battery charger???

Hey folks,
Have several batteries that I use to run fence chargers. Sometimes thay go completely dead... Have an automatic charger that charges then shuts off when full......
It won't work on an empty battery, have to put a little juice in the battery with a jumper pack

????... Does a charger exist that will charge a completely empty battery and shut off when charged??? With multiple ranges (6, 9, and 12 volt)?

Thanks, Dave

I bought a charger two years ago that is called a "Smart Charger". It will charge at different rates that you can select..2amp,4amp etc. and when the battery is fully charged it will shut off. There is also a light display showing the battery is 1/4 charged,1/2 charged and so on. This charger was around $60 and I have been very happy with it. Something like that may meet your needs
Would a solar panel charger work for your outdoor application?..good luck

most smart chargers won't charge a stone dead battery as they can't verify polarity.

I diddo the idea on a solar charger... that and deep cycle batteries that are not damaged like a regular battery is when discharged to stone dead..

soundguy

I agree with the solar charger setup. Puts a small amount of amperage into the battery a little at a time. All my deep cycles are now hooked to panels with a charge controller and the batteries always stay maintained and last longer. I have 4 DC setups like this and am real happy. Solar panels have really droped in price so check them out.

Here is how a have one setup. 120 watt panel, battery and charge controller is in the cooler, and a 8 joule Cyclops DC energizer in the battery box. All is portable. No maintence at all. I used to run back and forth swapping batteries and killing batteries in the process.

Dave, Open up your smart charger and follow the power wire, usually the black wire, It will go to a relay that the brain box will turn on and off. You will see another power wire leaving the relay and going to the primary of the transformer. In your case this wire may go to your 6v -12v switch before it gets to the transformer.

There is more than one way to do this. You can install a SPDT switch to convert your charger to a manual charger/auto charger. All you have to do is have the power by-pass the relay and go directly to the transformer.

I recently worked on a golf-cart charger that the brain box was fried because of a power surge. I removed the power in wire and power out wire from the relay. Usually these wires are connected to the relay with slip on connectors. I Jumped these two wires together by using a large flat style 20 amp car fuse.
Wrapped tape around the fuse and connectors. This turns the charger into a manual charger. Neighbor was happy getting his charger fixed for free. Told him to put the charger on a timer so he doesn't forget to turn it off and fry his batteries.

All smart battery charges are nothing more than an old style charger with an added brain box.
George