Zivan charger is in

After a lot of research and a few phone calls, I changed my original plans to use a Manzanita Micro PFC-20 charger and ordered a Zivan NG3. In the picture you see the NG3 beside the cardboard mock up that my daughter and I made. The Zivan is smaller, lighter and cheaper, but only works on one voltage – in my case 220VAC is what Zivan recommended. I still want to have 110vac charging available for “opportunity charging” (in a parking garage or friend’s house) and am told another small charger that is compatible with the Zivan is on the horizon.

The reason I didn’t go with the PFC-20 had nothing to do with the charger itself, but with the battery regulators. Manzanita Micro use to make something called Rudman Regulators they insured that the battery charges were in balance across the pack. Batteries each are a little different chemically and when charged in a string they can be undercharged or overcharged, reducing performance and their life span. A regulator will sit on top of each battery and make sure it doesn’t get overcharged and by doing this, insures other batteries don’t get undercharged. I’m a believer in battery regulation but the Rudman Regulators are no longer available. I tried to find something else, like PowerCheq, but they won’t work with 13 battery strings or with racks that a separated by more than a few feet. I did find a company in Austin making a nice regulator called a BEQ1, but it is designed to work with the Zivan. So there I am.

I’ll be building a bracket to place the Zivan above the nose rack in the near future.