Re: Charging the battery -- how long is okay?


"Richard Casady" <richardcasady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:b90o05dmcg0ifnrn503djq7nf47p3rvo3q@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:52:55 -0400, Wayne.B
<waynebatrecdotboats@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 13 May 2009 22:35:11 -0400, "BetaB4" <BetaB4@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Thank you all. Well, I sure am glad I posted the question. I am now in the
middle of looking online for battery chargers to see what is available, what
they cost, where to buy them, etc. Over the next few days, I'll check some
auto parts stores to see what hey sell. Obviously, I need a charger that I
can leave on and not have to worry about the battery being overcharged.

The cheapest solution if you already have a 2 amp charger is to put an
automatic timer on it as gfretwell suggested.

Go to the thrift store and get a 50milliamp 12v power supply for a
calculator or whatever. One of those cubes that plugs in the wall.
In a week, 50ma comes to some 6 AH, not enough to cook the battery.
If you add water once a week, it should be all right. It would be
better to get a smart charger.

Casady

I've had boats and RV's with the old school, voltage controlled chargers and the newer, 3 stage smart chargers.
The ferro-resonant type used to keep big boat batteries charged (multiple 8-D's) also have a nasty habit of cooking the batteries if you don't keep a watchful eye on the water. For many years the newer, switching power supply "smart" chargers just weren't big enough (current wise) for this application.

But over the past few years the 3 stage smart chargers have been improved and increased in capacity.
We have a little 2005 Sprinter based RV built by Pleasure-Way. Pleasure-Way builds RV conversions with an excellent quality reputation and use top shelf components. The "smart" battery charger in it has kept the original 2005 house battery in excellent, like new condition and I've never had to add water to it in 4 years.
With the older type chargers, I'd have certainly had to replace the house battery by now.

Eisboch

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Dry dead battery
    ... I put distilled water into my dry, dead battery, then I charged it, ... that a lot of battery chargers are too powerful for motorcycle ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
  • Re: Charging the battery -- how long is okay?
    ... can leave on and not have to worry about the battery being overcharged. ... I've had boats and RV's with the old school, voltage controlled chargers and the newer, 3 stage smart chargers. ... The ferro-resonant type used to keep big boat batteries charged also have a nasty habit of cooking the batteries if you don't keep a watchful eye on the water. ... It had a supposedly smart charger that switched modes and when charged it maintained 13.2V BUT and,a Big BUT, every 24 hours it automatically switched to desulfate mode for an hour. ...
    (rec.boats)
  • Re: Cordless Tool Battery Charging Question
    ... When the charge is completed, if the battery pack was warm, it should cool down to ambient after it's been on a trickle charge rate/cycle for a while. ... The trickle charge level only needs to be high enough to cancel/eliminate the self-discharge rate of the cells, although some new NIMH cells claim to have zero or very low self-discharge rates. ... Poorly designed chargers and low grade cells result in short battery pack lifetimes, even if the batteries are neglected and/or abused. ... Since many new battery packs cost almost as much as a brand new tool with new batteries, landfills continue to fill up with discarded tools, and groundwater-contaminating/poisoning battery packs. ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)
  • Re: Solar Energy Charger Question
    ... How battery chargers for solar photo voltaic based system work? ... I ask this because the voltage that comes from the photo voltatic paltes ... One thing to remember is that the voltage delivered by a solar panel ... simple solar "trickle chargers" have a low maximum current ...
    (sci.electronics.components)
  • Re: Solar Energy Charger Question
    ... How battery chargers for solar photo voltaic based system work? ... I ask this because the voltage that comes from the photo voltatic paltes ... One thing to remember is that the voltage delivered by a solar panel ... simple solar "trickle chargers" have a low maximum current ...
    (sci.electronics.components)