Battery trickle charging ideas

[Builder]

Anyone have more than a few pieces of equipment that need trickle charging? I have a trailer that might sit a few weeks, dump truck, etc. The batteries start to get weak. Is there an economical way to trickle charge 2-3 pieces of equipment? Maybe a charger that can be hooked up to more than one pc equipment?

 

[SnowRidge]

Sure, if you get a good regulated charger, you can do it. The best way is to feed each battery through an isolation diode, but that gets pretty complicated, what with compensating for the diodes' voltage drops and all. So use the second best method and fuse the leads to each vehicle individually, which you should do anyway.

How many vehicles and/or pieces of equipment do you intend to charge in parallel?

 

[Builder]

I have a large IH dump truck with 2 big batteries, a backhoe, an electric tilt trailer, a big garden tractor and some other pieces of equipment . When it gets real cold, they get a little low on charge. TSC sells a trickle charger for $37, but I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of them. I thought maybe someone made a charger that could maintain 2 or more batteries.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

L39,

Check out this thread and Harbor chargers.

web page

 

[755inNY]

Harbor Freight has some inexpensive battery maintainers.

I just bought this one today on sale for $10. It is for my dump trailer. The battery is under the dump box so it is not easy to get to. This unit will mount on the outside and has a weather proof cover over the plug. You can plug the extension cord directly into it.
1.5 amp on board charger

You can also try one of the float chargers. This one is on sale for $8.00. I bought one like it from Harbor Freight a month or so ago for $5. They are always running sales on this stuff so keep your eyes open.
Automatic Battery Float Charger

This is probably cheaper than trying to rig up a parallel charging system off a single charger.

Jeff

 

[Builder]

Thanks guys, and thanks for the link to the solar chargers! A very informative read!!!

I have power in my garage, but the solar power chargers are really tempting, plus you get a cig lighter as an added nicety for powering accessories. You guys are gonna spend all my money! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Is it safe to presume the HF plug-in tricklers are like pennies per day to run? If they're really cheap, I might just try those.

Decisions- decisions!

 

[HomeBrew2]

I use the BatteryMINDer .
I bought it for the de-sulfation cure. It works. I have not needed to charge more than one at once but, it is designed to charge up to 4.
Cheers!

 

[Renob]

I have this fancy, way to expensive charger for my motorcycle. The product name is "Battery Tender". It does work well, but a bit spendy. I found a charger at Wal-Mart that works just as well, it monitors the charge and only charges when necessary. The best part .......$17. So I bought 2, one for the tractor and one for the four wheeler. So far they work just as well as the $69 Battery Tender.

 

[KubotainNH]

I have a small solar charger that I rotate between my 4 wheeler and lawn mower. Seems to keep everything topped off well through the winter. Mine came from Northern tool, comes with clips and cig lighter adapter. They have multiple sizes for different wattages but higher wattage may need controller to keep it from overcharging. Here's the link to the one I have. charger link

 

[Builder]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have this fancy, way to expensive charger for my motorcycle. The product name is "Battery Tender". It does work well, but a bit spendy. I found a charger at Wal-Mart that works just as well, it monitors the charge and only charges when necessary. The best part .......$17. So I bought 2, one for the tractor and one for the four wheeler. So far they work just as well as the $69 Battery Tender. )</font>

That's what I just did. I picked up one and decided to try it out. It's called a "Battery Companion" I also bought an additional 2 pin flat connector (sold right next to the $17 Battery Companion) and connected it to my tilt trailer battery. Now I can shuttle the charger between batteries as needed. For $17, I might as well buy another & keep 'em both plugged in!!

After I got home, I saw the post about the "BatteryMINDer" That would have been PERFECT since it'll top off several batteries at once. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Might still get one since it looks like it plugs into the 2 pin flats I just got done installing.

I also installed a 12V accessory cig. plug on the Kubota with the inline fuse.

Next I'm gonna get some more accessory outlets installed on my other equipment that's parked outside the garage and charge them with the solar panels!

Anyone know if a piece of equipment has 2 batteries, like a big truck, which battery to hook the charger up to? Or doesn't it matter?

Thanks for all your help!