Using your charger in vehicle

Only once. My Triton gave an "input voltage error" warning in my old pickup. However, I checked the voltage in my lighter socket and my system was putting out 18 volts! Got rid of the truck. The Triton will give the same message when I start my new pickup, but has never given me any trouble when I plug it in when it's either running or off. BTW, I replaced the hippo clips on my Triton with banana plugs and use a lighter adaptor with banana jacks.
Morris

I think it is reasonable to expect an input voltage error indication when the charger is plugged in and the vehicle started. That starting current really can drag down the voltage for a moment, long enough to give an input error reading on some units.
Red S. Red's OR/C Battery Clinic us out for "revolting" information.

My car now has banana jacks at the battery -- very convenient.

do it all the time. been doing it for Years and years and years. NEVER any problem. I have probably had 20 different chargers over that time including the latest li-po stuff.

Wouldn't the capacitance of the car's battery being connected act as a
filter against spikes?
RS
Red, one would think so. However the ESR of the battery is high when i comes to a high voltage short time spike as as been noted.
I had a CB on a cigarette lighter plug about 1978 and stopped at a res stop. I forgot to turn the radio off before I started the car. Poof al gone. BTDT. It won't get you every time but it will eventually
-- Iflyj
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I have measured a 600 volt spike from a starter solenoid coil. The starter itself will also generate a spike, but probably smaller since it has far fewer coils than the solenoid. At any rate, that spike finds its way into sensitive electronics and fries them if they aren't protected. The guys successfully using chargers in their cars will have chargers with internal protection. The protection doesn't have to be expensive. A Zener diode across the supply will short to ground a spike, as will an MOS device. In our Cessna airplanes an ordinary diode is connected across the master solenoid coil to short the spike generated at shutdown; the radios in an airplane can be worth as as much as the rest of the airplane. The diode is $28 from Cessna but $.25 from an electronics shop. Same diode.
Dan

Yeah, if you are certified...

I am a maintenance and repair guy, don't any body get carried away.
Why not an "aftermarket" regulator for these chargers. A zener diode, some capacitors and a coil or two with appropriate resistors and diode in a Pi or bridge would seem to provide considerable protection an avoid any reverse polarity problems too
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