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English to French translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Electronics / Elect Eng / inverter/charger
English term or phrase:tops off the tanks
hello,
can someone help me what this sentence could mean exactly?
"It is a constant-voltage stage.
Current varies as needed to maintain the voltage, but will typically decrease to a very low number over time.
This “tops off the tank”, leaving the batteries at essentially 100% of capacity."
Explanation: The English is slightly odd, I'd more usually expect to find 'top up the tank' for what they are obviously talking about here — and also, using 'tanks' in the plural is slightly odd too; in some cases, it works just fine, but I can't explain quite why it just feels odd to me here.
Anyway, it's clear they are using a metaphor along the lines of 'keeping your fuel tank fully topped up at all times', and as such, I think my suggestion ought to be along the right lines — though I can't help feeling that when talking specifically about fuel tanks, we'd more likely say « faire le plein » — at least, that's what my car advises me to do when the fuel is getting low! Just as it is also constantly advising me to « faire l'appoint de l'eau de lave-glace » ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 mins (2011-12-22 22:42:19 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Just realized the non-logic of my suggestion: I don't think you can « faire l'appoint » « du réservoir » — you can of course only « faire l'appoint » of what is in the tank!
« garder le réservoir toujours plein » is probably the idea at least you want to be trying to convey.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 22 mins (2011-12-22 22:43:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The EN is obviously dodgy, as I notice the current is going to "decrease to a very low number" — they do of course mean a 'low value'!
...even from this short extract that you have got a text here written by a non-native EN speaker, or perhaps translated from some other language — do you know the source country / language for this document / equipment? That might almost certainly help to resolve at least some of the doubts ;-)
thank you for your help. I'm just disturbed by the english terms used in the whole text. There are some acronyms and terms never used elsewhere. That makes the translation difficult in some cases. Thanks again for helping
I believe this question should be in a more general category as it does not purport specifically to Electrical Eng.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
19 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
top off the tank
faire l'appoint du réservoir
Explanation: The English is slightly odd, I'd more usually expect to find 'top up the tank' for what they are obviously talking about here — and also, using 'tanks' in the plural is slightly odd too; in some cases, it works just fine, but I can't explain quite why it just feels odd to me here.
Anyway, it's clear they are using a metaphor along the lines of 'keeping your fuel tank fully topped up at all times', and as such, I think my suggestion ought to be along the right lines — though I can't help feeling that when talking specifically about fuel tanks, we'd more likely say « faire le plein » — at least, that's what my car advises me to do when the fuel is getting low! Just as it is also constantly advising me to « faire l'appoint de l'eau de lave-glace » ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 mins (2011-12-22 22:42:19 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Just realized the non-logic of my suggestion: I don't think you can « faire l'appoint » « du réservoir » — you can of course only « faire l'appoint » of what is in the tank!
« garder le réservoir toujours plein » is probably the idea at least you want to be trying to convey.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 22 mins (2011-12-22 22:43:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The EN is obviously dodgy, as I notice the current is going to "decrease to a very low number" — they do of course mean a 'low value'!
Tony M France Local time: 08:57 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 962
Grading comment
Many thanks for all the explanations !
3 hrs confidence:
fait le plein
Explanation: ou "remplit le réservoir"
Une alternative à la solution propsée par Tony M.
Nicolas Roussel Local time: 14:57 Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 4
Explanation: système de charge UiOi qui empêche l'auto-décharge des batteries en maintenant un courant de charge en fonction de la tension mesurée électroniquement.
Il faut éviter le terme "recharge à fond" car cela peut laisser croire que la recharge ne démarre qu'une fois la batterie presque vide, or ce sont les variation importantes de la courbe d'état de charge des batteries qui détériorent celles-ci.
Antoine Dequidt Local time: 08:57 Specializes in field Native speaker of: French
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
