I have posted many battery charger circuits in this site, some are easy to build but less efficient,

while some are too sophisticated involving complex construction steps. The one posted here is possibly the easiset with its concept and also is extremely easy to build. In fact if you had all the required material you would build it within 15 minutes of time. The concept is indeed hugely simple and therefore pretty crude with its going. This means that though this idea is too simple, would require appropriate monitoring of the charging conditions of the battery, so that it does not get over charged or damaged. To make this simplest battery charger circuit quickly, you would require the following bill of materials:

One rectifier diode, 1N5402

An incandescent bulb, having voltage rating equal to the battery which needs to be charged and current rating close to 1/10th of the battery AH.

A transformer having voltage rating equal to twice that of the battery voltage and current twice the charging rate of the battery. That means if the battery is 12V, the transformer should be 24V, and if the AH of the battery is 7.5 then dividing this by 10 gives 750mA which becomes the recommended charging rate of the battery, multiplying this by 2 gives 1.5Amps, so this becomes the required current rating of the transformer.

After you have collected all the above material, you may simply connect the above parameters together with the help of the diagram. The functioning of the circuit may be explained in the following manner: When the power is switched ON, the 1N5402 diode rectifies the 24V DC to produce half wave 24V DC at the output. Though the RMS value of this voltage may appear to be 12V, the peak voltage is still 24V, therefore it cannot be applied directly to the battery. To blunt of this peak value, we introduce a bulb in series with the circuit. The bulb absorbs the high peak values of the voltage and provides a relatively controlled output to the battery, which becomes self regulatory through the glow of the filament intensity of

the bulb (varying resistance). The voltage and current thus automatically becomes adjusted to appropriate charging levels which becomes just suitable for the battery safe charging. The charging of the battery can be witnessed by the gradual dimming of the bulb as the threshold charging voltage of the battery is reached. However once the battery voltage reaches close to 14.5V, the charging must be stopped, irrespective of the bulb glow condition.

Step 1: The circuit and what you need

The circuit is very simple. I used a piece of plywood for a base. I already had a double pole toggle switch. I used a piece of scrap aluminum cabinet angle to mount the switch. Any piece of aluminum or steel could be bent to do the job. I used a 4 Amp. bridge rectifier from Radio Shack. I also got aligator clips already connected to a cord to connect to the auto battery. This was also from Radio Shack. The AC cord and plug came from a neighbor's discarded televison set that was put out on the curb on garbage day. You will need some screws, soldering iron, and a hot glue gun.

Step 2: Mount the transformer and attach the line cord

Use screws to mount the transformer on the plywood base. Solder the ends of the power cord to the primary terminals of the transformer. I used a hot glue gun to cover the solder joints in order to protect against electrical shock. Hot glue is great for this. Be patient and let the first layer of glue harden so you can build the glue up for adequate protection. From the photo you can see the details of the strain relief I made to hold the cord in place.

Step 3: Mount the switch and wire it.

Use the circuit diagram to wire the transformer secondary terminals to the switch. The aluminum angle is held to the base with screws. Label the switch positions for 6 and 12 volts.

Step 4: Wire the rectifier.

Of course you can use individual diodes to make a bridge rectifier. I found it easier to get a rectifier ready to use. I bent the input (AC) leads in one direction and the output (DC) leads in the other direction. This made a convenient base or support for the rectifier. It is a good idea to use a heat sink when soldering diodes to protect them from too much heat. Put a rubber band on the handles of a needle nose plier and clamp the plier jaws on the lead you want to solder. Watch the output polarity so the + terminal on the rectifier connects to the wire for the red aligator clip. I simply glued the bridge rectifier to the plywood with hot glue. Notice the strain relief for the output cord. To use: Select 6 or 12 volts with the switch. Connect the red aligator clip to the red battery terminal and the black to the black. Set the base of the charger someplace safe. Plug in the AC cord. Disconnect the AC cord after 12 or more hours. Then disconnect the aligator clips from the battery. This prevents sparking that could possibly ignite hydrogen gas from the charging. I have also used this charger as a power supply for things like a hot wire cutter. A smoothing capacitor is not necessary because batteries charge better with slightly choppy current.