Battery Charger

vongiese · Jan 10, 2006

My Battery charger seems to be on the fritz - it's an older 10amp that seems to kick off via it's built in circut breaker on the last 3-4 batteries I've charged. one was completely dead and another was close so I thought that was the cause. But it just did it on my tractor battery and it was just about 11v when I went to charge it....
Any recommendations on a good replacement charger?
thanks

Soundguy · Jan 10, 2006

You don't happen to have an inline ammeter or clamp on job do you? See if the unit is having to charge at excessive current. Might be a weak CB...

I've bene using 3 chargers. a 1.5a 6v/12v napa, a 2/6a 6/12v napa, and a 2/10/50 12v napa. All work fine.. None are computerized.. the 2 larger ones have ammeter.. the smaller one has the cb.
Battery charger technology ranges from 'crude' to way hi-tech. I'm a fan of the crude ones.. usually just a transformer, and 2 or 4 diodes depending on how the transformer secondary is laid out, and gator clips.. Some of the big electronic ones get weird with low/dead batteries.. etc..

Chinese tool store usually has a ?/10/25 going for 25$... hard to beat that price.. even if it is the 'crude' version..

Soundguy

ejtaylor822 · Jan 10, 2006

I got a sweet deal on a Sears Diehard charger right after Christmas. Just checked and it's now $94 - a little bit pricey too me. I got mine for a little over $50 back in December when it was on sale.

Here's the link

It's totally automatic with 2 amp trickle, 15 amp charge and 100 amp jump. It brought an old battery I had that was almost dead to a full charge in a little over 2 hours.

My Dad has a similar one that he has had for years to keep the batteries in thier camper charged. He loves it and has never had any problems with it at all.

Good luck in your search. Know there is a lot of stuff out there.

Take care,
Eddie

George2615 · Jan 10, 2006

Most chargers like yours are not worth fixing. In this throw away society you can pick up 10/50 amp chargers at Walmart / TSC / Harbor Freight etc. at very reasonable prices. My last one I bought at Walmart. Its a garage type roll around model 2A/35A/200A and I paid about $80 - 90 for it. There are several models for less than that also.

George

vongiese · Jan 11, 2006

Inline ameter - yes, but your losing me on the clamp and CB - what are they? Thanks for the input - how come you prefer the old transformer type?? I thought everything computerized was better /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

vongiese · Jan 11, 2006

thanks for all the feedback guys - I'm checking those sites out now. Looks like the variable amperage would be nice....

Soundguy · Jan 11, 2006

( but your losing me on the clamp and CB - what are they )

Camp on.. it's an ammeter type.. it 'clamps on', instead of going inline... works on a difference principal.. but same results.. shows current flow...

CB = Circuit breaker....

( how come you prefer the old transformer type )

I think you will find that most/ all chargers are using transformers, and very few are using switching or triac'd supplies.

I simply prefer the plain old non computerized ones. Less to go wrong.. less to fix.. etc..

Soundguy

PILOON · Jan 12, 2006

Before you toss it, open it up.

Often the diodes are between 2 clips (meant to be replaceable, I guess) and I have twice resurected chargers by simply moving/jiggling the diodes in the sockets.

Seems that corrosion gets in and makes a bad contact.

Really simple devices.
A transformer 2 diodes and 2 clips.
All the rest is 'bells and whistles'

Generally I modify mine by simply adding a 12 volt 'witness light' across the output and a simple on/off switch on the power line.

Sure an ampmeter is nice but not really necessary, besides they are so cheap that I would doubt any accuracy.
Also generally a battery will only take what it needs and then 'taper off' to no charge situation except on big 'booster' type chargers that , in effect pump out the higher volts for 'quick charge/boost'.

The smaller 10-20 amp jobs are more or less self regulating and merely put out about 13.5-14 volts (just like the alternator)

Hope this helps.

vongiese · Jan 13, 2006

You think I have a bad CB? seems that the ammeter pegs out at the 15 amp mark for a few minutes then the CB kicks it off.... You think my CB is bad?
I;ve been reading about the newer smart chargers - 3 stage charging, de-sulfication option, automic shut-off, etc. Sounds ggod, but you think the simple old style is better?
thanks alot for your help and input.
mike

vongiese · Jan 13, 2006

I will try that out - as i mentioned in my reply to Soundguy - seems like it maxs out the ammeter then kicks off via CB.
Mine has a 6v - OFF -12v switch. You add an additional sut-off and an "on" indicator light?
sounds like you're a fan of the old style too.
thanks alot
mike

Soundguy · Jan 13, 2006

As another person mentioned.. those ammeter they use on bat chargers are not very accurate.. It would be nice if you had a seperate ammeter to verify that it was hitting 15a. Have you tried it on your car battery to see what it does there?

Soundguy

vongiese · Jan 14, 2006

took the cover off - only see a transformer ...

marks · Jan 14, 2006

I just purchased a Vector 2/6/10/35 12v automatic charger, that desulfates the as well - $65 including shipping at Amazon. This desulfating of the battery is an important, and often overlooked procedure, for maintaining its performance.

Hope this helps.

Bedlam · Jan 14, 2006

Could you explain de sulfating? Please. Im not framiliar with it. Thanks
AL

kozak · Jan 14, 2006

Bedlam,

Did'nt know what it was either so decided to investigate & found out the following.

If lead acid batteries are stored for a long peroid of time, lead sulphate will form on the negative plate of the cell. If batteries are stored in warm conditions (35 deg. C) sulphating can occur much quicker....3 to 4 months. Same thing can happen if a battery is left in a discharged state for a long period of time. The sulphate layer on the cell increases the internal resistance of the battery to an extent that it will no longer accept a charge. What some people do (& I guess in this case the charging equipment if it has this feature) to recover a badly sulphated battery is to apply a much higher voltage than normal charging voltage to increase current flow which will start to break down the sulphate layer. Caution needs to be exercised though because as the sulphate layer is broken down, current will start to increase very quickly.

Interesting eh !!

Vic

HomeBrew2 · Jan 14, 2006

Agree with "marks" and "kozak". Bought a "BatteryMINDer" and old batteries were brought back to life. Note: one old RV battery took 3 full months to desulfate (way beyond mfg recommendations and my expectations).
Cheers!

vongiese · Jan 15, 2006

That's what has me interested in these "smart" chargers - the fact that they use a 3 stage process to charge the battery by "reading" how the battery is taking the charge and adjusting so as to optimize the charge and the desulfication option which sounds good. But I've read a few bad reviews on these chargers (among many good reviews). Like Soundguy said - these new types have more that can go wrong with them....thus I'd loveto hear others opinions and experiences with these chargers.
I've been looking at a Vector 2/6/12 amp model that hasmany of these options. It's around $50 delivered from amazon.com.
mike

Sully2 · Jan 15, 2006

Voltage

Someone might find this handy to have

vongiese · Jan 15, 2006

I wiggled all the connectors and plugged it in and seems to be working normally. Most of the inside has a film on black stuff on it including the transformer....
But I'm still looking at a replacement....