Can I use a trickle charger as a temporary power supply to bench test a wiper motor?
Battery Charger as Power Supply
- Thread starter charliec
- Start date
-
Probably not enough power. Most trickle chargers only put out 1 amp.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Yeh, it depends on the amperage. I'd say you want at least 3A and maybe better 5A. So far as other purposes, most older battery charges have zero regulation or filtering. VERY dirty output. They depend on the battery itself for filter, and depend on YOU to remove the charger when done
find a power pack from an old road race/train set. it is 12 volt.
If you want to be safer, maybe put a fuse in the circuit when testing.
Dave999
Well-Known Member
I just use a car battery.
your battery charger will hum and groan if its an old style
power supplies for students or domestic things usually limited to appox 3 amps, i.e may run it slowly but may just put the supply into short circuit cut out. and you will think the motor is busted when its not.
Wiper motor will pull anything from 7 to 15 amps at initial start up but once turning that comes down considerably, like in 1/2 a second and its at normal running current. i.e a 3 amp supply might work if you could get this far.
yer best bet is to clamp the motor in a vice, stops inertia of the rotor making it rock about on the bench.
connect battery negative to vice
connect the mounting boss of the switch to the vice. (scrap steel with a hole to mount the switch is yer best bet) and wire it up as per standard
that way you can test both speeds and Park
all grounding for the circiit is your vice, which acts as the body of your car, the switch body uses the car body as a ground and so does the motor.
with the motor safe in the vice you are less likely to remove a finger when the thing starts up, that little lever on the output has SOME torque and will, when you are scrabbling to do some other inncououse task, crush your thumb between it and the case.....
i think i'm not clumsy or stupid... but i did have a very sore thumb.
Dave
your battery charger will hum and groan if its an old style
power supplies for students or domestic things usually limited to appox 3 amps, i.e may run it slowly but may just put the supply into short circuit cut out. and you will think the motor is busted when its not.
Wiper motor will pull anything from 7 to 15 amps at initial start up but once turning that comes down considerably, like in 1/2 a second and its at normal running current. i.e a 3 amp supply might work if you could get this far.
yer best bet is to clamp the motor in a vice, stops inertia of the rotor making it rock about on the bench.
connect battery negative to vice
connect the mounting boss of the switch to the vice. (scrap steel with a hole to mount the switch is yer best bet) and wire it up as per standard
that way you can test both speeds and Park
all grounding for the circiit is your vice, which acts as the body of your car, the switch body uses the car body as a ground and so does the motor.
with the motor safe in the vice you are less likely to remove a finger when the thing starts up, that little lever on the output has SOME torque and will, when you are scrabbling to do some other inncououse task, crush your thumb between it and the case.....
i think i'm not clumsy or stupid... but i did have a very sore thumb.
Dave
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2012
- Messages
- 7,098
- Reaction score
- 4,247
Yes I mean that exactly! You should do some tests sometimes! Used a Fluke 75 to hash out the draws when I rebuilt to make sure things were ok!
Course a 69 fish has 2 opera lights and they pulled over 3.5 amps with original type 110 festoon bulbs.
If you have an A01 option with delayed ignition lamps and more it may spike to over 4 amps!
Last edited:
Old pc power supplies put out 20-30 amps at 12 volts, depending on the power supply. They are a few bucks at a used computer store. There are diagrams how to wire it all over the internet.
Outasite
Well-Known Member
For bench testing I use a 12 or 18 volt drill battery.newer “smart” chargers will put out nothing without a kick start.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
If you are DARN careful, and I do NOT recommend this without thought and having some confindence in your knowledge, a continuously variable MIG can work as a power supply Turn the wire feed all the way down, turn the gas off, and loosen the wire drive so it won't creep. "Clip" into the power terminals feeding the gun and double check with your meter as to voltage and polarity. Monitor voltage and carefully adjust. Some cheaper migs may not "start" until above 12V so "caveat!!
-
