[TR] Trickle Charger Wire Gauge?

[Dave1massey at cs.com]

In a message dated 10/19/2009 9:55:05 AM Central Daylight Time, 
tr3driver at ca.rr.com writes: 
> Good for you.  The battery I was trying to charge had problems of some 
> sort,
> and would get hot with a conventional charger.  I was curious to see what
> would happen if it were trickle charged for several months.  Bad idea
> obviously, but somehow I missed the warning saying that the battery
> "charger" (HF's word) could not be used for charging batteries.
> 
Some of the new "intelligent" chargers have a de-sulfation mode that will 
recover batteries that have been over-discharged.  From what I gather from 
some cursory reading is that it pulses the battery at full current at some 
duty cycle designed to prevent overheating.  One company I looked at has 
thermistors that monitor the battery voltage.  Another solution to prevent battery 
overheating.  But this mode has not been adopted as yet by most charger 
manufacturers.  And cost still prevails so fewer features at lest cost still 
commands the market.

But I'm no battery charger expert.  

Dave