6PakBee
Well-Known Member
Does anybody make a "dumb" battery charger any more? I have a NAPA "smart" charger and it's driving me nuts with all the safety features. Any alternatives?
Battery Chargers
- Thread starter 6PakBee
- Start date
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What's the issue?
rustycowll69
Well-Known Member
I've had many of the Schumacher smart chargers, and they work pretty good....for awhile. They just aren't durable at all. I've had at least 3 fail on me. I think they're made with Chinese parts which won't stand up to frequent use.
Try this. I've heard good things. Kinda expensive.
Associated 6002B 6/12/18/24 VOLT BATTERY CHARGER 400 AMP BOOST | Tool Discounter
Ironracer
Gearhead
Those digital "smart" units are junk, as far as I'm concerned....
33IMP
Well-Known Member
I have a roll-around Schumacher thats 40 years old, works like a champ, but no auto features. It will boil a battery into a hard boiled egg if youre not careful. My dad bought it to charge six and eight volt batteries. Does 12v too of course.
My new (old) car has abysmal battery access, so it has a red top. Needed a special charger. Got a $25 one from HF. Works fine, no complaints. I think its probably $40 now.
My new (old) car has abysmal battery access, so it has a red top. Needed a special charger. Got a $25 one from HF. Works fine, no complaints. I think its probably $40 now.
I have one I bought at Walmart, it charges and then will maintain,
45.00 or so (this is a newer model but the only different part is the sticker face)
45.00 or so (this is a newer model but the only different part is the sticker face)
They don't charge dead batteries ! They SUCK. Hell they don't even charge low ones !
The charger I have will charge a battery that will not crank the engine. Is that your definition of dead?
The one I have you can't even test anything , the hot lead isn't hot till you put it on a live battery. Won't light a bulb up or test a starter or anything. Put it on a battery and it just bounces on & off. Gonna get the BHF out !
Schumacher
I'll test mine to see if it will act as a power source.
33IMP
Well-Known Member
Sometimes a charger won't start up if the battery is stone dead. Put the charger on the dead one and jump from a good battery to get it started.
(Same reason so many perfectly good discharged agm's get thrown away, the charger won't start, so "it won't take a charge".)
(Same reason so many perfectly good discharged agm's get thrown away, the charger won't start, so "it won't take a charge".)
Steve welder
Well-Known Member
Smart units? Whats wrong with an old fashioned timer?
rustycowll69
Well-Known Member
I have done that to resurrect a weak agm battery which had trouble fully charging and keeping the charge once charged in the car. I checked it with my electronic tester, and it read as 'bad' while fully charged. I hooked it up in parallel to a good battery. Then I put it on the charger. After a day or so, I'd use a battery load tester to deplete the good battery a bit then put it back on the charger. After about a half dozen cycles like that the agm battery finally took a full charge. I put the agm on my electronic battery tester and it read 'good', 100%. Saved a very expensive 3yo, 70# agm NAPA battery for my 09 charger, that NAPA wouldn't warranty because I didn't have the receipt.
Ironracer
Gearhead
Kick ***! Ya Know, if it's Obviously THEIR crap, and Napa IS marked, just Make it Right! Why try to screw the customer, or the next Lil guy over some corporate Scum wanting to slice a Penny sideways
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
If you have a charger, even a smart one that is a TRANSFORMER charger and not a "switching" (inverter) supply, you might be able to make a modification to "unsmart" the thing. If you can't figure that out, you could just add either two diodes (center tap) or 4 (in a bridge) and make a simple rectifier output that is not "smart."
Even "dumb" chargers will sometimes not activate a really dead battery. I sometimes series two "dumb" chargers (for 24V) to "boost start" a really dead one. Watch the meters, and when they come up after a couple/ few minutes, revert back to one charger
You can also do that with an extra good battery and a charger. Series the good battery and the "dumb" charger for 24V and again, watch meter for output to rise
When I was a kid, and I still have what is left of it, we had an old "tungar bulb" charger. These are always set up to charge batteries in series, because the tungar bulb has quite a bit of operating resistance, so rather than trying to get more current out of the charger to charge more than one battery, you put the batteries in series and crank up the "tap switch" on the charger. Because they do this---increase voltage--they are also useful for boosting dead batteries
Above example is a "20 battery"--that's 6V so if you are charging at 8V that's 160V !!!! out of that charger to charge all 20 6V batteries in series!!!
Even "dumb" chargers will sometimes not activate a really dead battery. I sometimes series two "dumb" chargers (for 24V) to "boost start" a really dead one. Watch the meters, and when they come up after a couple/ few minutes, revert back to one charger
You can also do that with an extra good battery and a charger. Series the good battery and the "dumb" charger for 24V and again, watch meter for output to rise
When I was a kid, and I still have what is left of it, we had an old "tungar bulb" charger. These are always set up to charge batteries in series, because the tungar bulb has quite a bit of operating resistance, so rather than trying to get more current out of the charger to charge more than one battery, you put the batteries in series and crank up the "tap switch" on the charger. Because they do this---increase voltage--they are also useful for boosting dead batteries
Above example is a "20 battery"--that's 6V so if you are charging at 8V that's 160V !!!! out of that charger to charge all 20 6V batteries in series!!!
Ironracer
Gearhead
Yer a Sick Man Del, That's why we Love Ya, in a Non Faggoty way, of Course! I had a step-dad that worked Electronics for NARF at NAS Jax. Giant *** hangers, full of all kinda stuff. Never had a chance to learn ****. Even if it don't seem like it, Dumbasses like me, or at least me, have learned more than I could ever Comprehend just Reading your stuff, and You HAVE helped me figure out some stuff, probably without knowing it! Some of the stuff you deliver, I'd have to research, just to Do the researchin' ! Thank You for Sharing all Yer Knowledge and Much Appreciated! Now if I just could remember how to make 12v to 24v... series or parallel? Hot to Hot, neg to negative, or run + to --..... oh well... duhhhh
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6PakBee
Well-Known Member
Reading the posts I see I am not alone. First, as mentioned, it won't charge a dead battery as it has to sense voltage. So if I have a dead battery I have to pull the same trick as mentioned of temporarily paralleling another battery to get it to start charging. Then before the battery is fully charged it starts this "ON-OFF" dance. And the frosting on the cake is, as mentioned, I can't use it as a power source to test wiper motors, fan motors, etc. And it's not just chargers. We were going to unload a car using my electric winch. One of my friends said he'd use his jump box to run the winch rather than back a vehicle up. No go. We ended up hooking up the pickup battery to unload. The old days were so much simpler when a charger was a transformer, a rectifier, an ammeter, a switch, and some cables. That is what I am looking for.
Steve welder
Well-Known Member
For some things old technology still rules but I have one of those hand held portable battery jumpers.
I bought what I thought was a better rated model and keep it in the old car and new cars when I take trips
Ive used it a few times, and the contraption works great. It stays charged for months and months
I bought what I thought was a better rated model and keep it in the old car and new cars when I take trips
Ive used it a few times, and the contraption works great. It stays charged for months and months
This appears to be a 100% manual charger.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBC...CS-jPFdLK-DQEyKblsaApxMEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBC...CS-jPFdLK-DQEyKblsaApxMEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&
6PakBee
Well-Known Member
The title says 'manual' but if you look in the specifications it's listed as an "automatic".
I saw that, too, but if you zoom in on the console, all you see are dials. It's listed everywhere else as manual. I'd sure like to see one in person.
I found this picture on Amazon. It appears to be manual. I'm shocked. Pun intended. lol
Steve welder
Well-Known Member
In times of old when knights were bold........when batteries weren't sold in the same store were you could buy milk or a pair of jeans, when you were lucky if you owned some trickle charger, we took dead batteries to the local gas station to get charged.
33IMP
Well-Known Member
When I was running the battery shop for a Sears store, many moons ago, they wouldn't adjust any battery that came in dead, without charging it first. We had a battery rack that used something very similar, there would be five or ten customer batteries on it, and another ten or so 'loaner batteries.", all charging at once.
When the loaners didn't come back, the customers' batteries that were good got a coat of red paint...... and became loaners.
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