battery charger problems when using solar power inverter???

[forestfairness]

i have a question perhaps you might be able to help me with.... i can offer a day or two free rustic shelter space on the big island of hawaii, for any info that might get me back on track with this problem, or perhaps something else????...

i have been having problems charging me trike batteries pretty much since i got a chinese generic 48volt hub motor kit and installed it... the motor kit has been working good, but charging battery is an ongoing problem.... the 3 year warranty is over so i am simply looking for advice at this point.... i had thought it was initially a problem with the rca plug, that plugs into the battery when charging, as the connection became loose over time, so opted to replace that rca plug with a different one... it seemed to help for awhile, but the problem returned...

i then thought perhaps the battery charger was damaged, so bought a new cheap battery charger for the trike, same brand as original... now i am still having the same problem with new charger ( an inexpensive chinese charger), which is sometimes that battery charges fine when plugged in, and other times sometimes it does not, or i cannot get it to charge at all...

i tried replacing the fuse and looking for corrosion on various connection places....somehow i almost always manage to get it charging, but never quite know why????... today i am not getting it to charge..... i suspect this charger is now not working, as when testing output it is way low from the required 48 volts....

i have tried various things to resolve this, and am now starting to think it may be the inverter i am using with me solar system, when charging the trike battery.... i have a 24 volt xantrex model tr series inverter.... i also have had to replace another battery charger for me cordless power tools since using this inverter.... have you heard of any other problems like this with cordless tool battery charging????... if so, is there any way to resolve this problem, and/or can you direct me to some electric bike forum that might know about such things????.... mahalo and aloha,

forest

 

[amberwolf]

If the charger/etc works fine on normal AC power supplied from mains, and only exhibits the problem on your solar inverter, then probably your inverter does not put out a sine wave, and the harmonics or other distortion in it's output are keeping your equipment that's designed for sine wave AC input from working correctly. I suppose it's even possible that it is being damaged by the non-sine output, but I don't know enough to be sure of that; it doesn't seem likely.


You might have to get a better inverter, if that's the case.


One possibility is ot use a large inductor in series with the output of the inverter before it runs into your charger--that might help smooth stuff out...but I don't know how you'd calculate what inductance you'd need, or what type would be best.

 

[nicobie]

I think I'd try using your inverter to charge a 12V battery then use it to power a cheap RC charger.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Inverters rarely put out a nice clean 110 volts at 60htz with a clean sine wave. What shows up on an O' scope looks like a psychotic's sketch of a mountain skyline. If you need clean power, you need to filter it.

Another option might be a DC/DC converter like a Meanwell, and charge your pack from that. Many of those are designed specifically for clean DC outputs.