Defective battery charger

Yep and by verifying the charger WORKS or DOES NOT WORK, it eliminates one item out of the equation.

A couple years ago a buddy bought a charger from Harbor Freight and it appeared not to charge and if you put the leads together it would not spark. A voltage tester would not work. We took it back and tried 3 or 4 others and none would spark or regsiter voltage. They where designed that way so sparks could not blow up Hydrogren from off gassing. After finding that out and not being in such a hurry it charged the battery fine.

Is this thread now about a game camera battery or an RV battery?? We already know the OP's meter is set correctly.

Gdetrailer wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
"My inexpensive Schumacker charger does not seem to be working. I can hear it running but if I put the pos. & neg. clips from my volt meter on the battery terminals I get zero reading. Is this how you check a charger?
Thanks"

I merely responded to the question not a permutation. Ten Thousand Excuse Me's...

:h

No need to get offended.

OP could have set the meter to AC volts instead of DC volts which would show ZERO volts on the display...

Thousands of things are just plain wrong with the OPs post..

Using a car charger on a 6 Ahr gell battery is a bit like using an atomic bomb to go fishing.. Results will be a disaster...

New gell batteries for game cameras cost what a whole $25 and the proper charger which is typically stocked right beside the battery is a whole $15...

Just not sure if the OP is joshing us or not..

On edit..

This is what I think the OP has (or something real close to)..

Game camera battery for $24

HERE

The PROPER charger for $13

HERE

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
"My inexpensive Schumacker charger does not seem to be working. I can hear it running but if I put the pos. & neg. clips from my volt meter on the battery terminals I get zero reading. Is this how you check a charger?
Thanks"

I merely responded to the question not a permutation. Ten Thousand Excuse Me's...

:h

No need to get offended.

OP could have set the meter to AC volts instead of DC volts which would show ZERO volts on the display...

Thousands of things are just plain wrong with the OPs post..

Using a car charger on a 6 Ahr gell battery is a bit like using an atomic bomb to go fishing.. Results will be a disaster...

New gell batteries for game cameras cost what a whole $25 and the proper charger which is typically stocked right beside the battery is a whole $15...

Just not sure if the OP is joshing us or not..

"My inexpensive Schumacker charger does not seem to be working. I can hear it running but if I put the pos. & neg. clips from my volt meter on the battery terminals I get zero reading. Is this how you check a charger?
Thanks"

I merely responded to the question not a permutation. Ten Thousand Excuse Me's...

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I thought you were measuring CHARGING voltage or at the least CHARGING amperage.

What voltage do you have AT THE CHARGER when it is plugged-in and switched on?

At this point in time, it really doesn't matter.

The OP is attempting to use a car battery charger which most likely at the minimum has a 2 Amp charging rate and at the worst 10A-50A charging rate. This kind of current will easily over heat/charge a 6 Ahr gell batter which is used in game cameras.

Chances are the battery was run flat (10.5V or less) sitting in a game camera too long and is beyond trying to massage back to health..

My suggestion is to not worry about the charger, it is most likely OK and if it was a smart charger it saved the OP from a possible battery fire...

The OP NEEDS to buy the PROPER charger designed for charging a game camera battery...

Gell cells are very picky about float and cycle charging voltages and extremely sensitive to over charging and being left in a partially or completely discharged state.

Assuming from the OPs post that there is NO voltage on the battery terminals (IE no "change"), OP most likely will need to buy a new battery AND the correct charger for this application...

I thought you were measuring CHARGING voltage or at the least CHARGING amperage.

What voltage do you have AT THE CHARGER when it is plugged-in and switched on?

Weldon wrote:
I put the charger on a 12v 6 amp battery for a game camera, left it on for a couple of hours. There was zero improvement in the batteries voltage after the charge.
Thanks for the comments!

:E

:h

You CAN'T use a big honkin' car battery charger on a PUNY little GEL CELL and expect it to work :S

If it is not a "smart" charger that game camera battery is most likely toast and you are very lucky to have not had a meltdown of said battery..

If it is a "smart" type of charger it may have done you a FAVOR by not turning on the output.

Smart type chargers will not turn on the output unless it SEEs a little bit of voltage from the battery, they will not charge a completely flat or dead battery (voltages of 10.5 or less is a DEAD battery).

GEL CELLS require a very low current charger, often a small wall hugger providing no more than 1/2 AMP of current. The correct charger will work much better without toasting the battery and it is not any charger designed and sold for use with car batteries..

Your charger is most likely fine, try connecting it to a CAR battery and see if is charging.

I put the charger on a 12v 6 amp battery for a game camera, left it on for a couple of hours. There was zero improvement in the batteries voltage after the charge.
Thanks for the comments!