Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
tops off the tanks
French translation:
faire l'appoint du réservoir
English term
Netherlands
Translation is not a matter of words...
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English, French, and 1 more.
tops off the tanks
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."
many thanks in advance for helping
| 3 +2 | faire l'appoint du réservoir |
Tony M
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| 5 | maintient les batteries à pleine charge |
Antoine Dequidt
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| 4 | fait le plein |
Nicolas Roussel
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| 3 | Ceci les recharge 'à fond' |
JH Trads
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Jan 1, 2012 16:27: Tony M Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (1): Nicolas Roussel
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Proposed translations
faire l'appoint du réservoir
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 » ...
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Note added at 21 mins (2011-12-22 22:42:19 GMT)
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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.
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Note added at 22 mins (2011-12-22 22:43:28 GMT)
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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'!
| agree |
FX Fraipont (X)
7 hrs
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Merci, F-X !
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| agree |
enrico paoletti
18 hrs
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Grazie, Enrico!
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Philippines
English to French Technical Translation
Native in: French (Variants: Standard-France, Canadian) 
Works in: English to French
fait le plein
Une alternative à la solution propsée par Tony M.
Ceci les recharge 'à fond'
another image to explore 'à ras-bord'
| neutral |
Tony M
: I think this slightly misses the point: the idea is that of 'keeping them topped up' using a trickle charge, which seems to me at odds with this sort of expression?
3 hrs
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France
ACSERV SAS - Les Ingénieurs du Verbe®
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French
maintient les batteries à pleine charge
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.
| neutral |
Tony M
: But it's obvious the writer wanted to use a metaphor as an illustration, whereas this simply restates it literally; in that case, simply leave it out!
1 hr
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Discussion