recharge versus speed

[GoldenRivet]

The way I understand it, the diesels on the surface recharge the batteries... or at least one of them does.

so here is a question for those who might know.

would the rate of recharge vary with engine speed?

for example. if you were on the surface running at ahead flank would it stand to reason that your batteries would recharge faster than if you were ahead slow?

i dont think it makes a difference in the game, but what about in real life?

[magicsub]

yes, i do believe it did...........

[Sailor Steve]

The engine being used for recharging always runs at flank speed for just that reason, even if the other one is driving the boat at ahead slow.

Or so I've been told.

[GoldenRivet]

The engine being used for recharging always runs at flank speed for just that reason, even if the other one is driving the boat at ahead slow.

Or so I've been told.

interesting... thanks!

[Jimbuna]

Not so sure about it being 'flank', but could be wrong. I'd have thought at a medium to high though :hmm:

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/4804/gwx21orbwolveskx5.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[Frank0001]

That's interesting indeed. Something strange is, my batteries have actually been recharged without my diesels running. The batteries wouldn't have been very empty, but when I surfaced, I got the 'batteries 100% recharged' message, even without moving!

[bert8for3]

I think if you've put a negligible drain on the batteries, on surfacing it will almost immediately kick them to full charge and give you the fully-charged message.

[Catfish]

Hello,
with increasing rpm of the Diesel, and thus the generators, loading will be faster, ok.
But there is a small mistake in SH3 right from the beginning - in a real german U-boat you would not have to stop one propellor to charge the batteries. This is completely different to the US approach used in their submarines.

The power line in a U-boat was Diesel - propshaft - propellor.
The electric engines sit "in the middle", at the propshafts. If you use the electric engines, the Diesel(s) is/are unclutched, and the Electric engines are clutched (or coupled ?) to the propshaft.

When the boat surfaces, and wants to charge the batteries, the Diesel is clutched to the propshaft. The electric engines are still clutched to the propshaft, but now electrically switched to charge the batteries - the electric engines serve as dynamoes.

So a U-boat would run at flank with both propellors turning, and still charging the batteries - however flank speed of say 18-19 knots was reduced to 15/16 by the effort to turn the dynamoes. As soon as the batteries were completely charged, the dynamoes would be unclutched, allowing the propshaft to turn freely again.

A third combination would be to couple the electric engines on the propshafts and add their power to the Diesels. It drained the batteries quite quickly, but the speed was appx. 20 knots depending on the boat, if only for a short time.

Greetings,
Catfish

[danoh]

Is it possible to turn the recharge off if you want more speed on the surface instead of slowing down to recharge?

[Tango589]

It is indeed. IIRC you click on the chief engineer icon, click on the propulsion icon and you get the choice come up of ordinary running, recharging, silent running and secure from silent running. Then click on what you want.

[Brag]

In SH3 the batteries will recharge even with the diesels nor running.