Battery Chargers

[Mike0616]

Have had great luck using the STANLEY BC25BS charger. Does nearly everything at a reasonable cost (under 60$ or so.)

 

[grsthegreat]

My life did a right turn when I discovered NOCO brand "smart chargers" maybe 10 years ago. Old fashioned high power chargers ruined many batteries for me over the years and I just didn't realize how bad they were.

Now I use NOCO 3.5 and 5.0 amp smart chargers and refuse to let a big charger near any of my batteries. Now, instead of 5 years of battery life I can get 10-12 years by different charging and the things modern battery chargers do like de-sulfating old style batteries.

It helps that I keep my batteries up to charge, especially for cold weather. In late November or December, I make sure everything is fully charged and when I start things in March, no problems.

Old style high power battery chargers are the buggy whips of the last generations. They are dead but not everyone realizes it yet.

I like noco also, i mainly use the genius 10 for most everything. But i just recently purchased a genius 1 that im going to permanently install in the horse trailer battery box so i dont have to remove battery every winter. Will install in a few days.

 

[MRTOES]

I've had great luck with a BatteryMinder I saw recommended here, long ago. Earlier this year I replaced the batteries in two tractors. Each battery was dated 2011, so had 12+ plus years of intermittent use with one BatteryMinder swapped back and forth between them. This seems to show the 'high frequency desulfating' feature actually works.

One of those two batteries had several years use in wife's car before it cranked slow so I retired that battery to the tractor and got wife a new battery. A couple of months on the BatteryMinder restored it, then it served 5 years in its second life.

BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator, 12 Volt, 1 Amp, Model# 12117TC Now available only from Northern Tool (and NT via Ebay) for some reason. Likely superseded by something better?

What's a modern equivalent, or better? And costs less?

HF has stepped up quality in several categories, do they have an inexpensive good maintainer? I made the mistake of putting their cheap 1 amp trickle charger on a seldom-used tractor long ago and discovered it boiled the water out. Made a mess. Apparently there is no regulation at all in those.

Haven't tried one lately but I have two dead HF chargers that both died within a year. One can never go wrong with a Schumacher. Hope this helps.

 

[LPowell1]

Check your cables, connectors. I had an 30+ year old charger quit. Turns out it was just the wire to the clamp had broken under the insulation. Easy repair.

 

[mrmikey]

One can never go wrong with a Schumacher.

That's what I used to think. Just last winter I had a new one one fry the battery on my bike. They sent me a replacement that was going to do the same to my new battery if I hadn't caught it by putting an ammeter inline with it. I attempted to contact them about the faulty replacement and got nothing but crickets.

This is what the Schumacher maintainer was putting into a fully charged battery after 1/2 an hour, you could smell and hear it boiling. Never again a Schumacher.

 

[aircommuter]

I have 3 chargers on wheels, one is a manual Dayton from Graingers twenty years ago,works well, next is a manual Shumacher about 6-7 years old works well also, the best one is a DSR pro series by Scumacher DSR122 I have had it 10 years, it’s automatic with one manual position also. It’s good because it offers both and it has a longer handle. I have a Pro-Logix station maintainer for batteries in the shop, it is 2 amp on each of 4 batteries. Then last I have about 10 or 12 maintainers connected to equipment and low use vehicles. They all have a purpose. They way I view batteries is charged is ready to go although there are varying degrees of charge, low on charge is rechargeable and dead is not.

 

[ArlyA]

That's what I used to think. Just last winter I had a new one one fry the battery on my bike. They sent me a replacement that was going to do the same to my new battery if I hadn't caught it by putting an ammeter inline with it. I attempted to contact them about the faulty replacement and got nothing but crickets.
View attachment 878229This is what the Schumacher maintainer was putting into a fully charged battery after 1/2 an hour, you could smell and hear it boiling. Never again a Schumacher.

They all can fail and I'd sure one of my Schumacher's will some day. So far they are all working and they have desulfator in them.

 

[mrmikey]

They all can fail and I'd sure one of my Schumacher's will some day. So far they are all working and they have desulfator in them.

For sure, as can anything. I've got two other Schumachers that are almost 10 years old. They're actually twice as heavy as the new ones so I presume they're more than likely transformer based rather than 100% electronic. One's on my tractor which has a full size battery, the other on my ZT which is a lawn tractor battery, not a lick of problem with either.
To have two of them fail with the same problem, (the original one that I had bought and the replacement they sent me) would tell me there's something wrong other than just a random failure.
Here's a pic of the replacement they sent me, the second one than boiled my battery. A minor problem but really LOL. In case it's not immediately obvious, the charger is up side down, so the status lights are shining thru the wrong part of the label. Sorry for the fuzzy pic.

 

[grsthegreat]

Well, i got the Noco genius 1 installed in the horse trailer. I have a exterior WP outlet installed outside battery box that houses battery and controls for electric landing gear plus battery disconnect switch. Its getting crowded in there.
But now when i lock the cover inplace, i can simply plug the cord on the side and not have to pull bttery during the winter. I did a similar thing to the dump trailer a few years back. Has worked great.

 

[ArlyA]

I have not spoken with Diane

Jorja told offices Curt will open and house keeping close...

Friday isn't a holiday...

what the?????

 

[DarkBlack]

I have not spoken with Diane

Jorja told offices Curt will open and house keeping close...

Friday isn't a holiday...

You ok?

 

[ultrarunner]

what the?????

Memo to Housekeeping staff crossed with TBN…

Mid Week holidays often lead to staffing questions…

 

[ultrarunner]

You ok?

Memo to Housekeeping staff crossed with TBN…

Mid Week holidays often lead to staffing questions…

As a side bar too much time on the roof in 108 temp for me troubleshooting HVAC at work.

My apologies to all.

 

[grsthegreat]

We were afraid dementia kicked in…

 

[ultrarunner]

We were afraid dementia kicked in…

I hear it runs in the family...

If I post that I sold all my tractors it might be a sign...

 

[LittleBill21]

That's what I used to think. Just last winter I had a new one one fry the battery on my bike. They sent me a replacement that was going to do the same to my new battery if I hadn't caught it by putting an ammeter inline with it. I attempted to contact them about the faulty replacement and got nothing but crickets.
View attachment 878229This is what the Schumacher maintainer was putting into a fully charged battery after 1/2 an hour, you could smell and hear it boiling. Never again a Schumacher.

isn't this a agm battery?

 

[rScotty]

Battery chargers have come a long way over the years. At a minimum, I would be looking for a 3 stage automatic charger (bulk, absorbtion, float). If you're really into battery maintenance, look into the chargers that have an equalization cycle as an optional stage.
The one disadvantage of (many) modern chargers is that they are incapable of charging a dead or near dead battery due to an additional acceptance stage. If the battery is lower than x volts, the charger will not proceed to charge.
My preference in chargers is the Battery Minders brand. They have from 1 amp maintainers / desulfators to up to 8 amp charger / maintainers. They're are plenty of other good brands available, like Schumacher, Noco, Battery Tender to name a few.

Exacty what he said above..... I also use the Battery Minders, own two of their low amp tricklers and a variable number of their 8 amp charger/mantainers because they make nice presents.
And also like RJ said, I have an old $20 Montgomery Wards "dumb" charger because none of the "smart" chargers seems to be smart enough to figure out how tocharge a battery that is nearly flat.
So if I'm charging a normally good battery that is flat because someone left the dome light on for a week, the procedure is a few hours on the dumb charger to get enough charge into the battery so that the smart charger can go to work on desulphating and charging it properly and fully.
rScotty

 

[LittleBill21]

Exacty what he said above..... I also use the Battery Minders, own two of their low amp tricklers and a variable number of their 8 amp charger/mantainers because they make nice presents.
And also like RJ said, I have an old $20 Montgomery Wards "dumb" charger because none of the "smart" chargers seems to be smart enough to figure out how tocharge a battery that is nearly flat.
So if I'm charging a normally good battery that is flat because someone left the dome light on for a week, the procedure is a few hours on the dumb charger to get enough charge into the battery so that the smart charger can go to work on desulphating and charging it properly and fully.
rScotty

the Noco I linked above can be forced to charge a dead battery. I have tested it and it works fine.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ya, my noco genius 10 has revived quiet a few totally dead batteries