6v/24v deep cycle battery tender

   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender #1  
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fatjay

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Feb 12, 2015
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Eastern PA
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I just brought home my lift and it has 4 6v deep cycle batteries in series, bumping it up to 24v. It has a built in charger, but it's a dumb charger with a dial similar to a kitchen timer, you turn it, it ticks down until ding, it's done. There's no indicators that tell me what the voltage is. It's 40 years old so this doesn't surprise me, but cooking or running down batteries to far would be an $800 mistake so I'd like to avoid that.

With current technologies in battery tenders, I feel like I should be able to just plug it in when not in use and it would keep the batteries topped up, as well as if it's not in use for an extended period, it would save the batteries from discharging over time and going dead. But I dont' know if deep cycle batteries are different from conventional batteries as far as chargers/maintainers go.

I found this charger and one of the reviews specifically references he uses it for a man-lift batteries. But another says it cooked his batteries. Anyone have any experience with something I can permanently install into the machine that would keep the batteries topped up?
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender #2  
fatjay said:
I just brought home my lift and it has 4 6v deep cycle batteries in series, bumping it up to 24v. It has a built in charger, but it's a dumb charger with a dial similar to a kitchen timer, you turn it, it ticks down until ding, it's done. There's no indicators that tell me what the voltage is. It's 40 years old so this doesn't surprise me, but cooking or running down batteries to far would be an $800 mistake so I'd like to avoid that.

With current technologies in battery tenders, I feel like I should be able to just plug it in when not in use and it would keep the batteries topped up, as well as if it's not in use for an extended period, it would save the batteries from discharging over time and going dead. But I dont' know if deep cycle batteries are different from conventional batteries as far as chargers/maintainers go.

I found this charger and one of the reviews specifically references he uses it for a man-lift batteries. But another says it cooked his batteries. Anyone have any experience with something I can permanently install into the machine that would keep the batteries topped up?
Click to expand...

Not certain how your 4X battery bank is arranged. Is it possible to put 2X 6VDC = 12VDC to charge a pair and likewise the other pair?

I've messed around with 3 brands from the mere trickle charging and battery maintainers.

Schumacher was so-so at best. Even though it was a smart charger, it failed multiple times to regenerate batteries back to life. The brand is really good at maintaining or jump starting.

I have an old Sears Diehard charger with it's heavy built in transformer. It works like a dream, but no smarts, thus one has to read the analog meter and look at the clock, much like your kitchen timer and DING.

During 2020 chargers jumped up in price in a HUGE way and many model offerings became discontinued.
The CEN-TECH store band at H-F is a bit less desired than the Schumacher. BUT, they offer another brand that works SUPER well and have revived 6 of my batteries with it's smart charging. This is the Viking brand. I've been mostly impressed with this box.
2/8/15 Amp Automatic Microprocessor Controlled Battery Charger
2A, 8A, 15A. 6V or 12V.

Best of all, the Viking charges AGM, Deep Cycle and standard auto batteries. I've used all 3 on the farm with good success.

When the Viking is busy, I do pull out the Schumacher in a pinch. The Sears unit still works, passed down in the family, so one just can't toss Grandpa's charger away that easy. It does make the garage power meter spin faster too!
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I have an optima digital 400 tender on my truck which has worked great, but they only offer it in a 12v version. I need 24v though. The batteries are good, I don't need it to bring them back from dead. I just need it to charge and top them off when they're low and maintain the voltage when the machine isn't in use for longer periods of time.

There's a ton in the 12v variety, and for normal batteries, but 24v and deep cycle is kind of hard to find. I'm willing to pay for a quality product considering I've had bad tenders that cooked batteries or failed to maintain them properly, and replacing batteries is not cheap.
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender #4  
fatjay said:
I have an optima digital 400 tender on my truck which has worked great, but they only offer it in a 12v version. I need 24v though. The batteries are good, I don't need it to bring them back from dead. I just need it to charge and top them off when they're low and maintain the voltage when the machine isn't in use for longer periods of time.

There's a ton in the 12v variety, and for normal batteries, but 24v and deep cycle is kind of hard to find. I'm willing to pay for a quality product considering I've had bad tenders that cooked batteries or failed to maintain them properly, and replacing batteries is not cheap.
Click to expand...
I have a 48v smart trickler for winter storage of my golf cart.
Surely there must be something available in 24v as well.
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I have come across the battery tender™ one as well as these:

Amazon.com: NOCO Genius GX2440 24-Volt 40 Amp Smart Onboard Battery Charger And Battery Maintainer For Golf Carts, Pallet Jacks, Floor Scrubbers, Scissor Lifts, And Industrial Equipment, Multi, One Size: Automotive

Buy NOCO Genius GX2440 24-Volt 40 Amp Smart Onboard Battery Charger And Battery Maintainer For Golf Carts, Pallet Jacks, Floor Scrubbers, Scissor Lifts, And Industrial Equipment, Multi, One Size: Battery Chargers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Schumacher INC-2405 5 Amp Automatic Microprocessor Charger : Automotive

Buy Schumacher INC-2405 5 Amp Automatic Microprocessor Charger: Battery Chargers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com

I have schumacher tenders for 12v systems and had good experience with that. But a buddy recommended the NOCO that he has for his camper. At least I have some options now, I spent the morning googling and researching and it was coming really slow so I was not confident.
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender #8  
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Yes, 2.5a would take a bit of a long while to charge a bank of 4 batteries, especially deep cycle. Even at 5a, if I used them up during the day, I couldn't put it on the charger and wait until tomorrow, it would be closer to next week. More and more I look at it, the noco with 40a charging is appealing.

Correct me if my math is wrong. 6v 225ah x4 is 6v 900ah in parrallel but in series it's 24v 225ah, if the charger was 2.5a 24v that's 90 hours to charge, at 5a it's 45 hours to charge, at 40a it's 5.6 hours to charge. I wouldn't want to completely deplete them completely, but with a smaller charger, I probably wouldn't really wouldn't be able to use it on consecutive days.
 
   / 6v/24v deep cycle battery tender #10  
fatjay said:
Yes, 2.5a would take a bit of a long while to charge a bank of 4 batteries, especially deep cycle. Even at 5a, if I used them up during the day, I couldn't put it on the charger and wait until tomorrow, it would be closer to next week. More and more I look at it, the noco with 40a charging is appealing.

Correct me if my math is wrong. 6v 225ah x4 is 6v 900ah in parrallel but in series it's 24v 225ah, if the charger was 2.5a 24v that's 90 hours to charge, at 5a it's 45 hours to charge, at 40a it's 5.6 hours to charge. I wouldn't want to completely deplete them completely, but with a smaller charger, I probably wouldn't really wouldn't be able to use it on consecutive days.
Click to expand...

So really the conclusion would be, charge each battery as an individual or in pairs to keep topped up.

Higher Amps that can and will generate heat in the battery cells, thus killing the longevity life of the batteries.

The higher the Amps, the faster for a quick charge like a near jump start for on demand use.

Is it possible to replace the bank of 4X 6VDC batteries with 2X 12VDC batteries. It would make for an easier solution.

For my solar panels, I have 4X 12VDC batteries. The panels put out 24VDC. Path A+C = 12VDC and path A+B = 12VDC. However, C+B = 24VDC.

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