Help charging batterys

Hi,
My kid stoped over tonight and has a Question on charging batterys.
He has a low rider with 8-12 volt batterys in the trunk,Three pumps. He charges them one at a time(12 volts)with my 10 amp charger.
If he buys a charger for a fork truck(36 volts) can he charge them without disconecting them like he has to now.
The batterys are all wired in series to run the pumps.
low riders are not for me,but he could be out geting into real trouble.
Thanks Russ

 

how are the batteries wired now? in series? parallel? if he doesn't know the answer, he better get someone who knows this stuff to take a look at it and advise him.

 

If they are all wired so that the end output is still 12 volts then he can hook to one and charge them all! If they are wired to make more than 12 volts then I think he will have to keep doing it one at a time. but im not 100% sure on that one!

 

If the batt's are all wired in series, like you say, it should be alright. If batteries are wired in series (neg from one batt to pos on next batt) it stacks the voltage, thus 2 x 12v= 24v, etc. If batteries are wired in paralell (all pos tied together and all neg tied together) it stacks the current generating ability of the batt, so 2 x 350 amps= 700 amps, but it stays at a 12v power source.

 

I'm thinking the main concern is you need to check on the pallet truck batteries and make sure they are Lead-Acid, like a car batt, and make sure that they don't have any special current draws. If the charger will supply 100 amps at charging, and a car batt is only supposed to take 15, you might get into a thermal runaway situation, in which the battery becomes a hotplate full of acid....

 

Are the batteries being charged with the cars Alternator when it's running?
Do a google on Taylor-Dunn carts,I think theres some wiring info there.
I have a well maintaned golf cart at work with 6,,,6 volt batts,& its a 36V motor.It has a built-in 36V charger,but I'm trying to figure a way to run an Alternator off of a 12V source so it 'trickles' while driving it & just to see if it works/helps a little.If not,who cares.

WEAR SAFTEY GLASSES while you & the boy are playing with it,& good luck.