Trickle or float charger?

[RickM]

Originally posted by Grady Clay

We will have to put together a little EE lab for Souk. Hehe.

Best,
Grady

Sounds good to me


Speaking of pulses....some units have a pulsing effect when charging. The claim is that pulsing prevents build-up on the plates.

[RickM]

Originally posted by Souk
Rick...I forgot are you an EE?

No, just enjoy dabling in electronics a bit. I know enough to be dangerous.

[sodly]

Can you leave the battery in the vehicle when using these float chargers? According to the manufacturer's directions (on the HF one, anyway) you're supposed to always remove the battery from the vehicle first. That would eliminate much of the convenience, no?

[wcc]

sodly,
Yes, you can leave the batteries installed. I left all the cars batteries installed but the bikes aren't around any power so I remove those.

[sammyg2]

I have the HF float charger hooked up to my two waverunners, no worries.

BTW, when i was 5 my dad explained to me how a light bulb worked.
I decided to make my own out of a coat hanger. I realized the design deficiency immediately when i stuck the two ends in the wall socket.

We've prolly all heard the story about the guy working at a gas station who shows off by lighting a cigarette with a wire that was wrapped in 100's of coils and touched to the terminals of a battery.
Then a co-worker at the station attempts to duplicate the trick but only had about 10 wraps. Ouch.

[Lorenfb]

"BTW, when i was 5 my dad explained to me how a light bulb worked.
I decided to make my own out of a coat hanger. I realized the design deficiency immediately when i stuck the two ends in the wall socket." - sammyg2 -

What??????????? This is a Porsche DIYer?. Have sympathy for that Porsche!

"I have the HF float charger hooked up to my two waverunners, no worries."
- sammyg2 -

Waverunners??? So, what's the contribution to proper auto battery maintenance
other than some typical forum rap?

The key to using any charger for any battery is the capacity (amp-hr) and the
relative charging current. This applys for a time limited high charge or for a
continuous charge (trickle or floating - basically the same).

Basic guidelines:

1. short term (<2 hrs) fast charge for starting - battery capacity / 5
2. long term (~5 hrs) - battery capacity / 15
3. continuous charge (trickle/floating) - < 100ma
4. controlled continuous charging with voltage shutoff @ ~ 14V < 1.0 amp

Examples:

Typical auto battery:
short term - 60 amp-hr, C/5 = 12 amps
Long term - 60 amp-hr, C/15 = 4 amps

General charging current for most all batteries (nic-cad, nic-metal, lead acid
lit-ion) basically time limited at C/10.