What Smart charger do I need?

Mobile sport wrote:
What do you think about the voltage being so high at first ?
I'm been concerned its going to damage my batteries so I've been turning the voltage down to about 15 volts

Not good. Set it for 14.8V to start up. 16.0V is too hot for day in, day out charging.

Figure out when you need to drop it down to 14.0V when it's done with bulk charging and ready for absorption charging.

Mobile sport wrote:
What do you think about the voltage being so high at first ?
I'm been concerned its going to damage my batteries so I've been turning the voltage down to about 15 volts

I don't understand. You have the adjustable voltage, so just set it to 14.8 or whatever, and it will do that. Normally once the batts are down some, you start a recharge at 14.8 (for most Wets) and after a couple hours or however long it takes, you dial it back down to 13.6 or whatever for when you are on shore power camping. when on shore power not camping you dial it down farther to your float voltage, maybe 13.4, depending on the temperature where you are. (13.2 is for 80F, 13.8 is for 50F, eg.)

It does not have voltage "stages" like the regular models do. You have to turn the knob when it is time to be at another voltage such as when home "floating"

With nothing in its DC output terminals, you can turn it on (120v powered up) and use the voltmeter and knob to dial around marking some voltages beside the knob so you can twirl it to that when it is all connected. (When connected, the built- in voltmeter reads battery voltage, not the voltage you want the battery to get to, so you have to mark the target voltages when it is not connected) Here is my 55 amper: (The meter will show the battery at its target voltage when it gets there, but that does not mean you are finished the recharge, just that you have reached your absorption voltage)

What do you think about the voltage being so high at first ?
I'm been concerned its going to damage my batteries so I've been turning the voltage down to about 15 volts

Thanks for getting back with the news on that. So it is confirmed.

The Honda 2000 has no trouble with the PF-corrected PowerMax 75 amper.

So IMO you might as well get that instead of the non-PF corrected 60 amper which will have about the same 120v intake requirement.

Guinea Pig is running like a race horse as usual , The Honda starts the Boondocker in ecomode no problem , voltage reads about 16 volts when the Boondockers voltage volume knob is all the way up , Honda runs pretty loud for about 10 minutes and then the voltage comes down and the Honda throttles down and it pures the rest of the time really quiet.
I dont recall what voltage it drops down to I just remember it starts out really high.
Note I have about 3 amps worth of lights and a car stereo on while its charging.

Mobile sport wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
First, you need a 120v power source that can run whatever charger you get. Generally, you need EG a Honda 1000 for up to a 45 amp charger, or a Honda 2000 for up to a 60 amp charger. But if the charger is PF- corrected, a 75 amper will draw the same 120 as a non-PF 60 amper.

So, for a pair of 6s (that can take 70-80 amps just fine for Bulk, BTW) you can use this 75 amper as a portable charger if you have a Honda 2000 equivalent to run it.

http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondocker-BPCM-75-75-Amp-Adjustable-Power-ConverterCharger_p_587.html#.ViQ2c3mFNjo

BFL13 I just wanted to say Thanks , I bought the Powermax 75 and really really like it , Thanks for the recommendation.

OK you are now the Official Guinea Pig for running the PowerMax 75 amper with a Honda 2000. Please confirm that it runs at 75 amps for a time (bulk stage) at around 14.8v on the Honda 2000 as power supply without the Honda conking out. And do you have to start with eco-off and then turn eco on or can you get away with an eco on start up from cold? Thanks.

BFL13 wrote:
First, you need a 120v power source that can run whatever charger you get. Generally, you need EG a Honda 1000 for up to a 45 amp charger, or a Honda 2000 for up to a 60 amp charger. But if the charger is PF- corrected, a 75 amper will draw the same 120 as a non-PF 60 amper.

So, for a pair of 6s (that can take 70-80 amps just fine for Bulk, BTW) you can use this 75 amper as a portable charger if you have a Honda 2000 equivalent to run it.

http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondocker-BPCM-75-75-Amp-Adjustable-Power-ConverterCharger_p_587.html#.ViQ2c3mFNjo

BFL13 I just wanted to say Thanks , I bought the Powermax 75 and really really like it , Thanks for the recommendation.

HENCE

"I am not naive enough to believe the comments copied and pasted below at prima facia."

Broad board nailed across gluteus maximus

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:


...This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv
Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased new 32-foot
Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor
home left the freeway, crashed and over turned. Also not surprisingl Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual
that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, ** ARE YOU SITTING DOWN ?

** $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. **



Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Better check your facts, I don't know about the runner-ups but the Grazinski story has been going around since 2002. In the original story it was a man and then the story changed to a woman around 2009.

Edit to add, according to stellaawards.com they are all bogus.
http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html

REGARDING THE NECESSITY OF IDIOT-RESISTANT MERCHANDISE...

I am not naive enough to believe the comments copied and pasted below at prima facia. But the comments are a good illustration as to what manufacturers must endure with regard to liability issues. Depending on the item, product liability underwriting cost can add anywhere from ten percent to fifty percent to the retail cost of "hazardous" products...



2015 STELLA AWARDS: For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving.
Who would ever think one could get scalded doing that, right?

That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.


Here are the Stellas for 2015:-




* SEVENTH PLACE *

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict considering the running toddler was her own. Start scratching!

* SIXTH PLACE *

Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbour's hubcaps. Scratch some more...

* FIFTH PLACE *

Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.


Keep scratching. There are more...

Double hand scratching after this one..


* FOURTH PLACE *

Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbour's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury
believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.


Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot..


* THIRD PLACE *

Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft dink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

Only two more so ease up on the scratching...


*SECOND PLACE*


Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000...oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

Ok. Here we go!!


* FIRST PLACE * ~ absolutely brilliant!




This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv
Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased new 32-foot
Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor
home left the freeway, crashed and over turned. Also not surprisingl Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual
that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, ** ARE YOU SITTING DOWN ?

** $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. **



Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.