Battery Charger ... yes time for a new one but ...

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I have this old Century battery charger. Probably brought it from Montgomery Wards. Model 87062. 12v/6amp, 12v/2amp, 6v/6amp. Chasing down a problem with MIL's
lawnmower. I was trying to turn a brand new starter (Toro electric start) and I could with a battery reading 13 volts. With the battery charger, i tried to start the starter at the 12v/2amp setting and nothing happen. Switch, by chance to the 12v6amp setting at it turned nicely. Connect a Harbor Frieght mutilmeter and discover the following.

Setting: 12/6amp Output: 12.06 volts DC
12/2amp 10.43 volts DC
6/6amp 7.38 volts DC

So the 12/2 setting is [censored]. The unit has a build date of 01/97.
Two questions I want answered,
1. Anyone care to recommend a battery charger I hardly use? (It is so hard to get opinions from this forum). I have purchased a Noco Genius G3500 for maintaining lawnmower and scooter batteries. Just want a car charger in case battery dies in Chicago winter that will get me though a cold spell or a charge or two until I by a new battery or the nieghbors need help.

2. Since it is my belief that a battery charger is suppose to have slightly more voltage than the battery it was charging, what happen when I tried to charge 12volt batteries with a charger putting out 10.43 volts. I often used the 12/2 setting, as this is a manually only charger and I had the fear of overcharging.
 
I don't need a $149 battery charger. I went to Walmart and bought a 10/6/2 amp charger for ~ $18 several years ago and added a $10 0.75A battery minder that you hook up and leave it connected. When the voltage drops it turns on and then turns off when the voltage comes back to normal? I feel the Shumacher chargers are a good value and dependable. Ed
 
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Solar pro logix 2310
Battery minder 2012
Tecmate my-191

Are my choices. If just maintaining, I'd go with the 2012 as my first choice.
 
Originally Posted By: tgrudzin

1. Anyone care to recommend a battery charger I hardly use? (It is so hard to get opinions from this forum). I have purchased a Noco Genius G3500 for maintaining lawnmower and scooter batteries. Just want a car charger in case battery dies in Chicago winter that will get me though a cold spell or a charge or two until I by a new battery or the nieghbors need help.


For your use case, I would get a Lithium jump starter or a SOLAR Pro-Logix PL2520.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
I don't need a $149 battery charger. I went to Walmart and bought a 10/6/2 amp charger for ~ $18 several years ago and added a $10 0.75A battery minder that you hook up and leave it connected. When the voltage drops it turns on and then turns off when the voltage comes back to normal? I feel the Shumacher chargers are a good value and dependable. Ed


Based on your description I would bet my charger is much smarter than your charger.

NOCO and CTEK.
 
My Noco is only 3.5 amps. Not helpful if I discover my battery is dead because of weather or I left lights own and need to get something going in a hurry. Thanks for the thought.
 
No, in that situation, it certainly wouldn't do. But, it is a capable charger in its own right. Hoping to get it up to charge in half an hour in an emergency could certainly be problematic, though.
wink.gif
 
actually it is normal.
it goes up on a fully charged battery.
open circuit you read the rms.
the battery acts like a capacitor and you read the peak.
just use your old one.
or keep it around for charging batts that are too low for your new fangled computer based thing to see.
and of course for equalising abused neglected batts.
i have a smart charger but i only use it for gel/agm.
wet go on the old school.
Originally Posted By: tgrudzin
I have this old Century battery charger. Probably brought it from Montgomery Wards. Model 87062. 12v/6amp, 12v/2amp, 6v/6amp. Chasing down a problem with MIL's
lawnmower. I was trying to turn a brand new starter (Toro electric start) and I could with a battery reading 13 volts. With the battery charger, i tried to start the starter at the 12v/2amp setting and nothing happen. Switch, by chance to the 12v6amp setting at it turned nicely. Connect a Harbor Frieght mutilmeter and discover the following.

Setting: 12/6amp Output: 12.06 volts DC
12/2amp 10.43 volts DC
6/6amp 7.38 volts DC

So the 12/2 setting is [censored]. The unit has a build date of 01/97.
Two questions I want answered,
1. Anyone care to recommend a battery charger I hardly use? (It is so hard to get opinions from this forum). I have purchased a Noco Genius G3500 for maintaining lawnmower and scooter batteries. Just want a car charger in case battery dies in Chicago winter that will get me though a cold spell or a charge or two until I by a new battery or the nieghbors need help.

2. Since it is my belief that a battery charger is suppose to have slightly more voltage than the battery it was charging, what happen when I tried to charge 12volt batteries with a charger putting out 10.43 volts. I often used the 12/2 setting, as this is a manually only charger and I had the fear of overcharging.
 
You are correct ArticDriver. Your $149 charger is much smarter than my $19 charger. I suspect your charger is so smart it does your income tax. Just funing. Ed
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
You are correct ArticDriver. Your $149 charger is much smarter than my $19 charger. I suspect your charger is so smart it does your income tax. Just funing. Ed


Ed,

It is so smart it refuses to work on the weekends...
grin.gif


But I paid $65 on Amazon about 18 months ago so it may not be as smart as the $165 model.
 
Keep in mind that even a manual charger will in effect taper the charge as the battery becomes fully charged. But it will never stop charging. So overnight is fine, but not for days or weeks.

Sometimes a manual charger is handy to bring a batter up a bit as some automatic chargers will not work with a really dead battery.

I think I have a old Century charger that is broken and on my list of things to fix. It's been on that list for 10 years however.

I have no inexpensive charger to recommend, I have expensive BatteryMinder ones (several).
 
You NEED a manual powerhouse charger in the country... I only got one vehicle and if I get a dead battery on a work morning, my microprocessor controlled charger with 15 amp fast charge mode isn't going to get me out of Dodge!

I need a manual charger with start mode, that will allow me to start and head to town for a new battery.
 
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Originally Posted By: Eddie
I don't need a $149 battery charger. I went to Walmart and bought a 10/6/2 amp charger for ~ $18 several years ago and added a $10 0.75A battery minder that you hook up and leave it connected. When the voltage drops it turns on and then turns off when the voltage comes back to normal? I feel the Shumacher chargers are a good value and dependable. Ed


Today's cars have very sophisticated and delicate electronic systems. Given the amount of money I spent on my vehicles, I do not mind buying the highest quality and safest smart charger available. CTEK units are standard or optional OEM units on a lot of high end cars. For example, one came with my 2015 Stingray I bought new. Other examples include, BMW, Audi, Lamborghini, and Maserati. If you want to use the cheapest junk chargers you can find or your cars, then I say go for it. I would not hook one of yours up on any of my vehicles under any circumstances.
 
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Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
You NEED a manual powerhouse charger in the country... I only got one vehicle and if I get a dead battery on a work morning, my microprocessor controlled charger with 15 amp fast charge mode isn't going to get me out of Dodge!

There is some wisdom in having both kinds available.
wink.gif
 
So I have a good working walmart manual charger. As its ratings are exactly the same as OPs I figure it's not too different inside.

Plugged in, no load, 12V/6A mode: 12.5 volts. Weird!

Plugged into a headlamp, 9.5 volts, 5 amps. Again, not what I expect.

"Good" battery, 12.6 V static. 14+ Volts on the charger.

Could be my meter doing something funny with the funky rectified AC (open circuit) that gets better with a battery involved. Or it could be an ounce of brains in the charger that boosts voltage when it's happily connected to a healthy battery.

Edit, seems like what kcedu said above.

But I think maybe OP's charger may be okay.




 
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