Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: Battery charger - have I made another booboo?
DaveFJ

posted on 3/3/08 at 02:36 PM Reply With Quote
Battery charger - have I made another booboo?

Just bought one of these...

quote:

# For most petrol and diesel engines with 6V/12V lead acid batteries.
# Suitable for 12V lead acid batteries with a capacity between 7Ah - 180Ah
# Trickle charge 3A RMS, fast charge 12A RMS.
# Reverse polarity protection.
# Short circuit protection.
# Thermal overload.
# Mains on LED indicator.
# Analogue meter shows the battery charging status.
# Automatically switches to float charge when battery is fully charged (12V fast charge only).
# Metal case.



but now am wodering whether I should have bought one of these instead?



quote:

# Suitable for use with 12 volt lead acid car batteries between 20-225 Ah.
# 12 amps RMS normal charge rate and 2 amps RMS trickle charge rate.
# Built-in auto reset breaker for short circuit, reverse polarity and thermal protection.
# Full charge automatic switching to maintenance mode.
# LED showing charging status and reverse polarity warning.
# Conforms to CE safety regulations.
# Standard battery charge time from flat 225Ah - 20 hours.
# Suitable for over 1800cc engine size.
# Petrol / diesel.




The reason I am now wondering is that I have a PowerVamp PVR25 18Ah drycell battery (similar to the odyssey one) and I notice that the second one (£5 cheaper BTW!) has a switch for 'dry cell'....

Or do I just use the one I have bought but leave on trickle charge?





Dave

"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
nitram38

posted on 3/3/08 at 02:44 PM Reply With Quote
They are both wrong if you want to leave them on trickle charge as they will both shaft your battery.
I bought a proper charger (can't think of the name and my other garage is away from here!) which cuts off when the battery is charged and only starts charging when the battery has dropped to 95%.
Optimate springs to mine although mine is not one of those!
I'll do a bit of digging on ebay to see if I can find one!






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
nitram38

posted on 3/3/08 at 02:48 PM Reply With Quote
Here you go ebay
Its a Ctek and keeps my red top 25 Gel battery in good condition






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
UncleFista

posted on 3/3/08 at 02:48 PM Reply With Quote
I have a Draper "Intelligent" battery charger that works well, it just charges when it needs it and cuts off when charged, you can leave it connected indefinitely and it'll keep the battery in good health.

It wasn't silly money (obviously or I wouldn't have one)

You can't use 'em for electrolysis though, you need a "normal" one like you have..

[Edited on 3/3/08 by UncleFista]





Tony Bond / UncleFista

Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
DaveFJ

posted on 3/3/08 at 03:40 PM Reply With Quote
Not really after something I can just leave on... I just need to be able to charge the battery as I have yet to get the car started and testing elctrics etc has run it down a bit so it hasn't got enough umph to turn her over now....

Other issue is I need it today! hence the trip to Argos...





Dave

"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
Macbeast

posted on 3/3/08 at 06:23 PM Reply With Quote
I should use the one you've got on fast charge and just switch it off after 2 hours or so.
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
owelly

posted on 3/3/08 at 08:06 PM Reply With Quote
I bought a 'Battery reconditioner' for £35. It has all the trickle charge stuff plus it magically reconditions the battery if it thinks it needs it. If the battery hasn't recovered after three attempts to recon, the machine switches off and sends you to buy a new battery. I had a battery that wouldn't hold charge, probably due to being on my car for over a year and never used. The magic machine charged it, trickled it for an hour or so and then went into 'recover mode'. The battery is now back on the car and manages to work whenever it needs to even if it's been a month without use.
It says on the box that it is suitable for all 12v batteries.

Here it is...My magic charger and mender of batteries

[Edited on 3/3/08 by owelly]





http://www.ppcmag.co.uk

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
alfasudsprint

posted on 7/3/08 at 10:01 PM Reply With Quote
where'd you find one for 35? Best I found is 45...
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
ragindave

posted on 8/3/08 at 12:37 AM Reply With Quote
Battery charger

Try ebay acu guard bike charger £30 delivered will keep any battery tip top car or bike.
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
owelly

posted on 8/3/08 at 10:17 AM Reply With Quote
I bought my charger from Scarborough Race Developements for £35. He also had a few of the smaller 'Plug Top' chargers for £10 IIRC. I bough two of them as well!

http://www.scarbro-racing.co.uk/

[Edited on 8/3/08 by owelly]





http://www.ppcmag.co.uk

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.