The chassis needs to be isolated from line voltage. You can do it 1. in the charger (transformer) 2. in the battery box (twin contactors) 3. at the breaker (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) or a combination of all three.
The transformer is heavy to carry around in a car. (fork lifts don't carry the transformer on the rig) The extra contactor draws extra power to hold it in. (Not a lot of watts) The GFCI is prone to nuisance trips. (serious pain in the butt if you are in a hurry) No. The PFC-20 does not have a transformer. If it did have one, the charger would be 2.5 times as tall and would weigh 100 pounds instead of 22 pounds. Joe Smalley Rural Kitsap County WA Fiesta 48 volts NEDRA 48 volt street conversion record holder [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patchem, Eric EM2" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 10:58 PM Subject: Yet another charger question > So the bad boy charger is just batteries hooked to the line through a > rectifier. > > Do other more expensive chargers ditch the transformer? I mean is that > something that is done regularly? I was reading about the PFC20 specs. It > looked as though it didn't have a transformer either. Most of the Industrial > chargers I have worked on (up to 96 volts) all had some form of isolation > device. > > Thanks, > Eric >
