What Battery Chargers Have Been Reduced To...

"It is actually greed and the the ease at which lawyers can win ridiculous lawsuits that have caused this proliferation of "saving" everyone from themselves."

If you change the word "win" to the word "settle", then you'd have the real demon here ... then only the lawyers get paid, both sides because a "settle" is sorta like a 'win' as both sides claim it, but not exactly.

When I reassemble my Schumacher sc2500a with new 10 awg leads, I will see how it fares on the debilitated/ capacity compromised and 50% depleted screwy31, and then how much more my Meanwell can stuff into it.

But this Schumacher sometimes goes all masochistic and goes to 16.4v at 12 or 25 amps constant current.
I'm hoping replacing the horrid quality 12awg copper leads calms down this major personality flaw, as me carrying the 67LB screwy 31 to the meanwell is easier than unscrewing the meanwell and carrying it to the screwy31 in my workshop and a functioning charger in the workshop would be nice, even if it can't truly fully charge a battery worth only the core charge.

Often in the past I have seen the schumacher flash the green light, drop to 13.2v, yet still 5.2 amps were flowing to hold 13.2v. 5.2 amps flowing at 13.2v is certainly no fully charged battery.

Whatever safety mechanisms the lawyers caused to be enacted are tripped all to easily, yet they sometimes are completely ignored with this specific charger, and it will seriously overcharge at constant 12 or 25 amps until 16.4v is reached.

Well you yourself personally are in a better position to challenge and test than I.

A person who responds to RV and off-grid battery complaints and finds chargers screaming "DONE!" with specific gravities 1.250 - 1.255 Across the street yesterday I trouble a shop Black and Decker, and found an LTH battery at 1.255 with the charger whimpering. Two hours this morning with a Megawatt at 14.8 volts rendered the battery at 1.272 - 1.279

This is a night fisherman's battery out of a 26' open launch. The practical realities can be brutal.

But please check. Try to avoid power pedestal princess specials. Their pampered lifestyle makes them ineligible. This issue is solely about heavily cycled batteries and WAL-MART grade chargers.

Go for it..

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
...... shelves were jammed with plastic junk that charges a battery to 85% then screams *FULL*.

I would like to see an actual test of some of these chargers getting to only 85%.
A couple decent brands and see what actually come of it.

I've walked this earth for almost seventy years. It used to be the very first item of the agenda to teach personnel tending cash registers how to "count up" when making change. Today, not one in 500 register attendants have the slightest ability to do this because they cannot count. The machine has to tell them what to do or utter paralysis sets in.

I am reluctant to speak with "application's engineers" at many tech companies because other than being trained rote reciters they have almost zero ability to handle abstract thought process. y god, at age 18, we youngsters were discussing cc'ing engine combustion chambers, the merits of camshaft timing event changing and modification, room acoustics and speaker frequency response, and even aerodynamic high speed car body and chassis modifications.

I am deaf on the port side. Yet because of "inherent consumer safety restrictions" I am unable to purchase earphones that allow sound pressure beyond a specific db of amplification.

NONE OF THIS USED TO EXIST! Product safety was mainly confined to child-proofing merchandise. Common sense was necessary.

A comment was made about regulating chargers so a neighbor's battery charging negligence somehow cannot endanger or inconvenience an individual. The chances of that neighbor driving DUI and killing or injuring another motorist are about 10,000 times as great, but switch gears here - if something like that happens the lawyers who are not failed and move on to government have a field day in litigation. This sounds rude and uncouth but if you doubt it you are naive.

There are two LEGITIMATE factors at work in replacing transformer type chargers with pulse width modulated chargers. The first is, the transformer contains a lot of copper. Perhaps 100 times or more than a PWM charger and copper is costly compared to a fourteen cent IC. The second point is weight. A PWM charger of similar output wattage weighs about a fifth that of a transformer charger. PWM charger OEMs then have gained the audacity to reply to challenges about inability to individually control their product with "Oh we can't you see. The charger is now all "solid state" and controls are mandatory". Breach the subject of product liability and resultant litigation and the other end of the phone becomes dead silent. THE ISSUE IS THIS... (courtroom)

"This new charger is controlled entirely by electronic circuits designed and approved by the manufacturer. The manufacturer CHOSE TO violate common-sense limitations that COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY INCORPORATED into his product and that omission caused yadda, damage, to the extent of yadda dollars to my client the plaintiff".

Look, I do not mind automatic battery killers. Let the paisley shirts with fluorescent tie crowd tout the laziness factor ease of "foolproof" consumer use. They are superb brainwashers. Their spiel will convert easily swayed rational consumers to hum the corporate jingle. Look ma no hands.

But when things get to the point where a thinking consumer CAN NOT FIND CAN NOT BUY a manually controlled device is where I draw the line.

New breed chargers destroy heavily cycled batteries. New breed chargers are not green they are BROWN and you do not need an explanation for that.

Hell no, most people do not boondock so this issue is not endemic to RVers. But regular chargers have dried up unless you feel like paying a hundred ten dollars for a Schumacher charger than is rarely stocked on store shelves.

The high pressure psychology of "superior menu charging" has permeated both retail sales and the public.

When I went to purchase tires for the toad I looked for the once mandatory speed, wear, and temperature alphabet letter coding on the sidewall. SURPRISE! It wasn't there! But the next aisle over the shelves were jammed with plastic junk that charges a battery to 85% then screams *FULL*. "You screwed sonny. Take it or leave it"

EMS systems are great, except when they shut off power in a campground. Most regional parks, and remote campgrounds with 15-ampere receptacles have voltage so low, the EMS commits you to boondock. Take it or leave it. You are not permitted to think or even bypass the EMS and use common sense and JUDGE how much of what type of lead is appropriate. And yet many roar and fume that EMS is the the hot setup and anyone who thinks differently is a fool (or worse). They have been brainwashed to a turn.

Let the psychologically modified have things their own way, it's a free country. But when mandates FORCES me to live a similar Rhesus Monkey In A Cage existence sans choices or options, I tend to get worked up.

NUFF SAID

Just a note that my Schumacher 40 amp Multi -stage charger will charge a dead battery if you start with the 2 amp (small battery) profile first. Run for 15 minutes first and then go to 40 amp Multi-stage profile to finish charging.

I believe the BD units will do the same.

Of course you can 't purchase these high powered portables any more thanks to the dummies suing the manufacturers for their own incorrect use of the chargers.

My jump pack is about 20 amp hour AGM but I agree handy to have.

I also have a 'Dumb' charger just in cuss.. and one of the finest smart chargers (progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard) made. the 9180 does not seem to mind a dead battery and will SLOWLY at first charge it.. Then once it knows there is a battery there instead of a short circuit Well if you are feeding it from a Genrac 1000 (A true 1,000 watt portable) That puppy is gonna change tone as it goes from a very light load to maximum output.

Another 10 years and lead acid batteries will be like the flip phone- a few folks will keep using them, VRLA will be the Cadillac of old time tech, most everyones batteries will be made by Elon Musk, and the batteries will be smart and take care of management.


Or not.