Caharging Battery with Charger

EDW · Aug 25, 2014

Hello Folks. I need to charge the battery on a "C" 6 volt, positive ground. Would I connect the charger positive to positive? Can I charge the battery while hooked up to the tractor? I would rather not remove the cables if not necessary. Thanks in advance.

John T · Aug 25, 2014

Sure, hook the charger + to battery + and charger - to battery -. Its not necessary to remove it (or cables) from tractor, the generator charges it on the tractor and even when running. I probably wouldn"t have the charger itself sitting on or in physical contact with the tractor, just run and connect the cables as I said.

Id guess others will advise the same, but ya never know lol

John T

mkirsch · Aug 25, 2014

What's the concern with having the charger in physical contact with the tractor?

I just want to know if there is a valid reason to change 30+ years of bad behavior.

John T · Aug 25, 2014

There's a chance there's no actual problem. Its just that over many years Ive seen so many chargers with wiring problems or shorts or maybe the AC equipment grounding conductor was attached to the chargers metal case or maybe not and could be a short with the DC to the case etc etc etc and with Pos or Neg ground issues, I just made it a practice to not let the charger sit on the tractor BUT IM SORT OF OVER SAFE AND USE OVER KILL SOMETIMES, JUST HOW IM WIRED LOL

Id say there's an isolation transformer anyway (120 VAC to low voltage rectified DC) which makes my concerns even less worrisome, but that's just me, maybe a safety nut

John T

EDW · Aug 25, 2014

Thanks to all. All advice is greatly appreciated.

rvirgil_KS · Aug 25, 2014

As indicated positive to positive, negative to negative.

Easy to keep straight if one understands that a battery charger output has a positive cable and a negative cable. A battery charger output does NOT have a ground cable.

Ground is a function of the circuit configuration, not the battery or the charger. When you buy a new battery, you simply ask for a battery. You do not ask for a positive ground battery or a negative ground battery.

So...Positive to positive, negative to negative, forget about ground. Doesn't matter if the system is configured positive ground, negative ground, or the battery is sitting disconnected on a bench.

Same rule applies to jumper cables

FBH44 · Aug 26, 2014

Had a 12 volt battery explode one time in my "77 Chevy, when I went to re-start it after about 1 minute. The explosion [ a momentary hyrogen gas buildup under the hood ] rocked the truck from side to side. I thought I had been shot with a 12-gage, honestly. KA-BLAM!!! I bailed out and hit the ground.
They say to make that last connection FAR FAR AWAY from the area of the battery, so any little momentray spark is not around hydrogen.
I'll either do that, or sometimes with a charger I'll connect everything, THEN plug in the charger.

mkirsch · Aug 26, 2014

Thanks for the good explanation as always John T.

Ever since I can remember, we always just set the battery charger on the step/deck of the tractor. Except the big booster on wheels... That one's a little heavy to lift.

Caharging Battery with Charger

EDW

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John T

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mkirsch

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John T

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EDW

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rvirgil_KS

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FBH44

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mkirsch

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