battery charger recomendations
Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
Likes: 37
I buy the commercial chargers then replace the rectifiers when they burn up. I have rebuilt many burned up units this way. They work well until some idiot puts them in boost mode with the cables connected to each other to watch them smoke...
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 435
Likes: 1
From: Central Oregon
Battery Info
If you want enough information on batteries and chargers to really make your head swim, take a look at: http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/ and spend a few hours. One main point he makes is that improper chargers ruin more batteries than anything else. Happy reading. Steve
Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
Likes: 37
Kikko-
Get a an attic fan timer at the home box store or hardware store.
I buy replacement HD rectifiers thru DigiKey or local industrial electronics distributors. Get 400V units with plenty of ampacity and heat sink them well with custom heatsinks. I have a big old Shumacker unit to rebuild at the moment that was the one some idiot child hooked up to smoke so I have to rebuild it again...
-And no it was not my child...
I have an old HEAVY Craftsman 200A boost charger that has been working for years with replacement rectifiers, I even put an extra turn of wire in the transformer for some more output although that makes it easy to smoke a battery.
Get a an attic fan timer at the home box store or hardware store.
I buy replacement HD rectifiers thru DigiKey or local industrial electronics distributors. Get 400V units with plenty of ampacity and heat sink them well with custom heatsinks. I have a big old Shumacker unit to rebuild at the moment that was the one some idiot child hooked up to smoke so I have to rebuild it again...
-And no it was not my child...I have an old HEAVY Craftsman 200A boost charger that has been working for years with replacement rectifiers, I even put an extra turn of wire in the transformer for some more output although that makes it easy to smoke a battery.
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: Morgan Hill, CA
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Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
Likes: 37
The Shumacher chargers are the ones I find most often with burned out rectifier assy's. They use little cheapo hearing aid battery size rectifiers with POS heatsinks that fail easily. I just replace them with HD industrial rectifiers for a few bucks and salvage the units.
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