Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes

[jthibodeau89]

I have the 2A Battery Minder with temp comp. Used it to recover a dead deep cycle on my dump trailer that i killed (long story). Now trying to fix a neighbor's deep cycle used for a fence pulser. (I'm tired of her cows pushing through my vinyl rail fence. Had her put up a hot wire, but can't seem to keep wire hot) Anyhow checked pulser yesterday and her DC battery was dead. Put on my recovered DC battery and put hers on the conditioner yesterday morning. The 8A HF Viking just keep faulting. Found 2 cells dry. Refilled low cells and will check after a week on the BM. Was up to 3/4 charged on BM at 3PM, but dropped back to 1/2 charge indication after a 2hr power outage yesterday afternoon.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm still working on the battery in question...

It sure does get very warm being on the charger for days on end.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I'm still working on the battery in question...

It sure does get very warm being on the charger for days on end.

In my experience that often indicates a battery that has bite the dust but have had some hold a usable charge. Keep us updated please.

 

[ultrarunner]

Probably swing by this afternoon to check...

The first 3 days it never advanced... last time I check the half way icon was illuminated.

On a separate note... I surly do love my Old Fashioned Load Tester... it provides verification of my suspicions...

 

[CADplans]

I'm still working on the battery in question...

It sure does get very warm being on the charger for days on end.

ultrarunner,, will you please verify this is the charger that you are using??

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMinde...ulfator-Motorcycles-Snowmobiles/dp/B01D3SWXUA

Is $161 a good price?? :confused2:

Too many choices!!


:laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

ultrarunner,, will you please verify this is the charger that you are using??

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMinde...ulfator-Motorcycles-Snowmobiles/dp/B01D3SWXUA

Is $161 a good price?? :confused2:

Too many choices!!


:laughing:

Yes... this is the same charger 128CEC1

At the time I paid $149.95 from batterymart.com and it came with a "Bonus" gift $5 analog pocket volt-ohm meter and no charge shipping but it did take a full 11 days to arrive.

Just checked and didn't see any promos you could use... there was one last week with a free LED pocket flashlight.

 

[John_Mc]

ultrarunner,, will you please verify this is the charger that you are using??

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMinde...ulfator-Motorcycles-Snowmobiles/dp/B01D3SWXUA

Is $161 a good price?? :confused2:

That link is showing me $159.99 with free shipping. That's about as good a price as I've seen on them. Northern Tool also sells them - for the same price & with free shipping if you are an Advantage member. They do occasionally run store-wide sales where you get a free $20 gift certificate on orders over $100, but that's not running now.

 

[ultrarunner]

I ordered mine on January 21, 2019.

Since then several coupons for discounts have popped up but no promo right now.

Battery is better but I'm doubtful it can be recovered... put the old load tester on it this afternoon and the needle did a slow swan dive to zero... indicating little capacity.

Will give it another week.

A good batter will drop some and stay rock steady for the entire test.

 

[John_Mc]

I have the 2A Battery Minder with temp comp. Used it to recover a dead deep cycle on my dump trailer that i killed (long story). Now trying to fix a neighbor's deep cycle used for a fence pulser. (I'm tired of her cows pushing through my vinyl rail fence. Had her put up a hot wire, but can't seem to keep wire hot) Anyhow checked pulser yesterday and her DC battery was dead. Put on my recovered DC battery and put hers on the conditioner yesterday morning. The 8A HF Viking just keep faulting. Found 2 cells dry. Refilled low cells and will check after a week on the BM. Was up to 3/4 charged on BM at 3PM, but dropped back to 1/2 charge indication after a 2hr power outage yesterday afternoon.

That sure sounds like a shorted cell in the battery. If that's the case, recovery probably will not be successful. I had that problem on a deep cycle used on my pop-up camper. I could get it up to 12+ volts on the charger, but unhook it overnight and it would read around 10V in the morning, and it would flunk the load test even if it had just been removed from the charger. Left it hooked up for 2 or 3 weeks and had the same results. Eventually I gave up on it.

If your neighbor has no power at her electric fence, she should consider a solar charger for it. The best way to prolong the lift of these batteries is to not let them get deeply discharged in the first place, and if they do, charge them back up as soon as possible (and yes, this is true of "Deep Cycle" batteries as well - they are not immune, they can just take more cycling before they wear out). BatteryMinder makes some good Solar chargers as well, however, they are not cheap. Some of the cheap solar chargers (just like some of the cheap grid-powered battery chargers) will toast your battery since they don't have the proper charging profiles: leaving them hooked up continuously eventually boils off the electrolyte.

 

[jthibodeau89]

This battery may have been boiled as other fence segments around her leased property have solar chargers. Battery finally shows full charge, but i have no way to load test. Will swap batteries this evening after work and watch pulser.

If i decide to fence a small paddock for our dogs that is near this fence row, I'll just daisy chain onto the dog's hot tape fence. The fence row along this property line is rough, but i don't have livestock. She started leasing the adjoining property in 2016, and we've had to occassionally call about cows on our property ever since.