Quote:
Originally Posted by FPB111
OK BCI technical definition is that chargers & maintainers are equal in operation.
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Technically, they are when charging, what makes a maintainer different is what happens as the battery approaches being fully charged, or drops away from that point. That is where a maintainer differs in how it responds.
The old style Porsche unit would bring the battery up to full charge, dropping the charging rate (current) as it approaches full charge. At this point, the indicator lights would change, indicating that the battery was at full capacity and the maintainer was in "standby" mode. If, subsequently, the battery drops, or say you opened the door on the car creating a drain, the unit indication would change showing it was again applying current until the battery was back up, when the lights would again change, showing it had gone back into "standby" mode. While "basic" by modern digital maintainer standards, it did the job fairly well. It was kind of an Intel 386 PC on Windows 95 in an iPhone world; not too swift, but it could eventually get the job done. Fortunately, there are much better (and more flexible) units available now that are both quicker and better for the battery in the process.