Auto Battery Charger

Stephen Newell · Jan 2, 2016

Can you buy a battery charger anymore that isn't one of those stupid smart chargers. I've been through three of them in the last year and I can't stand the smart chargers anymore. You could take any brand new battery and run it down to 9 volts or less and the battery would be sulfated and the charger would shut down and do nothing. Put it on a battery maintainer charger until the voltage is above 9 volts and the battery would no longer be sulfated and would charge. Drives me crazy,I needed to use my tractor late yesterday afternoon but instead had to charge it overnight on a battery maintainer charger.

wsmm · Jan 2, 2016

CarQuest / AdvanceAuto parts has them. Small ones up to larger ones on wheels. If I remember correctly about $70.00 to $149.00

Gary from Muleshoe · Jan 2, 2016

I found one at a Quest Auto Parts Store, was able to recharge two batteries that my smart charger kept saying was bad. Can't recall the brand, if I go to the work shop today I will get the brand name for you. Gary

teddy52food · Jan 2, 2016

If you have a spare battery that is good, just hook it up parallel & the charger will work. Even a small lawn mower battery will work.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 2, 2016

I have wired around the brains of a smart charger making it into an old school charger that won't shut off. It's simple to do providing it has a transformer and 2 diodes. I think the last charger I did was a HF cheapie that had a brain issue. I wasn't able to wire around the brains of the newer Schumachers charger that don't use a transformer. That will require an electrical.

BIL wanted me to make his golf cart smart charger into both a manual and smart charger. All I needed was a SPDT switch and a little wire. Lightning wiped out the brains of another golf cart charger. I used a 20 amp car fuse to wire around the brains and send the power directly to the transformer. Then they used a timer to turn charger off.

Stephen Newell · Jan 2, 2016

The one I have now is a black and decker. When you first plug it in it has you select if you want 2 amps, 6 amps or 10 amps. I wonder what wiring around the brain would affect this. I would be happy if it just did 10 amps. That's all I ever use on it.

I'll open the thing up this evening and see what happens.

da.bees · Jan 2, 2016

Black and Decker is just Wally World and HF junk wearing different britches. Try Deltran and you will see how charger maintainers actually operate.

notjustair · Jan 2, 2016

I have a new Schumacher smart charger that I love. I also have an ancient Schumacher battery charger that I refuse to get rid of. You have three choices on it - 2 amp, 10 amp, or 100 amp start. I have used it to start the lawn mower, but everything else I just charge overnight with it. I feel like I can trust it to be "dumb" and just put out amps.

John B. · Jan 2, 2016

I've got a small 10 amp Manual/Automatic charger. I always used it on manual until I read the instruction booklet and started using the automatic mode. I'm guessing that's what all of you are meaning when you say "Smart Charger". I also have a larger charger that has a 100 amp boost. This charger works really well. I installed volt meters on both my chargers this summer and I watch that meter more than the amp meter on both of them. The reason I put volt meters on them is because that is the first thing you check when a battery is low is the voltage so this keeps me from having to go get my volt meter. Because you always end up hooking up the charger anyway.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 2, 2016

Post a pic of the inside of charger.

guido · Jan 2, 2016

Hello Stephen Newell,

Take a good battery and parallel it to a low voltage one. You will outsmart the smart charger. When the bad one you need to charge goes up in voltage you can separate the two, and charge the one that would not originally take the charge. No new charger needed,

GUIDO.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 2, 2016

Stephen Newell'
The old school manual chargers were very similiar to a full wave power supply that uses a transformer and two diodes. The 6/12v chargers used a special transformer with a tap on the primary . Its possible a single 12v charger may also use multiple windings on primary. I have a sears that has a 2amp and 15 amp out. I would have to see inside to tell more.

Newer chargers without transformers are way to complicated for me.
simple diagram

D beatty · Jan 2, 2016

I have several different brands of maintainers and the Deltran is much better quality. Most guys today look at price not quality.

ASEguy · Jan 3, 2016

I bought a used Schumacher off ebay for $20 plus shipping about three years ago. They are tough as nails. Mine is a 6/12 volt.

Stephen Newell · Jan 3, 2016

This is the best I can do for pictures without probably breaking it. They really don't want you in this thing. After seeing inside I don't know if I'm up to trying to rewire it.

Stephen Newell · Jan 3, 2016

The last charger I had was Schumacher. It had the same problem and only lasted a few weeks before it quit altogether.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 3, 2016

Stephen,
You are right, they don't want you to take it apart. From what little I can see, the device with the yellow tape on it is the transformer. The aluminum heat sink is most likely where the two diodes are mounted. So it may be possible by using just the transformer and diodes to make this in to a manual charger. The problem is I can't be certain without taking it all the way apart. I would have to take it apart and study where the wires on the transformer are going before I could be certain.

Like I said before, most of the first generation smart chargers simply put an auto shut off device, the brain box, in front of an old manual charger. Just remove the brains and they will work fine. My mom had a 1970 ez-go 36 volt golf cart when she lived in in Florida. Every golf cart charger I've seen had brains, so the idea of smart chargers have been around for a long time.
I learned a lesson from fixing golf carts. Don't let anyone in a retirement village know you know anything about them or you will never have any time to do anything when you come to visit.

01gentdc · Jan 3, 2016

musta heard me bichin to the tractor supply and rural king about the modern b/s -it stupid idiot yuppi charger that aint even heavy enuf to be a good boat anchor ,, let alone do the job I paid good American hard earned cash to get the job done ,,. and these chinawonders are a good way to set your barn on fire ,,. too many yuppi shorts that are supposed to protect ,, but when they fail they can take your shop with it ,, another thing that piseesme off is the little tiny print that you cant see on the control knobs , I burned one up just like that , very 1st time I pluggt it in , not sure what I did wrong ,, but couldn't get a dambit of fire from it . gotta hand it to em ,. they refunded my money every time ..// bill clit-un started free trade with china, and the American working man has been taking it on the chin ever since ,,.. I buy old chargers from estate auctions ,, usually built like a tank to last forever ,, and in in excellent working condition , too

D beatty · Jan 3, 2016

I have 5 Schumacher chargers . They are all 6-12 volt charger and one is on wheels ( 30 years old) and is a jump starter, quick charge or used as a normal charger. Two of the others are chargers and the other two are maintainers and have had no problems with them. I also have 3 Deltran battery maintainers.

Dick2 · Jan 4, 2016

I had one of those good Schumacher chargers that I bought 25+ years ago. I used it twice and then hadn't used it for 10 years, so sent it to my nephew on the farm in ND when I closed up my shop. When I saw him a couple months later, I told him how little I had used it; he replied that he'd used it more times than that in the first week that he had it! It is a good one.

gab · Jan 4, 2016

I have a 6/12 10 amp.Schumacher I bought in 1976, didn't get used much for 20 years but it's warmed up a lot of batteries since.

Mike M · Jan 4, 2016

I have a really old Atlas 6/12 volt charger Dad picked up used years ago. It will kick voltage into any battery now matter how bad they are. Sometimes you can save one with it. It will not do a start feature though. One neat thing on it is a lead you stick right into a cell on the battery ( hard to find ones you can now )this shuts it off if you cook it too hard and get the battery too hot.
I used to say I'd hook this charger up and get the battery's attention first and then see if I could back it off and slow charge it to bring back dead ones. LOL.

jeffcat · Jan 4, 2016

Most likely you will find when you bypass things that transformer will not be 12V or 24ct either. Supplys to control boards usually are a bit more power plus if you get my drift. Just measure everything.

Stephen Newell · Jan 4, 2016

I had one of the old ones for many years but it finally wore out. I replaced it with another Schumacher and had the same smart charger problems for a while. Within a few weeks it quit working too.

Auto Battery Charger

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads