A "trickle" charger to my mind is an unregulated charger, the kind that really needs to be on some kind of timer. An example are the 2/6 amp chargers Schumacher and Sears and Wards and everybody sold for years and years. Modern "smart" chargers have some kind protection circuitry or float voltage mechanism to prevent boiling out the electrolyte. Sometimes the terms "trickle" are used interchangeably. What kind of charger was it? I agree paranoia is a healthy thing when it comes to batteries. There is an awful lot of potential energy stored in them. I actually like the old school "dumb" chargers for re-charging, I think they do a better job of getting them completely charged up than the micro-amp maintainers like the BT. It takes a long time to recharge even a halfway depleted battery at low amperes and the BT will automagically switch to float charge before this process is complete, to avoid excessive outgassing. What it looks like to me from measuring charging voltages, the old school taper chargers were "sized" by way of their transformer, to top out at a certain range of end current and voltage for a typical automotive start battery. Since wintertime starting was the general problem they were kind of "tuned" for that situation. In zero wintertime temps, a battery has a high internal resistance and needs lots of juice to recharge, the charger could probably be left connected at 6 amps without hurting anything. Once things warm up though, the unregulated voltage will rise very high, 17 volts or more, and boil the battery dry.
I have been using this one for a few years... very happy with it. I think I got it at my local NAPA https://www.amazon.com/Clore-Automotive-PL2140-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B00U3ZBU2E
Are the solar battery tenders still available? Some new cars used to come with them but only stayed in the cars during transport and storage, then removed before a sale.
I misspoke, it was in fact a “battery tender”. Made by Duracell. It wasn’t cheap. The smart kind you can leave attached to the battery indefinitely. I never did that though, I just disconnected it after the batteries were fully charged (multiple motorcycles and vehicles), so I would cycle it around, repeated a few times over the winter. It actually was connected for less than 8 hours, like over night. There was no fire, no dramatic scene, just a bunch of pieces of the top of the battery scattered around, I didn’t even notice until my arm started burning a bit from touching some of the acid on a surface. Kind of a mess to clean up. Not really a cautionary tale, I still use battery tenders, I think it was just a fluke. But I don’t really trust some gizmos. They work just fine until they don’t. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
See my post above... I think NAPA still sells them and I posted a link to them available on amazon... if those are the same "Solar" brand you are referring to. Chappy
I got a Deltran battery tender from 4wheelonline. I have had it for about 7 years now and never had a problem.
Yes, battery tender brand makes one ( i have one thats awesome) and theres lots of knockoffs. I love my BT brand, my neighbor saw it and got a knockoff... he still has to jump his car
Maybe I'm the oddball, or maybe it's because I am too cheap, but I move my batteries around car to car every now and then to keep them from getting too stale, and to exercise them every now and then WHY BE ORDINARY ?
clunker, just curious what make the battery was. I have had two from Interstate give me problems. One swelled up to the point of bending the hold down bracket. This happened quite some time ago though.
Another vote for the HFT unit. I have 4 of them working right now and no issues with dead batteries. .
I agree. I never leave any kind of battery charger on a battery 24/7. My battery issues went way down since I started plugging my "smart charger" into a simple timer. After the battery is fully charged, I plug my smart charger to a timer. I set the timer to run the battery charger for 1 hour per day. Done.
What I've read, is "stationary" lead-acid batteries - used for dedicated backup and the phone company and things like that have an expected life span of about 20 years. These are kept charged (I guess) and away from heat, and vibration. Nobody's gonna get 20 years out of a car battery but only 2 or 3 years isn't acceptable either. Maybe it's a matter of neglect. Different ways of approaching things depending on philosophy, safety, or maybe wallet. Some guys are perfectly fine with buying junkyard batts at $20 per.
That can’t be good. Duralast, but I’ve had good luck with Interstate in the past. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Lightning - read up on lightning rods, you may want to install one if you get that much action. The ground rod for your electrical service is not a necessarily a lightning rod. Depending on your soil type and and moisture level the minimum code electrical ground rod may not be as effective as needed.
Deltrans - readily available, my buddy who manages a vehicle and equipment fleet said they work great. I now own several. Have a few harbor freight tenders that get used for small equipment. After having trouble with new chargers failing in a short amount of time, I only buy schumacher now. I actually try to buy old chargers from farm or estate sales, if I can find one without a computer, Im happy. Have a 2 extra chargers solely for electrolysis derust.
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