Smart battery chargers with reconditioning modes

[buickanddeere]

Once a battery is ruined , no whiz bang wonder charger will restore it to like new capacity

 

[rbstern]

Once a battery is ruined , no whiz bang wonder charger will restore it to like new capacity

But, as many of us have discovered, these whiz bang wonder chargers can often take a "ruined" battery and give that battery the ability to provide years worth of additional, useful service. That's more than good enough. In fact, it's great. I paid about $40 for my whiz bang wonder charger, and it's already let me avoid buying about $120 worth of new batteries. Will I have still have to buy them eventually? Of course. Batteries are consumables. But I'd rather get six or seven years out of a battery than three or four.

 

[def38]

Once a battery is ruined , no whiz bang wonder charger will restore it to like new capacity

I have recovered batteries that have sat discharged for several years using my Schumacher battery charger. The battery that spins my M-F 231 diesel engine was doornail dead when I bought the tractor used. Now, I have jump started other engines with that same battery that is maintained with my Schumacher charger. The battery may not have like new capacity but it sure works fine when jumping off the JD 455G loader.

I agree, if an internal buss bar is broken or damaged (rare), a charger won't help.

 

[sixdogs]

Once a battery is ruined , no whiz bang wonder charger will restore it to like new capacity

There is a difference between "ruined" and ruined. You are correct that a dead short ruined is indeed ruined. But many of what used to be considered ruined can now be recovered by these smart chargers and I have seen it multiple times. In the olden days of 25 years ago this was not possible but today it is. Things change and products and technologies change.

 

[daugen]

Both of the batteries I use to run my DC diesel tank pump are old tractor batteries that I was able to keep using in a less demanding situation plus they were regularly put on battery-minder smart chargers, and darn, they don't seem to give up. I'm a great believer in the desulphate mode; at least once a year I run every battery(other than cars and trucks) through a full cycle of the charger, whether they need it or not.

One thing I thought was interesting, and I screwed up for awhile before I realized what I was doing, but the default charge mode on my smart charger is GEL. I have to keep pushing the button to get it to flooded. Maintenance free does NOT mean gel...took me a while to figure that out.
Important to get the voltage right.

 

[the old grind]

IIRC 'maintenance free' means lead-calcium that appeared from Delco in the '70s vs lead-antimony used previously. Not sure which one gels use, but something about their floating/maintenance voltage is different. I suppose that you'd either boil out or never top up at the wrong setting.

One thing that confuzzles me is charging cycle 'stages', varied sequence of them between brands, and whether or not 'desulphate' is in fact part of the maintain stage at the end of a cycle. For example. I thought that my BatMinder 1510s were 5-stage, but company info says 7 stages, with desulphate 2nd or 3rd in the 'cycle'.

This much operating detail isn't always obvious when you shop. I'd like to find that Accumate includes 'regen' in the final stage vs my reconnect intervals without knowing.

The US patent office has dozens of registrants whose different approaches decry all others. There could be some snake oil among the smarties we assume will always bail our bacon. A tidbit I stumbled upon is that 'Pulse Technology' long ago apparently patented the process of hi-freq vs high voltage spikes.

Pulse Tech's advertising and approach pitch are different than some, but I did glean the following from Q&A's at "Impact Battery":

PulseTech uses only frequency based pulsing so its voltage never rises into ranges that will create excess heat thus it does not require any compensating. Pulsetech pulses 100% of the time while the Battery Minders pulse around 25-40% of the time.
PulseTech uses only frequency based pulsing so its voltage never rises into ranges that will create excess heat thus it does not require any compensating. Pulsetech pulses 100% of the time while the Battery Minders pulse around 25-40% of the time.

Battery MINDer is a great brand and gets our seal of approval, however we prefer the PulseTech units due mainly to the fact that they desulfate 100% of the time.

Amazon says my "PulseTech 12V Xtreme Charge Battery Charger XC100-P" will arrive Wednesday. I've included my signature in this post (oops) but it doesn't mention as many batteries as I have (2 ea cars, trucks). The Dixon, Mechron, & Ford are the least used, so will get the most attention. Also, both white trucks have dual batteries.

 

[John_Mc]

One thing I thought was interesting, and I screwed up for awhile before I realized what I was doing, but the default charge mode on my smart charger is GEL. I have to keep pushing the button to get it to flooded. Maintenance free does NOT mean gel...took me a while to figure that out.
Important to get the voltage right.

Gel batteries preferred charge and float voltages are lower (by about 1/2 volt, if I recall) than those for flooded or sealed lead-acid batteries. Gel batteries are rather sensitive to these voltages, and getting them wrong can shorten their life.

Most AGM batteries like to be charged at slightly higher voltages than flooded lead acid batteries. (One exception is the Optima AGM batteries, which charge at the same voltages as the flooded lead acid batteries).

My older Battery Minder charger that had Gel, flooded, and AGM modes always defaulted to GEL, so it would reset to that mode every time the power flickered. I guess they figured that was the safest - less chance of boiling off electrolyte or overheating the battery if the voltage was too low, rather than too high. They tell me their new ones will remember the last setting if the power goes out.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

But, as many of us have discovered, these whiz bang wonder chargers can often take a "ruined" battery and give that battery the ability to provide years worth of additional, useful service. That's more than good enough. In fact, it's great. I paid about $40 for my whiz bang wonder charger, and it's already let me avoid buying about $120 worth of new batteries. Will I have still have to buy them eventually? Of course. Batteries are consumables. But I'd rather get six or seven years out of a battery than three or four.

Batteries start out in whatever they were specced for, and then, when weaker, they wind up in my boats. On the other hand, one OEM rotorcraft battery outlasted the car itself thanks to my Optimate battery chargers.

 

[daugen]

I'm honestly surprised batteries don't come with safety stickers saying "charge on GEL setting only" or whatever is correct.
AGM batteries seem to announce what they are, but how to tell the difference between gel and flooded? I'm now defaulting to flooded because I have no idea what battery is flooded and what is gel. How does one tell? Sure makes a big difference in charging and could have a sizeable impact on battery life.

a strange little battery story:
Next to my home is a broken down farm with a broken down farmer and broken down equipment. I try to help him when I can but it's overwhelming; half a gallon of hootch a day will do that sadly. So...I go over and find his Super A hooked up to an old fashioned charger, one of those big drag along jump starter things and the water is just bubbling out of the top. He had no idea whatsoever that would ruin his battery, just thought that's what it took to charge one. Worse, his alternator wasn't charging, so even if I gave him a new battery it would run down, and he would wreck it on that charger. Figure the absolute opposite of how we carefully try to charge batteries. And yeah, his tractor hasn't moved an inch. First you get a new alternator, then a decent battery. He thinks he can keep buying cheap batteries and charging them when needed.
No....

 

[JRobyn]

My FIL believes that he can connect his $5 Harbor Freight trickle charger to his TOTALLY dead tractor or UTV battery and it will charge it right up!