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Trickle chargers
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Dick Tuttle
Yes, the difference between a trickle charger and a "float" charger ia an
important one. It seems amazing, but half an amp can can overcharge a battery and ruin it. I have used the Harbor Freight cheapies and they work well on a batt |
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Dick Tuttle
Sorry, premature send. Anyway, the cheap units seem to work well enough but
you need to start with 12+ volts in your battery. If your vehicle is outside, I have used the solar units and they seem to work well too. I have one on my truck which I seldom use and the battery is always up, despite its advanced age. The Harbor cheapies (as low as $9 on sale) are only for 12 volts. Dick Tuttle |
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Ben Boyle
I just use the $15 ones you can get at Harbor Freight. I have them on 3
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vehicles and so it's all good.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Byron W. Brill" <bbrill@...> To: "Arcane Autos Yahoo Group" <Arcane_autos@...> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 6:02 PM Subject: [Arcane_autos] Trickle chargers Anybody have any suggestions for trickle chargers? I've got several cars,mostly 12v, but with one or two 6v thrown in. I'm looking for a single battery trickle charger and/or a multi battery charger that will maintain batteries on cars that don't get driven regularly, particularly through the winter. I'm after an automatic charger that will taper its charge as required & not cook my batteries. I've checked out what's available at Automotive Service Equipment (www.asedeals.com), Northern Tool (www.northerntool.com), SJ Discount Tools (www.sjdiscounttools.com) & am poised to order one or more from TP Tools (www.tptools.com), but thought I'd ask the question first of all youse guys that are so much smarter than me. Any ideas?
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Byron W. Brill <bbrill@...>
Anybody have any suggestions for trickle chargers? I've got several cars, mostly 12v, but with one or two 6v thrown in. I'm looking for a single battery trickle charger and/or a multi battery charger that will maintain batteries on cars that don't get driven regularly, particularly through the winter. I'm after an automatic charger that will taper its charge as required & not cook my batteries. I've checked out what's available at Automotive Service Equipment (www.asedeals.com), Northern Tool (www.northerntool.com), SJ Discount Tools (www.sjdiscounttools.com) & am poised to order one or more from TP Tools (www.tptools.com), but thought I'd ask the question first of all youse guys that are so much smarter than me. Any ideas?
Thanks, Byron |
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mark sebolt
I just ought one at Cycle Gear in Concord. they have several stores in the
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bay area. The Battery Tender Junior was on sale for $22 down from 36. It is a tiny unit about 1/2 the size of a pack of cigarettes but thicker. It comes with a set of aligator clips and a set of ring terminals both of which are fused. I install the ring terminals to the battery and the adapter plug just hangs down (it has a cap) IN use just pop the cap and plug the extention cord from the tender to the socket. Or you can plug on the aligator clips and clamp them to the battery posts. Battery Tender also has a 4 unit base station that you attach to the wall or workbench then run extention cord things to the sockets on all of yout cars. The thing I like about them is they are designed to leave connected to the batteries until you need the car and automatically cycle as required. The one from HF probably does the same thing for less. Mark
On 3/15/06, Byron W. Brill <bbrill@...> wrote:
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David Richoux <tubaman@...>
I have used mostly ones from Battery Tender http://batterytender.com they have multiple unit chargers but not mixed voltage AFAIK and they are usually good quality.
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http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=5 for the 6v http://batterytender.com/default.php?cPath=11_12 for "waterproof" http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=19 for a multiple unit (not cheap!) Dave Richoux
On Mar 15, 2006, at 3:01 PM, Ben Boyle wrote:
I just use the $15 ones you can get at Harbor Freight. I have them on 3 |
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Matthew Spielberg <mspielberg@...>
Be careful what you ask for...terminology has changed.
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Battery charger is the general term for anything that charges batteries A trickle charger is a battery charger which has low power output, and was the old fashioned solution. What you need is a "float charger," which is a smart trickle charger, which shuts down when the battery is fully charged, and comes back on when needed. Stupid chargers will "taper" but still overcharge over time. I too have used the Harbor Freight float chargers. Use them only on charged batteries, or else expect a very short lifespan. Ben Boyle wrote: I just use the $15 ones you can get at Harbor Freight. I have them on 3 |
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Sinclair <rjs@...>
Byron:
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I've been using "Deltran Battery Tender " chargers for many years with total satisfaction. I have several, as we are fortunate in having two garages...one off the street where we park my wife's Honda CRV and my Ferrari GTS which gets relatively little use; the other beneath our house where I keep a number of motorcycles. I keep one of the chargers plugged into the Ferrari's battery, which I've wired with a quick connect coupling (supplied by Deltran with each unit). I've extended the wiring of the downstairs one with about 8 feet of coiled wire, so I can stretch it from one motorcycle to another as needed. I'm very high on the Deltran chargers. They're computerized, with the charging rate dropping as the battery picks up a charge, finally dropping to zero when the battery is fully charged. They are fitted with two diode lights; one red, the other green. When the red light is on, that means the battery is low and the charger is working. When fully charged, the green light comes on and the charger shuts off. Very simple; very reliable in my experience over well more than a decade of use. I have a friend in Madrid, Spain, who owns half a dozen or so rather expensive sports cars. For years, each time I visited him, invariably most of the batteries were dead. On my return from one of my visits I phoned Deltran and asked if they could supply chargers with 220 volts/50 amps to match the current in Spain. They can, so I bought him a few as gifts. He loves them. See: http://batterytender.com/ and follow the links, especially the FAQs, which explain all in detail. Bob Sinclair Santa Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Byron W. Brill" <bbrill@...> To: "Arcane Autos Yahoo Group" <Arcane_autos@...> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 3:02 PM Subject: [Arcane_autos] Trickle chargers Anybody have any suggestions for trickle chargers? I've got several cars, mostly 12v, but with one or two 6v thrown in. I'm looking for a single battery trickle charger and/or a multi battery charger that will maintain batteries on cars that don't get driven regularly, particularly through the winter. I'm after an automatic charger that will taper its charge as required & not cook my batteries. I've checked out what's available at Automotive Service Equipment (www.asedeals.com), Northern Tool (www.northerntool.com), SJ Discount Tools (www.sjdiscounttools.com) & am poised to order one or more from TP Tools (www.tptools.com), but thought I'd ask the question first of all youse guys that are so much smarter than me. Any ideas? |
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Byron,
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I have a simple wall-wart style trickle charger with a molex-type plug which I used to keep my Abarth battery charged between uses. It was switchable between 6 and 12V. I believe it was originally marketed for motorcycles. I think I bought it from J.C. Whitney. A quick search of their site shows 6 or 12v, no combinations: http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/showCustom-0/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2006111/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2006111/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=trickle At $9.99 each, you could have one for 12V and one for 6V without breaking the bank. A quick check of Harbor Freight Tools shows they have a similar tricle charger: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292 as well as one which appears to be more substantial: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93781 Tom Knapp -------------- Original message from "Byron W. Brill" <bbrill@...>: -------------- Anybody have any suggestions for trickle chargers? I've got several cars, |
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Byron W. Brill <bbrill@...>
Man, ask and ye shall receive! Thank you everyone for your insights and suggestions (as well as the education). I'm well on my way to being, and remaining, fully charged.
Byron |
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Rik Beeson
Hello Byron,
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I would like to concur 100% with what Bob says below. The Deltran Battery Tender, IMO, does the best job of keeping the battery up without killing it -- which the cheapies tend to do. And their nice plug makes is really easy to hook up and unhook. I think I paid something like $32 for one recently, from a company that sells them on eBay. I bought it directly. Money well spent. Best regards, Rik Sinclair wrote: Byron: |
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Byron W. Brill <bbrill@...>
Thanks Rik - good information.
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Byron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rik & Susan Beeson" <rik@...> To: <Arcane_autos@...> Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 1:52 PM Subject: Re: [Arcane_autos] Trickle chargers Hello Byron, |
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