Rechargable battery question

jonnyb

Electricity question

I have a brand new Coleman lantern that I got from a friend. It has a rechargable battery in it that is dead now. He said he lost the power supply charger for it. It t akes an output of 13.5V and 300ma adapter to charge it. I have collected many power units over the years and have many that I can fit into this slot on the bottom of the lantern. They are many different configurations. What is the range of voltages and ma can I use to charge this lantern without burning down the house?

Can I get a voltage range and a ma range. I have some that are close like 12V and 300ma and various others. What is more important the V or the ma(milliamps)?

dmxtothemax

We need to know what voltage is the internal battery ?
If it is a 12v battery, then you will need more than 12v
to properly charge it, usually about 13.5v to 14v maximum.

If you try to charge a 12v rechargable battery with only 12v
it will not fully charge up !
300Ma will be fine.

jonnyb

It is a 6Vm 2.36Ah Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Battery. What about milliamps does that matter? I guess I don't understand electricity that much.

dmxtothemax

So you will need 7 to 8 volts,
Milli amps does matter ! You will need about 1/10th of
the amp hour capacity,
So 2.36A /10 = 236ma.
A 300ma supply will be fine.

micromind

If the lantern has a charging circuit inside it, anything between about 9 and about 15 volts will be ok.

If it has one or more LEDS (green and red, could be a single combo LED) then it has a charging circuit.

Pay attention to polarity (+ and -).....very important.

It'll charge with less milliamps, it'll just take longer.

If it has the LED type charging circuit, don't charge it any more than needed. These circuits are merely a voltage monitor; they do not keep the battery from being overcharged.

Rob