"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Last year I bought a Vector battery charger, the blue "marine" model that
has 2/10/20/35 amp charge rates, and I've used it a couple of times to
charge my tractor battery, car battery and boat batteries. It works well
as a charger at the 2/10/20 rates. Never tried the 35 amp rate.

But the charger also "reconditions" batteries, or so the advertising and
manual say, using a 24-hour cycle to desulfate battery plates. I've never
used this feature, but I loaned the charger to a buddy and he reports that
it actually revived two batteries he was about to toss. I don't have any
other details.

My one gripe about the charger is that its LED readouts are virtually
impossible to read outdoors, even in indirect light.

I got one of the small ones and liked it so much I got the bigger one with
up to 40 amps charge rate and a 100 amp "start engine" setting. Like you, I
revived a couple of motorcycle batteries that sat all winter and would not
take a charge with a regular charger.

Unfortunately, after using it maybe 6 times the bigger one died. Plugged it
in one day and it went "pop" and a small trail of smoke rose out of it.
The little one still works but you have to slap it around to get the fan
running. They are great chargers but I am not so sure about the quality.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Last year I bought a Vector battery charger, the blue "marine" model that
has 2/10/20/35 amp charge rates, and I've used it a couple of times to
charge my tractor battery, car battery and boat batteries. It works well
as a charger at the 2/10/20 rates. Never tried the 35 amp rate.

But the charger also "reconditions" batteries, or so the advertising and
manual say, using a 24-hour cycle to desulfate battery plates. I've never
used this feature, but I loaned the charger to a buddy and he reports
that it actually revived two batteries he was about to toss. I don't have
any other details.

My one gripe about the charger is that its LED readouts are virtually
impossible to read outdoors, even in indirect light.

I got one of the small ones and liked it so much I got the bigger one with
up to 40 amps charge rate and a 100 amp "start engine" setting. Like you,
I revived a couple of motorcycle batteries that sat all winter and would
not take a charge with a regular charger.

Unfortunately, after using it maybe 6 times the bigger one died. Plugged
it in one day and it went "pop" and a small trail of smoke rose out of it.
The little one still works but you have to slap it around to get the fan
running. They are great chargers but I am not so sure about the quality.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com


Why not just buy a new battery? I personally don't want to take any
chances. If a battery goes dead, why risk your peace of mind and safety for
maybe another 10% to 20% of its normal life?

"William Bruce" wrote in message
. ..

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Last year I bought a Vector battery charger, the blue "marine" model
that has 2/10/20/35 amp charge rates, and I've used it a couple of times
to charge my tractor battery, car battery and boat batteries. It works
well as a charger at the 2/10/20 rates. Never tried the 35 amp rate.

But the charger also "reconditions" batteries, or so the advertising and
manual say, using a 24-hour cycle to desulfate battery plates. I've
never used this feature, but I loaned the charger to a buddy and he
reports that it actually revived two batteries he was about to toss. I
don't have any other details.

My one gripe about the charger is that its LED readouts are virtually
impossible to read outdoors, even in indirect light.

I got one of the small ones and liked it so much I got the bigger one
with up to 40 amps charge rate and a 100 amp "start engine" setting. Like
you, I revived a couple of motorcycle batteries that sat all winter and
would not take a charge with a regular charger.

Unfortunately, after using it maybe 6 times the bigger one died. Plugged
it in one day and it went "pop" and a small trail of smoke rose out of
it. The little one still works but you have to slap it around to get the
fan running. They are great chargers but I am not so sure about the
quality.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com


Why not just buy a new battery? I personally don't want to take any
chances. If a battery goes dead, why risk your peace of mind and safety
for maybe another 10% to 20% of its normal life?


I agree with you if the battery is a few years old however sometimes a
battery in perfectly good condition can sulfate over during a period of none
use, as is my example of the motorcycle batteries. When the plates sulfate
and you try to charge the battery, it will quickly come up to the charger's
output voltage and the current drops off as if it is fully charged. The
problem is that the battery is far from fully charged, it is just displaying
a surface charge, acting like it's a very small battery. When you put a
real load on the battery, the charge quickly dissipates and there's no
juice.

The "reconditioning" feature on these chargers output a much higher
voltage - typically in excess of 15 volts that overcomes the insulating
properties of the sulfated plates and "burns" it off. A battery that was
not allowing any current from the charger before reconditioning will now
take a normal charge. I've done this several times in the past with the
motorcycle batteries and once regaining a charge, the battery is fine for
another season of riding.

I remember years ago there was a battery additive marketed that chemically
did the same thing and was supposed to bring dead batteries "back to life".

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"William Bruce" wrote in message
. ..

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Last year I bought a Vector battery charger, the blue "marine" model
that has 2/10/20/35 amp charge rates, and I've used it a couple of
times to charge my tractor battery, car battery and boat batteries. It
works well as a charger at the 2/10/20 rates. Never tried the 35 amp
rate.

But the charger also "reconditions" batteries, or so the advertising
and manual say, using a 24-hour cycle to desulfate battery plates. I've
never used this feature, but I loaned the charger to a buddy and he
reports that it actually revived two batteries he was about to toss. I
don't have any other details.

My one gripe about the charger is that its LED readouts are virtually
impossible to read outdoors, even in indirect light.

I got one of the small ones and liked it so much I got the bigger one
with up to 40 amps charge rate and a 100 amp "start engine" setting.
Like you, I revived a couple of motorcycle batteries that sat all winter
and would not take a charge with a regular charger.

Unfortunately, after using it maybe 6 times the bigger one died. Plugged
it in one day and it went "pop" and a small trail of smoke rose out of
it. The little one still works but you have to slap it around to get the
fan running. They are great chargers but I am not so sure about the
quality.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com


Why not just buy a new battery? I personally don't want to take any
chances. If a battery goes dead, why risk your peace of mind and safety
for maybe another 10% to 20% of its normal life?


I agree with you if the battery is a few years old however sometimes a
battery in perfectly good condition can sulfate over during a period of
none use, as is my example of the motorcycle batteries. When the plates
sulfate and you try to charge the battery, it will quickly come up to the
charger's output voltage and the current drops off as if it is fully
charged. The problem is that the battery is far from fully charged, it is
just displaying a surface charge, acting like it's a very small battery.
When you put a real load on the battery, the charge quickly dissipates and
there's no juice.

The "reconditioning" feature on these chargers output a much higher
voltage - typically in excess of 15 volts that overcomes the insulating
properties of the sulfated plates and "burns" it off. A battery that was
not allowing any current from the charger before reconditioning will now
take a normal charge. I've done this several times in the past with the
motorcycle batteries and once regaining a charge, the battery is fine for
another season of riding.

I remember years ago there was a battery additive marketed that chemically
did the same thing and was supposed to bring dead batteries "back to
life".

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

"William Bruce" wrote in message
.. .


Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.


BTW ... the "reconditioning" mode on these chargers do not supply a steady
voltage. It pulses on and off at a programmed frequency to help burn off
the insulating layer on the plates. There's another term for doing this
that is commonly used other than "reconditioning" but I'll be dipped if I
can remember what it is at the moment.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

"Eisboch" wrote:


"William Bruce" wrote in message
. ..


Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.


BTW ... the "reconditioning" mode on these chargers do not supply a steady
voltage. It pulses on and off at a programmed frequency to help burn off
the insulating layer on the plates. There's another term for doing this
that is commonly used other than "reconditioning" but I'll be dipped if I
can remember what it is at the moment.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

Equalization?
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org

"Jim Rusling" wrote in message
g...
"Eisboch" wrote:


"William Bruce" wrote in message
...


Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.


BTW ... the "reconditioning" mode on these chargers do not supply a steady
voltage. It pulses on and off at a programmed frequency to help burn off
the insulating layer on the plates. There's another term for doing this
that is commonly used other than "reconditioning" but I'll be dipped if I
can remember what it is at the moment.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

Equalization?
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org

There you go! I assume (don't know for sure though) that it relates to
getting all the plates cleaned up and of equal capacity. Another term used
is "desulfate".

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

"Jim Rusling" wrote in message
g...

Equalization?
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org



Great looking dogs, BTW.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

"Eisboch" wrote:


"Jim Rusling" wrote in message
g...

Equalization?
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org



Great looking dogs, BTW.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

Thanks, The older one had to be put down in January. He was older and
we had a grass fire here. He was almost blind and when the wife
evacuated the house with the dogs he got really stressed out and just
gave up. One of these days I will get the web page updated. Sometimes
it still seems like he is around.
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org

A follow-up on the discussion on smart battery chargers.

I decided to get the bike going yesterday and discovered that (again) I had
forgotten to disconnect the battery when I put it away last fall. This bike
has a radio with presets and draws a small amount of current and, as a
result, the battery was dead dead.

For kicks, I hooked up an old "dumb" charger and saw that it would not take
a charge, even after a couple of hours.
My "smart" Vector charger had blown up, so I couldn't try that one. So, I
headed for the store planning to get a new battery.

Instead, I discovered that Schumacher now sells a smart charger with an
automatic desulfate mode. It can be set for three battery types, including
AGM, and has a 2 amp slow charge, 12 amp and 25 amp charge settings. It
automatically detects if the battery needs to be desulfated and turns on
that mode during the bulk charge cycle. I decided to get it since I wanted
another smart charger. I think it was under 80 bucks.

I hooked it up to the dead motorcycle battery. There are selectable
displays to indicate percent of charge and battery voltage. My battery read
"6" and 2.9 volts. Not expecting much, I put the 2 amp slow charge cycle
on and noticed that the "desulfate" mode was automatically initiated after a
couple of minuites. I left it on overnight.

This morning, the charger was in the "charge complete float mode" and the
battery was at 13.8 volts and indicated 100 percent charged. Disconnected
the charger, hit the bike's start button and the bike fired right up.
Turned it off and restarted several times to confirm that the battery was
indeed fully charged and it started every time. By 5 pm, the battery was
still holding a full charge.

These things work. I'll bet there's a lot of batteries tossed out that
still have plenty of service life left in them.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com