charging batteries???

Hey folks,
need a trick or better solution to what I'm doing.
Have several 12volt fence chargers that I use and need to charge the batteries. Have a little auto charger that can be set to normal or trickle and shuts itself offwhen charged. Sometimes I forget to swap batteries before they are completely empty and the charger won't recognize that it is hooked up to a battery. Can make it work by running jumper cables to a good battery for a few minutes til it gets a little juice in it but then have to charge the other battery again also.
Would a normal charger just kick in and charge the battery empty or not? Or would it have the same problem?

Thanks, Dave

i wounder if one of those batt tenders would work. i see them adv on the car/speed channel, supposed to keep batt charged/charge when low.

Some battery chargers with reverse polarity protection will not turn on without sensing full battery voltage,
Connect a charged battery with junper cables to the dead battery. Connect the battery charger to the dead battery. The charger will sense the charged battery and turn on.
Disconnect the jumper cables and allow the charger to charge the dead battery.

I have a few battery tenders that I use on my motorcycle collection. They have greatly increased the bettery life. All I need to do is keep the batteries topped off with water.

They do require a tiny amount of voltage to work, and do automaticaly cycle on and off to maintain the battery at full charge. The "Battery Tender Brand" is rated the best way to bring a new battery to life, something about the process it uses. I've seen a number of magazines test these units, they always get a great rating.

L.

You must have a selection of solar chargers in Germany? you won't limit yourself to a plug, keeping the chargered covered etc etc. And you have several small remote pastures? take the whole deal down the road, not have to hit anyone up for power. has its advantages sometimes--

The batteries will have a shortened service life being deep cycled. No matter they be marine, deep cycle or ordianry starting batteries.
Lead acid batteries left dead for any period of time compounds the destruction.
Is solar charging an option?

I HATE these new AUTOMATIC Battery chargers. Give me a simple transformer/rectifier/ammeter one with a switch in the tapped primary for 6 and 12 volts output.

Kent

Today's smart chargers sometimes won't look at a dead battery unless you put it on the highest setting, jump start mode for a few seconds. Then it will work. Same as jumping with another battery. I'm find that my sears smart chargers on the 2 amp setting will bring some old mowers batteries back. I leave them on for a week. Do a 100 amp load test after they have been off the charger for a week or two and they work fine. There is no need for a trickle charger if you have a smart charger.
George

(quoted from post at 08:04:17 06/22/11) The batteries will have a shortened service life being deep cycled. No matter they be marine, deep cycle or ordianry starting batteries.
Lead acid batteries left dead for any period of time compounds the destruction.
Is solar charging an option?

Click to expand...

I have a buddy at the junkyard on post that puts good batteries aside for me and I just use them til they are shot (several years on some of them).
I have parmak chargers that aren't so flashy lookin as some of the german ones and the batteries don't seem to be interesting because they look like junk. I got two solar panels from HF and hooked them up and they didn't last a week before being relocated.
Thinking about getting a couple more and try to lock them somehow.

I bought a parmak back in high school had it for about 17
years and never replaced a battery it works really nice

I have a couple Battery Tenders myself. They do work excellent at keeping battery fully charged without any possibility of overcharge.

The charging system on my Ford 5000 diesel is shot. It is a generator system, but even exciting the generator won't make it work. None of the lights work either, I have wiring issues.

I use it on my Hesston 5580 round baler, so need to keep a fresh battery to run the baler independent of the tractor starting system. DOUG

What is a parmak and where did you get it? Never heard of one.

(quoted from post at 15:17:02 06/22/11)

(quoted from post at 08:04:17 06/22/11) The batteries will have a shortened service life being deep cycled. No matter they be marine, deep cycle or ordianry starting batteries.
Lead acid batteries left dead for any period of time compounds the destruction.
Is solar charging an option?

Click to expand...

I have a buddy at the junkyard on post that puts good batteries aside for me and I just use them til they are shot (several years on some of them).
I have parmak chargers that aren't so flashy lookin as some of the german ones and the batteries don't seem to be interesting because they look like junk. I got two solar panels from HF and hooked them up and they didn't last a week before being relocated.
Thinking about getting a couple more and try to lock them somehow.

Click to expand...

Had a similar feeling recently. The grill guard/brushbar for the front of my truck was stolen from the local auto body shop . They have a video that doesn't show the faces of the three kids or the plates on the white GMC van they were driving.
Hope to see that brushbar again someday on somebody else's truck.

Parmak has been in business since the 1920s.Main business is electric fence chargers.Parker McCrory Mfg co Kansas City MO

Automatic chargers are a joke.A battery being charged takes on a surface charge.The voltage shuts the auto charger off long before the battery is fully charged.Friend bought an auto charger.He complained it didnt seem to charge his tractor battery.I put it on my sawmill battery that was low.The charger shut down it 2 hours.Took a hydrometer reading,battery was 1/2 charged.Took 2 more hours with my old charger to get a full charge.I repair battery chargers so know a bit about them.

I also repair battery chargers. Most of the time all you need is the correct stud mount rectifier diodes and maybe some kind of heat sink if the original is not usable with the new diodes. The only thing I can not fix is a "HOT CHASSIS" cause by a bad transformer.
One of the best battery charges in the family is on I built about 25 or 30 years ago. I traded for a old computer transformer. It has a tapped primary and two 6 volt 30 amp secondaries. I connected the secondaries in series as we did not have any 6 volt batteries to charge. I use a single pole double throw switch to access the high and low primary taps. Stud mount diode in a fully wave bridge circuit on heat sinks and a 20 amp ammeter from a old Oliver tractor all in a plastic boat battery box. I think it is in about is fourth battery box and it's second set of diode. On the low side it will charge a almost dead battery at about 10 amp tapering to about 2 amps at full charge. On the high side it will charge at better than 20 amp tapering to about 2 amps when the battery is fully charged. I wish I could find a truck load of these transformers as I would build some more chargers.

Kent