Batteryminder 1500 Review

Billrog · Feb 9, 2018

If your charging 2 battery's on a machine it recommends you hook the + to the + on one battery and the - to the negative on the other battery in order to balance the charge. If doing it where there are no wires ( not on a machine)make up a jumper from + to - for the same reason.

Gregster613 · Feb 9, 2018

Hi Billrog, That's pretty much what I thought they meant. So if I want to charge the batteries in 2 separate machines (parked in the same garage) I need to jumper those two batteries together and place the charger on just one battery? I can do that but it's probably a lot easier to just charge them individually.
I've got it on my lawnmower tractor now - it;s my oldest battery and I wanted to see if it needed any desulfation action - that's why I was curious about the blue flashing light, if it was to stay flashing did that mean it is desulfating or just checking?
I wish the instruction manual would have gone a tad deeper into the desulfation descriptions or instructions. I've never had a smart charger before and don't quite understand how I'm supposed to know when/if it is doing what it is supposed to be doing.
Thanks for advising me as I sure don't want to screw up a new charger or an old battery! Greg

Ford850 · Feb 13, 2018

Gregster, I also remember reading how charging multiple batteries will require a longer time and I think it reduces the desulfating effectiveness. I do remember that it made more sense to charge them all separately to save time and to better identify an individual battery issue. But if you wanted to use the one charger to hold them in peak condition for months without moving the charger from battery to battery, then daisy chaining them made sense.

Billrog · Feb 13, 2018

Had the battery minder for or 10 years before I gave it a test that convinced me it actually worked. Bought a golf cart for my wife to drive around our property and the battery's were in bad shape. Checked with a hydrometer they were poor. After hooking them up ( 6 volt tied together for 12 volt) a week on each set and they registered good with the hydrometer. They are still going strong.

John_Mc · Feb 13, 2018

Billrog said:
If your charging 2 battery's on a machine it recommends you hook the + to the + on one battery and the - to the negative on the other battery in order to balance the charge. If doing it where there are no wires ( not on a machine)make up a jumper from + to - for the same reason.

The recommendation is to FULLY charge each battery individually FIRST. Once fully charged, you can hook them together in parallel (+ to +, - to -) or just use a Y adapter. The reason for charging first is that if they are in different states of charge and you hook them in parallel, current will flow from the battery with higher charge to that with the lower charge. Since there is likely very little resistance in the wires, it's possible to get very high current flow, this can be more than the light gauge wiring can handle - it can also be more than the batteries can handle. Matching the state of charge minimizes the risk of damaging something when they are hooked together.

Billrog · Feb 14, 2018

John makes a good point the battery's should matched of equal size .

John_Mc · Feb 14, 2018

Billrog said:
John makes a good point the battery's should matched of equal size .

Actually, per VDC (maker of BatteryMinder) tech support: they don't have to be equal size as long as they are both at the same state of charge (easiest way to assure this is to charge them both fully before connecting them together). What does matter is that they both be the same type: that is you can connect flooded lead acid to flooded lead acid, or gel to gel, or AGM to AGM, but do not mix types (no AGM in parallel with a flooded lead acid)

Gregster613 · Feb 14, 2018

Ford850, Billrog. John_Mc; You guys are full of info!! Thanks for all the ideas, comments, etc., etc.
Billrog, I also have a golf cart, but mine has 8 volt batteries. No way I can see using this charger on it. Darn. I do have the regular style charger and keep those "expensive" batteries juiced up at all times. Yet, they only last for 4 - 5 years and then need replacing. Probably because they desulphate and the reg charger has no means to combat that. Just a fact of owning a golf cart I guess.
Anyhow, my battery tender will be jumping around between my least often used rigs and doing its thing as best it can. I won't do the multiple batteries thing I read about in the manual as it seems just to cumbersome and time consuming. Just unplug and switch rigs and I'm done for a while. Thanks to all for the input! Greg

California · Feb 15, 2018

Gregster613 said:
... I also have a golf cart, but mine has 8 volt batteries. ... only last 4 - 5 years ... Probably because they desulphate and the reg charger has no means to combat that.

Here's a chart showing a Batteryminder version for 8 volt batteries, #12106A8V.
Car/ Truck / RV Battery Charger Comparison
There is also mention of that version in the instruction manual for Model 12117.

However - a Google search shows 12106A8V as 'out of stock' or 'discontinued' at the several vendors I found. Batteryminder no longer shows it on their website.

Ebay shows one sold recently in Completed Auctions. That's the only one I found anywhere.
1216A8V | eBay

JRobyn · Feb 16, 2018

Gregster, these guys (actually just *A* guy, best I can tell) make desulfators specifically designed for golf carts in various voltages. I use one of his 48 vdc (designed for 2 parallel 48 vdc banks) on my Ranger EV. The Ranger has 2 banks of 4 12 vdc batteries in series.

I can't really say for sure how, or even IF it's working, but I leave it on continuously and have had minimal battery issues. The EV charger stays on continuously too, whenever it's not in use.

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