Portable battery charger. What do you carry?
I've had many over the years but most are cheap and don't last long. I'm looking for a good portable 12 volt Smart charger that can desulfate and get my batteries to full charge if needed. What do...
Forum Discussion
Hi westend,
With a correctly maximum discharged (50%) group 29, I have instigated FIVE cycles of a Husky 40 amp battery charger and the charge level (acid SG went from 90 to 91 percent charged). I then tried EIGHT desulfation cycles on top of that and the SG did not increase on the hydrometer. So back went the charger for another. Same result. Tried a Black & Decker, not much different. I could not get the battery to fully charge. The maximum charge rate tapers too fast. Voltage droops down from 14.8 way too fast. What a waste of money connected to a generator.
So a DPDT relay connected to a timer now allows a 40 amp charge rate for an hour, switches the almost charger offline and the Harbor Freight online for 4 hours at the 2-amp rate, which usually starts out close to 8. By playing with the timer I can get a pretty full charge.
Yeah I know some three hundred dollar "smart" converters are better, but when I get serious, I slam 300 plus amps into my big battery bank, then taper at the last with the Harbor Freight set at 10 amps on a timer.
For me, common sense and a timer is hard to beat...
IT'S TIME FOR YET ANOTHER DOSE OF....
"The Harbor Freight charger DOES NOT WORK WELL ON AUTOMATIC MODE, and I do not trust it not to fail and destroy a battery. Period. With a dot.
Set the slider switch from AUTOMATIC to START. The dial is CHINAMERICAN mis-marked. START is in really MANUAL. You now have a manual charger, and this is where this charger shines. Superglue the switch to START if you have to."
With a correctly maximum discharged (50%) group 29, I have instigated FIVE cycles of a Husky 40 amp battery charger and the charge level (acid SG went from 90 to 91 percent charged). I then tried EIGHT desulfation cycles on top of that and the SG did not increase on the hydrometer. So back went the charger for another. Same result. Tried a Black & Decker, not much different. I could not get the battery to fully charge. The maximum charge rate tapers too fast. Voltage droops down from 14.8 way too fast. What a waste of money connected to a generator.
So a DPDT relay connected to a timer now allows a 40 amp charge rate for an hour, switches the almost charger offline and the Harbor Freight online for 4 hours at the 2-amp rate, which usually starts out close to 8. By playing with the timer I can get a pretty full charge.
Yeah I know some three hundred dollar "smart" converters are better, but when I get serious, I slam 300 plus amps into my big battery bank, then taper at the last with the Harbor Freight set at 10 amps on a timer.
For me, common sense and a timer is hard to beat...
IT'S TIME FOR YET ANOTHER DOSE OF....
"The Harbor Freight charger DOES NOT WORK WELL ON AUTOMATIC MODE, and I do not trust it not to fail and destroy a battery. Period. With a dot.
Set the slider switch from AUTOMATIC to START. The dial is CHINAMERICAN mis-marked. START is in really MANUAL. You now have a manual charger, and this is where this charger shines. Superglue the switch to START if you have to."
