free battery recharging

prowla

1. The energy used to charge the batteries comes from the vehicle's engine, powered by its fuel.
2. The power is paid for by the company, so it is technically stealing.
3. It would probably impossible to measure the amount of energy actually used, so who cares?

DREA_2

dri wrote: »

Its free 2 me guys and considering that I havent had a proper wage rise in years and our overtime rates have been slashed this nominal expense is easily affordable 2 my employer who is literally making thosands of pounds a year from my hard work!!!!!!

Go self employed earn thousands of pounds a year and Pay to charge your own batteries

esuhl

dri wrote: »

The charger... charges at a rate of 150mamps...

This (completely unverified) link suggests that alternators are 60% efficient and this (similarly unverified) link says car engines might only be 25% efficient, whilst this (also unverified) link says that a litre of diesel contains 10.9kWh of energy.

If diesel is 140.9p/litre, then 1kWh costs 12.93p, but the alternator and engine have efficiencies of 60% and 25% respectively (15% overall), so effectively the output electrical energy from diesel costs 86.2p/kWh.

A 150mA device uses 34.5W, which would cost 2.97p per hour or 23.76p per 8-hour working day. It should take 13.33 hours to recharge a 2000mAh battery, so that's 39.65p to completely re-charge it.

That's a very rough stab in the dark, anyway!

chrisw wrote: »

I always charge my phone at work for this very reason.

That's easier to work out. With mains electricity at, say 15p/kWh, a charger like mine (150mA), and a phone that takes an hour to recharge... you've saved 0.5p. :money:

Kernel_Sanders

dri wrote: »

Its free 2 me guys and considering that I havent had a proper wage rise in years and our overtime rates have been slashed this nominal expense is easily affordable 2 my employer who is literally making thosands of pounds a year from my hard work!!!!!!

Are you working for free, or are you too literally making thousands of pounds a year from his business?

Norman_Castle

A 150mA device uses 34.5W

My 4 AA charger uses about 5 Watts. Charging batteries costs less than 1/2p.
OP, if you buy an inverter you could run an electric oven and bake cakes to sell at truck stops. Nice earner.

Gratis

It could perhaps be argued that if the OP only charged his small batteries when his truck is going downhill, the fuel cost arising from doing it would be outweighed by the saving in brake pads arising from engine braking being enhanced by the additional drag of the alternator having to recharge the truck's battery to power his small battery charger?

Please do not argue with hammyman. He has invented a perpetual motion machine and will be displaying it on Dragon's Den just as soon as he can work out a way to get a truck up their spiral staircase.


esuhl,

I so love your posts!

Ebe_Scrooge

Doh, how many times does this old chestnut rear it's head ?

In a nutshell, ANYTHING that draws a current will increase fuel consumption - the same as the argument about using air-con. The electricity is ( indirectly ) generated by burning fuel. So having lights switched on, the radio, the window demister, the heater fan, the interior lights ..... they'll all increase fuel consumption.

In PRACTICAL terms most of these won't make a measurable difference, but even though it's too small to be measured or to be of real importance, fuel WILL be used to generate the electricity.

John_Gray

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Doh, how many times does this old chestnut rear its head? In a nutshell...

That would be a chestnut-shell, I presume!

It is a bit similar to the question about the refrigerator working in a sealed and well-insulated room. What happens to the room temperature if the fridge door is opened and left open?

Hammyman

fwor wrote: »

Just because you type in capitals doesn't make you right.

IT IS NOT FREE. There will be a cost, though that cost may be small compared to other costs (involved in running a van/truck).

Good luck measuring the cost in fuel of a 150mA load.

Hammyman

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

In PRACTICAL terms most of these won't make a measurable difference, but even though it's too small to be measured or to be of real importance, fuel WILL be used to generate the electricity.

Nobody said that no fuel would be used. I was saying that compared to what it is being driven by, the cost of fuel for the additional 150mA load on the alternator will be immeasurable.

You will not be able to say that any difference in fuel use over even 10 years was down to a 150mA load or not.