What Smart charger do I need?
I'm trying to charge 2 Sams Club gc2 golf batterys. I currently have a Shumacher SC8020a battery charger. I charge em a couple hours a day with not much success. They charge good from Alternator...
Forum Discussion
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:Sorry MEX, no automatic converter charges at 14.8 volts. Only BFL13's manually selectable Powermax.
I need some help here understanding the newer breeds of smart charger models.
I gather the newer chargers with remote can be set to provide 14.8 volts absorbsion upper limit.
OK the voltage is fine. How about adjustable time spent at selected voltage limit? Can a user program the charger to spend whatever time the user wishes at that limit?
It would be great if the newest chargers did exactly that - as I would stop my griping.
Progressive Dynamics will generally start at 14.4 volts and hold four hours then drop to 13.6 and eventually to 13.2 volts. It has a button to move between these modes manually if desired. About once a day PD gives a 15 minute boost charge of 14.4 volts if plugged in continuous.
IOTA starts at 14.8 limit but as soon as the converter hits 14.6 a 15 minute timer starts. At the end of this 15 minute timer IOTA drops to 14.2 volts for an extended period (something like 4 to 12 hours depending) then down to 13.54 for float. Once a week IOTA restarts the sequence and should complete in minimum time on a full battery.
While not perfect these both seem to work well in most conditions.
Solar controllers are the only thing I know that really do it all.
