just incase I drain the car battery out.

i've charge 2, 2200 mah 3s with no problems, truck starts right up.

[country_crawler]

I just use my dads truck battery for all my battery's. (5000mah 3s's) I usually crank the truck up and let it run for a little while around 2500-3000mah

[DonsATV]

I'd try it out at home and see how much charging you can do before you drain your car battery too much.

[02tac]

Sign up for harbor freight adds and you can find this for around $90.
http://www.harborfreight.com/engines...tor-66619.html

[STANG KILLA SS]

a car battery is rated at 40-140 Ah or amp hours
your slash battery is 5000 Mili amp hours

lets say you had a car battery rated at 120 Ah thats 120,000 Mah
so you could theoreticly charge your slash battery 24 times before the car battery was completely drained.

just start the car every 2-3 packs and youll be fine.

[Twiztid Metal]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

a car battery is rated at 40-140 Ah or amp hours
your slash battery is 5000 Mili amp hours

lets say you had a car battery rated at 120 Ah thats 120,000 Mah
so you could theoreticly charge your slash battery 24 times before the car battery was completely drained.

just start the car every 2-3 packs and youll be fine.

a cars battery will not start after the Voltage drops below 9v so if you have a 12v battery. yeah you could probly charge the batteries that many times in Therory. but you wont beable to start your car.

[rybredd]

take a spare motor with a servo arm attatched to it......wire it to the battery charger and crank the poop out of it.....instant generator

[ittybitty]

Another option is a "jump pack". I have a craftsman unit that I use. It has a power inverter, air compressor, and work light built in. I haven't tested it to see how many charges I can get out of it though. Another option is picking up a used car battery or even a new one...charge it up and charge away!

[2500hdon37s]

Originally Posted by Twiztid Metal

a cars battery will not start after the Voltage drops below 9v so if you have a 12v battery. yeah you could probly charge the batteries that many times in Therory. but you wont beable to start your car.

not why he said before it is completely drained or anything......

[bwm8142]

I have a generator that I use to charge my trailer, so pretty much everyday I charge my trailer and my batteries

[Subarutex]

Thanks for the insight guys. I was mostly sure I could just use the charger straight off the car battery, but the reassurance is always good.

We are tent campers, so I don't have a generator as an option.

Anybody tried charging while the vehicle is driving? How much amperage does a charger draw? Too much for a cig lighter?

[RcBro]

Originally Posted by Subarutex

Thanks for the insight guys. I was mostly sure I could just use the charger straight off the car battery, but the reassurance is always good.

We are tent campers, so I don't have a generator as an option.

Anybody tried charging while the vehicle is driving? How much amperage does a charger draw? Too much for a cig lighter?

Probably not the safest thing to consider doing.

I purchased a decent sized power inveter (ok its overkill, much smaller will do) and installed it underneath my back seats in my truck. It is then wired to my trucks battery along with what we call a power timer. I have the power timer set at 4 hours. This way if I forgot about it, the power is killed after 4 hours or use. If I need it on longer then that, just cycle the ignition, and another 4 hours starts.

I can charge batteries while driving and there still within reach.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

lets say you had a car battery rated at 120 Ah thats 120,000 Mah
so you could theoreticly charge your slash battery 24 times before the car battery was completely drained.

Automotive batteries are considered dead @ 10v. Their usability is also negligible at half of their rated capacity (when voltage does down, amp draw goes up). When you figure the load and the amp capacity needed, you double it. There is a formula for that, but I can't think of it right now...something like amps x hours x 2.

[ROLANDROCKSHOP]

Originally Posted by rybredd

take a spare motor with a servo arm attatched to it......wire it to the battery charger and crank the poop out of it.....instant generator

i wanna see a video!!

[losikid]

not a lipo charger, but back when running nitros every weekend we would have 4 quick chargers (for 6 of us) all ways quick charging up ni-cd for our starter, soso so we probably charged 12-20 batteries a day off a single truck battery, and then went home...so i'm sure if you charge 3-5 batteries then start your car up and let it run awhile you'll be fine.