Maximum voltage rate/charging on Stevens Esprit?

[Jacques]

Hi all,

I would like to know the maximum voltage charging rate that a Stevens Esprit (SE 1990) are able to cope with, witout frying anything?

 

Kind regards,

jacques

[Vulcan Grey]

You mean from the alternator or from an external charger?

 

Do not charge a battery while connected to the car!

[Jacques]

I mean what is the maximum Volt the Esprit can/may deliver to the battery. Not what the generator can deliver stand alone as data, but what the system as a whole loads on to the battery. I know I can just measure it now with the engine running, but mine may not be representative of an ideal setup. So it would be good to know the Volt and amperage that it loads on to the battery idealisticly or say minimum to maximum.

And how many Volts are maximum going out from the battery? Fx 12,6 or 13,2 or whatever.

Or how many Volts is the perfect state (min and max) for the ecu to operate within? Or other devices in the car?

 

I am asking this, because some modern batteries have a rather high Voltage and demands a rather high Voltage when being charged. I intend to install a Shorai 36Ah battery (or two) in the Esprit SE. This battery requires a charging Voltage between 13,1 and 15,2 Volt, which seems a bit hig to me.

 

I have always charged my batteries connected to the car or motorcycle, incl. a diversity of Electronics. Do you mean that a charger for example loading a high Voltage and a low amperage, can fry Electronics such as ecu, voltage regulator etc? Or pulsecharging? Or something else?

 

If I every time I charge the battery in the car, while stationary, if I disconnect the battery in the car, it would also mean that the ecu have to re-learn all data and sensors again and again and again. That does not seem very fruitfull to me, unless there's something I just don't know.

 

On my present normal acid battery, I recharge every 10'th or 12'th day (never to let it be flat) with a c-tek 7500 charger.

A Shorai battery must never be charged with this device (tricklecharger) as it will be destroyed. It needs either an ordinary old school charger or a shorai charger (which I will get too. And that specific shorai charger is connected to the Shorai battery directly via a special port.

 

Kind regards,

jacques

[Vulcan Grey]

most healthy Esprits run in the 13.5V +/- .5V range.  Some run in the 12's.

 

The EMH manual says normal battery voltage is 10-17V.  The ECM is ok up to 17.1V. It the Battery volts are above 17.1 for more than 0.2s, then a Code 53 will be set.

[Vulcan Grey]

I have a friend who was charging his battery while connected to the Esprit V8, he killed 2 different $800 ECU's without realizing why...

 

I always disconnect the battery from the car for charging.

[Chillidoggy]

I'm going with 14.7 volts. Any more, then the battery may be knackered, or the alternator.

[Escape]

The voltage (and current) during charging will depend on the charge in the battery and also it's construction (internal resistance), as well as on the resistance in the wires and connectors between the alternator or charger and battery. So not easy to compare different measurements.

If you alternator is in reasonably good condition, it should easily get over 13.1V to the battery.

 

As for charging, when using my Ctek normally, I never bother to disconnect the battery. When doing reconditioning cycles, I do disconnect it, to prevent both voltage spikes to the car electronics and possible interference from those electronics that could affect the recondition cycle.

 

Filip

[Jacques]

Very informative. Thanks Guys!

 

The biggest Shorai I am looking at, is similar to 36Ah acid battery, which of course is way small, but the starting Amp is really high.

Since i only have light, and no abs, no whatever apart from electric windows and mirrors, plus of course wiper and rear screen, I never use it, and as soon as the car is started, it's not a problem.

Eventually two 36Ah models can be connected to give more Ah.

I do have a radio and speakers, but don't know what to use them for?

I did install an electric chargecoolerpump, a small one, but I also changed as many as possible of the bulbs to LED's to save consuming power.

So, if the importer is keen enough to sell me one, I think I am going for that.

I have used Shorai carbon wraped LiFe for three years and it's by far the best battery I've ever had. So I thought I'll do the same on my cars.

 

I will update my thread (Little Red Riding Hood), when I finally manage to get  a battery.

 

Cheers,

jacques