Subject: [Shop-talk] Battery charger

From: "Mark Miller" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 12:01:28 -0800

Hi.  I am in the market for a pretty good, great in not in the budget, 12V
battery charger. $50-100 or so.  Run of the mill 10A, maybe a lower range as
well.  I am tired of the HF ones that always seem to fail right when I have
a battery that needs it.  
What say ye, o list of near infinite wisdom?

Thanks!

Mark Miller
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Archive: http://www.team.net/archive

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From: old dirtbeard <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:20:01 -0800 (PST)

Hi Mark,

I have two of these single chargers and a double charger unit that I
use on my motorcycles and cars.  They are not cheap, but have been great to
use for the last five years or so.  I would buy more:
http://www.amazon.com/Pulse-Battery-Charger-Xtreme-100X010/dp/B000O707IO

best,

doug
________________
'72 BSA B50SS
'74 Moto Guzzi 850T

'01 HD XHL 883
'03 GMC Cargo Van
'07 Aprilia SXV 550
'13 Aprilia Tuono V4R
________________________________
 From: Mark Miller
<[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked] 
Sent: Sunday,
November 24, 2013 2:01 PM
Subject: [Shop-talk] Battery charger

Hi.  I am in
the market for a pretty good, great in not in the budget, 12V
battery charger.
$50-100 or so.  Run of the mill 10A, maybe a lower range as
well.  I am tired
of the HF ones that always seem to fail right when I have
a battery that needs
it.  
What say ye, o list of near infinite wisdom?

Thanks!

Mark Miller

[email-masked]
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/[email-masked]
_______________________________________________

[email-masked]

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From: "Arvid Jedlicka" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 16:27:20 -0600

I've had this one for a few years and like it ...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200404864_200404864

The only thing I initially found odd when I first got it was the lack of an 
on-off switch. That has turned out to be a non-issue. Hook it up to the 
battery, plug it in, set a couple of buttons to give it clue [it is a 
'smart' charger, not a 'clairvoyant' charger] as to what you want to see in 
the display [Battery %, Voltage, Alternator %], what the battery technology 
is [12v Standard, 12v AGM, 12v Gel Cell, 6v Standard] and the battery size 
[Small, Medium to Large, Engine Start].  It seems to shut the charging 
circuit off at the proper time.

Arvid 

[email-masked]

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From: Steven Trovato <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 17:31:47 -0500

I have a Schumacher XC-103 like this:

www.amazon.com/Schumacher-XC103-SpeedCharge-Battery-Charger/dp/B004EIBWQ0

I would say it qualifies as pretty good.  It is right in your 
budget.  One criticism is that the "100 Amp Engine Start" feature is 
not realistically able to start an engine with a completely dead 
battery.  As long as you aren't really expecting that, it isn't a big 
deal.  Also, as seems to be the trend with the latest "smart" battery 
chargers, it won't charge a completely dead battery.  It has to sense 
the voltage to turn itself on.  This seems completely crazy to me and 
I did consider this to be a show stopper.  What's the point of a 
battery charger  that can't charge a dead battery?  Then I talked to 
a Schumacher tech support guy who told me that if you press and hold 
both buttons down on the front panel while plugging the unit in, it 
will override the stupid logic and start charging.  This isn't 
documented anywhere.  With this little bit of secret knowledge, this 
became a useful charger again!

I also had a problem with my unit when I tried to charge a 6 Volt car 
battery.  It charged to over 90% and then magically switched from 6V 
to 12V mode and continued to charge as though it was a 12 Volt 
battery!  I sent the charger in for warranty service.  It was over a 
year old at the time.  The unit probably had this problem from day 
one, but this was the first time I tried it on a 6 Volt battery.  I 
got the unit back and it did the exact same thing.  Another round on 
the telephone and they sent me a new unit and paid for shipping the 
old one back.  This all sounds very negative, but ultimately they 
were very helpful and made everything right.  That's more than I can 
say for most companies.  Most people will never encounter a 6 Volt 
battery.  The replacement unit handles them fine.

-Steve Trovato
[email-masked]

At 03:01 PM 11/24/2013, Mark Miller wrote:
>battery charger. $50-100 or so.

[email-masked]

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From: Brian Kemp <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:35:24 -0800

Mark - I have a 12A Die Hard charger from Sears that has been very 
reliable. It has a 2A range to top off a battery or I used it for my 
underwater scooter's smaller battery.  It also has an engine start 
setting.  This is helpful when a battery is a little too far discharged, 
but you want to take the car out for a drive.  I do about 5 minutes at 
the 12A setting then switch to the engine start and crank the engine.

Brian

Hi.  I am in

Thanks!

Mark Miller

[email-masked]

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From: John Miller <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 15:22:38 -0800

> http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200404864_200404864

I have one of those as well, replaced a Black and Decker (Vector) that 
just magically stopped working one time.

The one thing the Vector had, that this one does not and I miss it, is a 
manually-selectable desulfate cycle.  With this one it won't start the 
desulfate cycle until it tries and fails for a couple hours to charge 
the battery normally.

I know the hard-core battery types laugh at the idea that what these 
chargers do is really 'desulfating' but it does seem to work, the Vector 
had recovered 3-4 batteries for me that would not hold a charge in the 
car including the big group 49 thing that came out of my M5 ~7 years ago 
and, after two passes through the desulfate cycle on the Vector, has 
been my jump-start battery ever since.

John.

[email-masked]

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From: "ElanS4" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 19:07:55 -0500

> Mark - I have a 12A Die Hard charger from Sears that has been very
reliable. <...>  It also has an engine start setting.  This 
> is helpful when a battery is a little too far discharged, but you want to
take the car out for a drive.  I do about 5 minutes at 
> the 12A setting then switch to the engine start and crank the engine.

I have two kinds of chargers.  I have a similar Die Hard charger that I've
used for 40+ years.  I works good when a battery is  dead and needs to be
brought up to charge.
Or I use it to bring it up enough that one of my BatteryMINDERS will start
charging it.  Leave that for a few days, and I have a completely charged
battery that works better than before.
The BatteryMINDERS  are used to keep at least two of my cars topped up.  One
is an AGM that sits outside with the battery being at least 10 years old.
The other keeps my garage queen fully charged.  It has its OEM lead acid
battery that is know to go dead in about 7-10 of sitting because of the
alarm drain, etc.  If it's going to be parked for more than two days, it
goes on the BatteryMINDER.

By the way, the BatteryMINDER is pretty much the same as a Battery Tender
Jr. (common cables, etc.) except the BatteryMINDER has the "desulfation"
mode that actually seems to work.

Tim Mullen

[email-masked]

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From: Rand E <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:57:12 -0800 (PST)

I've got one of these.  NOCO Genius G3500 6V/12V 3.5 Amp Smart Battery Charger
and Maintainer  I've had good luck recharging without overcharging and for
maintaining.  
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWVEKS/ref=ox_ya_os_product
 
Right now
it is about $60 on Amazon.  I paid about $50 on a lightening deal a couple
years ago.  

Tomorrow morning they've got a deal on the same brand but a
different model.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LX3AXQ/ref=gb1h_img_c-2_6362_3cbba674?pf
_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_s=center-new-2&pf_rd_r=0V5T33ARQTD0056G
Z5WK&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1673666362

Randy

Hi.  I am
in the market for a pretty good, great in not in the budget, 12V
battery
charger. $50-100 or so.  Run of the mill 10A, maybe a lower range as
well.  I
am tired of the HF ones that always seem to fail right when I have
a battery
that needs it.  
What say ye, o list of near infinite wisdom?

Thanks!

Mark
Miller

[email-masked]

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From: Rand E <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:56:33 -0800 (PST)

Amazon has another model on sale on Tuesday at 8pm.

NOCO Genius G7200 7.2 Amp
12V/24V Smart Battery Charger
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWTHP2/ref=gb1h_img_c-2_6362_453c11ad?pf
_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_s=center-new-2&pf_rd_r=0ANC3FHC34ZEMR5T
5PX0&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1673666362

________________________________
 From:
Rand E <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]"
<[email-masked]> 
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 4:57 PM
Subject:
Re: [Shop-talk] Battery charger

I've got one of these.  NOCO Genius G3500
6V/12V 3.5 Amp Smart Battery Charger and Maintainer  I've had good luck
recharging without overcharging and for maintaining.  

Right now

Randy

From: Mark Miller

Hi.  I am in

Thanks!

Mark Miller

[email-masked]

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From: Doug Braun <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 07:37:28 -0500

It's interesting seeing all these compact new battery changers that use
switching power supplies instead of traditional transformers,  I guess that
battery chargers has been one of the last categories of electrical products
to make this change.

Doug

On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 12:56 AM, Rand E <[email-masked]> wrote:

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From: Rand E <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 05:21:53 -0800 (PST)

Sorry, that should be Wednesday at 8pm. 

Amazon has another model on sale
NOCO Genius G7200 7.2 Amp 12V/24V Smart Battery Charger
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWTHP2/ref=gb1h_img_c-2_6362_453c11ad?pf
_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_s=center-new-2&pf_rd_r=0ANC3FHC34ZEMR5T
5PX0&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1673666362
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