Battery charging/ electrical current question here...

[naha_music]

Not having any knowledge on how electrical currents work.. got a question about battery charging.

I purchased a Optima redtop battery (34R) for my s15 a few months back. After the car sitting over winter several months, the battery was dead. I have a schumacher SC-600A charger that I purchased in the U.S. that I'm using to charge the battery, but I can never get it to charge more than 25%.

The question is.. I live in Japan were the electrical current is only 100V/50Hz, were as the U.S., the current is 120V/60Hz, which is what the charger is designed for. Could this be the reason why I can't get my battery charged? Any help would be greatly appriciated!

 

[meddler]

Yes, I would say that your charger is not operating correctly. It is not designed to run on 100v/50hz. The chances that you will damage the charger is pretty good. Get a charger that is designed for your local power supply.

 

[Nickichi]

like Meddler says, get one local from Japan, its not just the reduced voltage but also the frequency of the supply (50Hz) that will be messing the charger up. if memory is right from college the reduced freq will reduce the current supplied to the unit. Been a while tho so i might have it the wrong way around.

 

[meddler]

you are right Nickichi, both the reduced frequency and voltage will have an effect on the chargers output.

 

[naha_music]

i truly appriciate the responses! thanks for clearing that up for me!

 

[naha_music]

you gentlemen were right! i hooked up my battery charger to a 120V/60Hz power inverter box, and it charged the battery like a champ! thanks again!

 

[meddler]

there you go, occasionally I am right. lol