Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes

   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #1  
rbstern

rbstern

Platinum Member
Joined
May 23, 2011
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755
Location
GA
Tractor
LS MT225E, Yanmar 2210
Anybody have a Noco Genius, CTEK, or similar charger with a battery reconditioning mode?

Between tractor, boat, ATVs, lawn equipment, vehicles, I get fed up with short lifespan batteries. A one year old battery out of one of my ATVs is already acting like it doesn't want to take a charge, after having had reasonable care.

Wondering if I should invest in a smart charger with a repair/desulphination mode.

Anyone had good luck getting some questionable batteries back in good working shape with these types of chargers?
 
   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #2  
With a wide range of old (not serviceable) batteries, I was able to see about a 10-13% improvement by using various desulphation methods. My conclusion at the time was that once trashed, they can't be returned to any real service. For an abused battery that is not quite ruined, best bet would be either long term float charging once fully charged (sealed battery) or an equalizing charge on a standard lead acid battery.
I do believe desulphating chargers prolong a battery's service life, and may improve a questionable battery.
 
   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #3  
I am a big fan of BatteryMinders (I have 3)- they have a desulphating frequency that works full time. I also have 3 noco genius chargers. From reading the instruction manual, Its my understanding that the Noco chargers use a voltage pulse for desulphating but only early in the charge cycle. I don't believe that it continues to desulphate once the battery is topped off. I can actually hear a relay click and see the voltage pulse with my multimeter- but again, that is only early in the charge cycle. I think anything that keeps a battery topped off will prolong life, but I have had a few batteries that seem to perform better after a few months on the Batteryminders.

I have a remote pasture and use a couple of 12 volt fencers- Im constantly rotating/recharging those batteries with my battery minders.

I have an experiment in progress now with a UTV battery that was so old it could barely turn ove the UTV engine. I have had my battery minder on it for about 1 month. In another month or so I'll put it back in the same UTV and see how it cranks...
 
   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #4  
I have a Ctek, and an older VDC (one of the first to de-sulphate).

I'd say they are best at extending the life of already healthy batteries. Don't buy one thinking they are a fast/guaranteed repair for heavily sulphated batteries - you may get some improvement, but there are a lot of variables.

OP shouldn't have the kind of problems we do up here with batteries freezing, but depth-of-discharge is a big deal anywhere. Powersport batteries are very tiny, even running a radio for a couple of hours is a significant load for them.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #5  
I service a small fleet of seasonal use machines with batteries. Like you, seems we weren't getting very many years out of there batteries before they failed and someone told us about these chargers that have a desulphating mode. In doing research, I leaned that Schumacher chargers have this mode in all of there electronic style models and after the battery is full, it goes through that cycle.. I now have three changers made by Schumacher and we've seen a marked increase of battery life spans.

rbstern said:
Anybody have a Noco Genius, CTEK, or similar charger with a battery reconditioning mode?

Between tractor, boat, ATVs, lawn equipment, vehicles, I get fed up with short lifespan batteries. A one year old battery out of one of my ATVs is already acting like it doesn't want to take a charge, after having had reasonable care.

Wondering if I should invest in a smart charger with a repair/desulphination mode.

Anyone had good luck getting some questionable batteries back in good working shape with these types of chargers?
Click to expand...
 
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   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes
  • Thread Starter
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   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #9  
rbstern said:
Anybody have a Noco Genius, CTEK, or similar charger with a battery reconditioning mode?

Between tractor, boat, ATVs, lawn equipment, vehicles, I get fed up with short lifespan batteries. A one year old battery out of one of my ATVs is already acting like it doesn't want to take a charge, after having had reasonable care.

Wondering if I should invest in a smart charger with a repair/desulphination mode.

Anyone had good luck getting some questionable batteries back in good working shape with these types of chargers?
Click to expand...

I have a bunch of battery chargers but non are better than the Optimate series. Amazon.com: OptiMATE 6 Ampmatic, TM-181, 9-step 12V 5A Battery Saving charger-tester-maintainer: Automotive
 
   / Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes #10  
I've also had good luck with BatteryMinder charger/maintainers (BTW, VDC Electronics IS BatteryMinder). I bought a specialized one to maintain a 24V aircraft battery based on an in-depth review in an aviation magazine (those batteries cost hundreds of $ to replace). It worked well enough that I bought several of the other BatteryMinder products for other vehicles. I have a couple of the model 1500/1510 (which are electrically identical, just a different warranty and different included accessories), a 12117 (predecessor to the 1500: works well, but the 1500 is definitely a step up), and a model 12248 (this model has been discontinued, replaced with the 128CEC1).

Note that the recommended charging and float voltages vary depending on temperature. All of the current BatteryMinder chargers are temperature compensated (some measure ambient temperature, some measure temp at the battery). Also, the charging and float voltages vary slightly with the type of battery: Gel batteries are the lowest; then flooded lead acid, sealed and Optima brand AGM batteries; thigh highest voltage are the other AGM Batteries (other than Optima). The differences may seem small (something like 1/2 volt between battery types), but you get better results if you match the battery to the proper charging profile. This is one of the reasons I opted for the Optima battery replacement for my tractor: since it charges at the "normal" flooded lead-acid profile, I can use any of my charger/maintainers on it. The BatteryMinder 12248 and the newer 128CEC1 have user selectable charging profiles.
 
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