How many kw is required to charge a volt battery system?

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Question by Dale L: How many kw is required to charge a volt battery system?
They say it takes 10 hours to charge the battery. How many kw is required?


Best answer:

Answer by scrubbag
First, a "Watt" is voltage times Amperage.....such as a 120 volt house current, with 20 amp fuse, could run 2400 Watts of power 120 x 20 = 2400. That is why, you can only use a 1500 Watt electric heater in your house, if you have 120 volt and a 15 amp fuse. (1800 watts max).

Now... watts OVER 1000 are called Kilo watts...Kilo meaning 1000. So a heater would be 1500 watts or 1.5 kilowatt.....1.5 Kw.

Back to your question, most chargers are small, and only put out like 10 amps or 15 amps, unless it is a larger one with about 50 amps. Okay, 10 amps, x 120 volt, would be...1200 watts. Or...1.2 Kw.

A small 6 amp battery charger, would charge the battery okay over night and it is only .72Kw....which is less then 1 kilowatt.

And as the power tapers off as it charges, the Watts drops also. This protects the battery from over charging.

So I would say, that using a typical 6 amp charger, you would use .72 Kw per hour (720 watts), dropping as it charged the battery. That is LESS then 1 Kilowatt per hour....and dropping.



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