Hi again oh knowledgable ones.
I am looking for a source for a 36v Li-ion charger, it will be for my power tool for which I hope to get a Li-ion battery, but the chargers are extortionate.
I am searching Ebay but with no luck, but then I am not very good on ebay.
Any suggestions or links please?
Thanks
Rab
Hi Rab. I think this should be 'The Charging Post' as it doesn't really relate to electric bikes directly - however.....
One possible reason for the 'extortionate' price of a tool battery charger might be to do with just how smart it needs to be. If the charger only supplies 36V plus a bit of overhead (around 42V seems to be considered normal for a 36V Li-Ion) then I agree with you.
However, what really pushes the price up is the control circuitry required. Sometimes it's built into the battery (common on e-bikes) but sometimes it's part of the charger, and usually that is the case with tool chargers, as the handling weight of a power tool plus battery needs to be kept down as far as possible, so the battery management circuitry tends to be in the charger.
You therefore need to know about that in order to stand even a slight chance of getting the 'right one' for your purpose. If you buy a 'dumb' e-bike charger (and these aren't cheap either) and try to charge a 'dumb' tool battery with it then you will probably live to regret it, which is more than can be said for the battery.
Tool batteries on professional power tools (as opposed to the cheap DIY type) are generally made to be fully chargeable in an hour or less, so that your average tradesman can keep busy and have 100% use of his tool (no pun intended) by charging one battery while the second is in use. This means sophisticated control electronics to stop the charge at the appropriate moment - 'moment' being the operative word, since a minute over can be a serious business. Hence the cost.
Rog.
