I plan on permanently connecting a 12v lead acid battery to my home made wind turbine (dc). I already have a dc-dc buck/boost converter so I wonder if i can use that to charge the battery. Unfortunately the converter has no cc, constant curret function, only cv, constant voltage.
Will setting the output voltage of the converter to 13.5v be enough to charge the battery?
I know that the voltage difference between the "charger" and the battery can make the battery draw a lot of amps, Will that be a problem, (since i cannot limit the curret) even though my generator only supplies 0.1 amps at best?
Lastly, will I even be able to charge a battery of this size using my tiny generator?
By now you've probably noticed i'm no expert so please be gentle with me and keep it simple. Thanks!
Best Answer
From everything I've seen so far with lead-acid batteries, a CV charger may not be ideal, but as long as you aren't hydrolyzing the acid (apparently at 14.4V), it'll charge itself over time. You'll likely hit the current limit on the turbine initially before current tapers off, so I guess you do sort of have a constant current source initially. The only problem is that you mention the generator provides ~100mA, which is small for a lead-acid battery... If your discharge rate is lower, I suppose it would charge. Keep in mind that certain batteries (ex. deep cycle) are better suited to this type of application.
Hopefully this helps, but feel free to request clarification if I missed something.