by Woody » Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:18 pm
It is a design function of the output side of the charging unit itself to the battery. If it were a 1.5 amp trickle charger, it might be less, and you are pulling more amps than that the charger could produce it would never charge the battery due to the deficit. It would constantly be charging the battery due it sensing the drop in power. It would in turn never shut down until it overheated and with time that would cause the charger unit to breakdown and be useless. Just remember it is designed as a charger for maintaining battery in a charged state for periodic use not for continious use as a primary or secondary power supply. The battery in this case is the primary power supplier. The cigarette lighter charging is done at alot higher amp rate than the built in charger probally is capable of, that is why it takes 3 hours. The main advantage of slow rate chargers is the increase longevity of the battery for maintaining them in a near/fully charged rate. Hope this helps without getting to technical.