Automotive Battery Replacement I can plug in?


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Old 01-06-19, 07:06 PM
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Automotive Battery Replacement I can plug in?

Do they make an appliance that I can plug in to my 120v AC and hook to my battery in my car, then run the car off that in the drive? Not a jumpbox or something, just an inverter (I'm guessing) that will run my 12v stuff?

This is for a 12v pump system that runs off of 12v automotive batteries and always runs them dead when we have a flood. The system needs to work on 12v so upgrading to 120v isn't an option.

Thanks!
 
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Old 01-06-19, 07:09 PM
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It's called a battery charger. But it will not do you much good in a power outage.
 
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Old 01-06-19, 07:11 PM
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You should have a standalone 12v battery and charger for you pump.
You can only get so much power out of a 12v battery so if you get extended periods where you need pumping.... you'll need several batteries or a small 120v generator.
 
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Old 01-06-19, 07:17 PM
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Originally Posted by joed
It's called a battery charger. But it will not do you much good in a power outage.
A battery charger doesn't provide constant charge to a dead battery.... That's what I have on it now and as soon as the battery is drained, it turns off leaving me powerless.

The 120v generator, how does that work? Does it work like a battery charger without the cutoff?
 
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Old 01-06-19, 07:22 PM
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Does your system pump a lot of water ? Like continuously ?

Normally...... a 120v pump is used for water removal and the 12v is used for backup when there is no AC power. It's not effective to use 12v for a lot of pumping.
 
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Old 01-06-19, 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted by PJmax
Does your system pump a lot of water ? Like continuously ?

Normally...... a 120v pump is used for water removal and the 12v is used for backup when there is no AC power. It's not effective to use 12v for a lot of pumping.
It doesn't pump a lot often, but on the rare occasion that it does (2-4x a year) we end up with a flooded area due to the battery going dead and the charger saying, "I'm not connected to anything, I quit"

So if they make a "battery replacement" that I can plug in that would be the bee's knees!
 
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Old 01-06-19, 08:02 PM
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why is upgrading to 120 not an option?
you would need to know what type of power consumption the pump had perhaps your battery charger is not large enough to keep up
 
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Old 01-06-19, 08:43 PM
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I'm confused. Is this a pump that has 12v battery backup that kicks on when the power fails? Or is it a 12v pump, always powered by 12v battery, regardless of whether there is AC power to the house? If you have AC power, and need to run a 12v DC implement, then you need a transformer.
 
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Old 01-07-19, 04:00 AM
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Squirrel, I think probably what she has is a bilge pump from a boat or something similar. Its strictly 12 volt. If this is something that she has to do 3 - 4 times a year or more, she needs to get a 120v pump. Trying to use this 12 volt pump this often is just not feasible & will always be an issue one way or the other.

To do what she wants to do, she will a 120v to 12 volt converter:
https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-PC.../dp/B0012BL8LG
The one linked is a 6 amp supply. She will need to find out what amp draw here pump is & buy the appropriate
converter

And just FYI, yes a battery charger does charge a dead battery all the time. It (some) shut off after the battery has charged. What happens in your case is the charger sends current to the pump as long as the pump is running. Once it shuts off, it doesn't detect any device & shuts off.
and/or
A battery charger is constantly monitoring the charge on a low battery to determain how much & how long to send a charge or when to shut off. Since your pump doesnt store or reflect a positive charge/volt, the battery charger doesnt detect a device & shuts off.
 
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Old 01-07-19, 05:21 AM
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A battery charger doesn't provide constant charge to a dead battery.... That's what I have on it now and as soon as the battery is drained, it turns off leaving me powerless.
That doesn't make any sense. I have never seen a battery charger turn off when a battery was dead.
If the battery is going dead while on the charger then the charger is too small. The charger should be large enough to supply same current as the load you are using.

Can give us some details of exactly what equipment you are using to charge and to pump.
 
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Old 01-07-19, 05:49 AM
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I think it would help if the OP would explain exactly how she/he uses the pump. What is being emptied and why is it being flooded?

I think Dixie has it pinned as a bulge pump. Perhaps 120v is not available.
 
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Old 01-07-19, 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Dixie2012
Squirrel, I think probably what she has is a bilge pump from a boat or something similar. Its strictly 12 volt. If this is something that she has to do 3 - 4 times a year or more, she needs to get a 120v pump. Trying to use this 12 volt pump this often is just not feasible & will always be an issue one way or the other.

To do what she wants to do, she will a 120v to 12 volt converter:
https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-PC.../dp/B0012BL8LG
The one linked is a 6 amp supply. She will need to find out what amp draw here pump is & buy the appropriate
converter

And just FYI, yes a battery charger does charge a dead battery all the time. It (some) shut off after the battery has charged. What happens in your case is the charger sends current to the pump as long as the pump is running. Once it shuts off, it doesn't detect any device & shuts off.
and/or
A battery charger is constantly monitoring the charge on a low battery to determain how much & how long to send a charge or when to shut off. Since your pump doesnt store or reflect a positive charge/volt, the battery charger doesnt detect a device & shuts off.

Dixie, you're a genius! I could get that and one of these https://www.amazon.com/Cigarette-Lig...dp/B01MRPKPPG/ to make it battery compatible and be off and running!

As for the battery charger, it doesn't detect it's hooked up to anything once the battery charge goes below a certain level so it turns off and says "check connection" or somesuch. I have to hook up a jumpbox to it to get it running again to charge the dead battery (2 batteries to the charger simultaneously).

I'll get both of those and see how it works. Hopefully it won't blow up my battery haha!
 
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Old 01-07-19, 09:42 AM
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Power Converter Rating

@MissKittKatt, you truly do need to get an AC to DC power converter. But they are REALLY inexpensive. The most expensive one on Amazon is $54 for a unit rated at 15amps. When you are dealing with power supplies/converters, it is ALWAYS better to buy more capacity than less. But you need to see what the rated amperage on the pump is first. It should be printed on a (probably) metal label on the body of the pump. If your pump is rated at - say - 8 amps you should buy at least a 12 amp converter (50% cushion on the rated current) if not a 15 amp converter (approx 100% cushion).

But as Dixie suggested it might be better in the long run to purchase a 110VAC pump with the 12VDC pump as a backup. Also, I don't know what type battery you are using to power the pump but it should be what's called a "deep cycle" or marine battery. These kinds of batteries are specially constructed to be deeply discharged without causing damage. A regular automotive battery can be damaged if it is overly discharged where a deep cycle battery will not. Hope this helps.
 
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Old 01-07-19, 05:40 PM
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What it sounds like to me is if the pump stops because the battery is drained it means that you do not have a large enough battery bank.


If you give us a make and model of the pump and a detailed description of your battery and charger we may be able to help.
Pics would also be good.
 
 

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