Battery Chargers...

[Russ from MN]

Apparently, those smart chargers aren't so smart. The battery that most needs charging is the dead one.

I have a smart charger, today I tried to charge a dead battery, 3.5 volts. I put it on boost for a minute, then it started charging.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

I have had similar luck with Schumacher. Noco has been good for trickle chargers. We had at work an Associated charger they are blue that is also still made I think a 6001 was the model it is about 4 times the price as the junk ones but it’s about your only option to replace what you have.

 

[miangus]

I have had good luck rebuilding my old wheeled solar. I replaced the diodes a couple of times and finally installed a heaver rectifier bridge. The parts are available online. If you replace any of the wires in and around the rectifier, use wire and spade connecters for an electric range burner.

 

[Texasmark]

I currently have a Schumacher 10 amp older design (manual functionality) and use it as my primary charger. I like it because it's reliable and since amperage is what charges the battery, I have a needle on a scale that tells me just what I want to know. I also have a couple of newer chargers of different brands, electronic gadgets and all that fancy stuff....they usually sit on the shelf!

 

[Russ from MN]

Just replace the fan, there are many generic fans available online.

 

[Eman85]

This has been interesting.

I intended this thread to elicit comments on three brand new battery chargers that were defective right out of the box, and instead it's focused on my old charger.

Welcome to the 21st century, keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed.

 

[stoughtonfarmboy]

All three were manufactured by Schumacher. If you do research, you'll find that the vast majority of battery chargers of this type on the market were made by Schumacher, regardless of brand name. I checked about a half dozen popular outlets, including TSC.. Bomgaars, a local inde;pendent farm store, Ace Hardwares, and others. And guess what? They ALL carried A Schumacher SC1446 charger, or the same charger with another name on it. Most of them have this charger as the only one of this type that they offer. Check it out yourself.

Warning. Thread drift. About 40 years ago I bought a Vermont Castings wood stove/fireplace insert. Probably saw an ad in The Mother Earth News magazine. The ad and everything I read referred to New England thrift, craftsmanship etc. Imagine my surprise when it was delivered and the box said "Made in Korea"! It was a very heavy cast iron woodstove that lasted for 30 years. I should have had some plate steel fabricated to replace a part but bought a replacement insert. My friend and neighbor has had the same model of woodstove and it still heats his house with it after 40 + years.

Point of the story is that foreign made doesn't automatically mean cheaply made.

Ken

 

[Goose]

Warning. Thread drift. About 40 years ago I bought a Vermont Castings wood stove/fireplace insert. Probably saw an ad in The Mother Earth News magazine. The ad and everything I read referred to New England thrift, craftsmanship etc. Imagine my surprise when it was delivered and the box said "Made in Korea"! It was a very heavy cast iron woodstove that lasted for 30 years. I should have had some plate steel fabricated to replace a part but bought a replacement insert. My friend and neighbor has had the same model of woodstove and it still heats his house with it after 40 + years.

Point of the story is that foreign made doesn't automatically mean cheaply made.

Ken

I agree. Unfortunately, "Made In USA" no longer indicates top quality. The finest set of combination wrenches I own, both Metric and SAE, both appearance and function, was made in India. Some of the finest steel in the world comes from India. I've read of steel statuary made in India that is 2,000 years old and not a speck of rust.

Back in the 1980's, already, when I owned an auto body shop it was showing. A customer needed the right fender replaced on an '86 Olds Ciera. It wasn't an insurance job, and the customer told me to go ahead and use an aftermarket fender. The fender was made in Taiwan and had a manufacturing irregularity that wasn't seen after the fender was installed.

By coincidence, several months later I was called upon the replace the right fender on another '86 Ciera. It was an insurance job and called for an OEM fender. Guess what? The OEM fender from GM had the same irregularity. Made you wonder just where GM was getting their OEM sheet metal.

 

[Tony in SD]

After reading this post, I think if my old wheeled Schumacher ever quits, Im just going to repair it my self.

 

[Jim in LA]

For years I’ve been using a wheeled battery charger that my wife gave to me as a gift about 50 years ago. (See first pic) It always did exactly what was expected, until a couple of weeks ago when I went to charge a battery and the fan on the charger didn’t com on. The charger worked OK, but the normally audible fan was conspicuous by its absence.

I went shopping. Both our local TSC store and independent farm store had a model of Schumacher charger that I liked for $229. I checked Amazon and I could get the same model number or $174. Saving $55 was too tempting, so I ordered one from Amazon. (See second pic). It was DOA. I connected it to a battery, plugged it into a wall outlet, and when I turned it on, nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. So, I packed it up and returned it for a replacement.

The second one was more spectacular. When it turned it on, there was a huge amount of arcing and sparking inside the case for a couple seconds until a fuse blew on the electrical panel and a row of lights went out in the shop. I returned it for a refund. (I must add, when I unpacked it, it appeared the original factory packaging had been undone at least once).

I surfed Amazon and picked out a Craftsman charger that appeared to be what I wanted. When it arrived, I was startled to see it was an exact carbon copy of the two Schumacher chargers I’d already returned, just a different color case and the name “Craftsman” on it. Obviously manufactured by Schumacher. It charged OK, but no fan was audible, although the owner’s manual said it was normal for the fan to run while the unit was charging.

I contacted Craftsman’s Tech Support and received the following response:

“I apologize that I am unable to directly address your question. To ensure you receive the most accurate information, I recommend contacting the appropriate division, as they have access to the technical resources and product-specific support required to assist you further.”

He didn’t say what the “appropriate division” was.

I contacted Schumacher’s Tech Support and was told the fan should be audible when the unit is charging. Using a little Bic lighter, I was able to see a bit of air flow at the grill on the side of the case when the charger was running, but nothing audible. I decided to err of the side of caution and returned the unit as defective for a refund.

Meanwhile, I’d tried my old charger again and found it was again working normally. Why the fan didn’t run that one time, I have no idea. Maybe a switch wasn’t dropped all the way into a detent or something.

I guess I’ll see where this goes, and if my old charger acts up again, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. So far, I’m not out a dime. All the shipping both ways was free.

The oil-lite bearings in the fan motor probably need re oiled. I was looking at battery charger repair vids on YouTube recently and there are supply houses that sell rectifiers and other parts for the old "good stuff". My 40+ year 225 Lincoln tombstone welder I dug out a couple months ago that hadn't been used in 20 years and the fan was froze up. YouTube to the rescue, it was no problem to clean and lube the fan motor and clean the anp selector contacts. I have an old blue 10 amp Schumacher charger that quit working. I have the silicon bridge rectifier top upgrade it but not sure how to connect correctly.

 

[Jim in LA]

I have had similar luck with Schumacher. Noco has been good for trickle chargers. We had at work an Associated charger they are blue that is also still made I think a 6001 was the model it is about 4 times the price as the junk ones but it’s about your only option to replace what you have.

My Dad purchased an Associated charger in 1968 to use in his auto repair shop. It had the boost feature and the reverse protection also.The rectifier burned out once and he had it repaired. we had that charger until after his death in 2003. I googled antique associated battery charger and they have a pic of it and the model was FC 70 I also have an A6-4 Small unit Associated charge my Dad got me for Christmas in '72 for my motorcycle.

 

[Brownie450]

Guy up the road had a repair shop. Had an Associated 6- 12- 24 volt
charger---maybe 100 Amp. I ended up fixing that unit 3 times after he
loaned it out to neighbors who had either 4010 or 3010 JD tractors.
Of course, those are positive ground systems. Well, the borrowers
forgot or didn't know to check ground polarity.
Burned the rectifiers every time. As I recall the rectifiers were in a round
thing which directed air from the fan to cool them. For a heavy charger
the rectifiers were barely 25 amp size. I replaced them with 50 Amp
ones. Still don't stand up to incorrect polarity.
Jim

 

[504]

I would bet all of them were built with parts from the same lot number. Prime free shipping is nice yes I know it’s not free but when it’s your first go to it’s free shipping.

 

[Russ from MN]

Guy up the road had a repair shop. Had an Associated 6- 12- 24 volt
charger---maybe 100 Amp. I ended up fixing that unit 3 times after he
loaned it out to neighbors who had either 4010 or 3010 JD tractors.
Of course, those are positive ground systems. Well, the borrowers
forgot or didn't know to check ground polarity.
Burned the rectifiers every time. As I recall the rectifiers were in a round
thing which directed air from the fan to cool them. For a heavy charger
the rectifiers were barely 25 amp size. I replaced them with 50 Amp
ones. Still don't stand up to incorrect polarity.
Jim

I don't pay any attention to what the ground is, I have red tape around the positive cable, and a piece of red tape on top of my batteries near the positive post.

 

[Texasmark]

I don't pay any attention to what the ground is, I have red tape around the positive cable, and a piece of red tape on top of my batteries near the positive post.

I have red zip ties for + cables not otherwise marked and also use them on my hydraulic fittings that I want to move fluid in a certain direction when the control moves in a certain direction. On batteries, I use a white or yellow paint stick and put a big + adjacent to the positive terminal.

 

[da.bees]

This has been interesting.

I intended this thread to elicit comments on three brand new battery chargers that were defective right out of the box, and instead it's focused on my old charger.

Why didn't you say so? As it is you created the quintessential example of tossing the football amongst a roomful of monkeys to watch what happens. Some will try eating it,some will play with it, some will try humping it while others are playing with it and some will hump those eating,playing and humping because they are unable to gain access to ball.

In defense of those who drilled down on your old charger rather than chiming in on the state of new ones and/or recommendations for which to buy. You sort of set the tone in post #6 below.

I should have mentioned, in playing with my old charger, I pulled the cover off of the unit and blew everything clean with an air hose. The fan spun freely, and there was no reason, other than electrical, for it not to have spun that one time.

Ok,is this what you were looking for? Like anything involving electrical devices, modern technology allows more bang for the buck ,albeit less durable than how it was built decades earlier. Take those tubs you circled the globe on. They were impressive with "guns as big as steers and shells big as trees" but they couldn't get close enough to use them before a modern ship blew them out of the water with something a fraction the size and half the effort. Undoubtedly, a charger ever bit tough as your old one can be manufactured today but it would never sale because it cost $700.

With all that said, some wise individual realized you wanted to discuss new chargers and responded so in the first response to your post. So in conclusion, as John likes to say "the fine gentlemen here at YT were only trying their best to help you keep your old charger working alongside your old tractors".

 

[Ericp351]

Clearly the "point" ain,t chargers. It is the act of posting stuff , potentionall eliciting these responses. That , inturn , seams to make simple souls feal good without the expenditure of true effort. I think that it is, or was, the fashion of young girls to "post" a photo of their breakfast to accomplish same. The guy has a system that works for him. More or less: buys cheaper chargers, sends bad ones back, et cetera. Whatever. Something to potentionally outgrow , in these times of war. Until then... "lest we forget, the bitterness of poor quality remains, long after the Sweetness of low price is forgotten." OH no, am I now afoul of the Rainbow or sensitivity police?

 

[Texasmark]

Clearly the "point" ain,t chargers. It is the act of posting stuff , potentionall eliciting these responses. That , inturn , seams to make simple souls feal good without the expenditure of true effort. I think that it is, or was, the fashion of young girls to "post" a photo of their breakfast to accomplish same. The guy has a system that works for him. More or less: buys cheaper chargers, sends bad ones back, et cetera. Whatever. Something to potentionally outgrow , in these times of war. Until then... "lest we forget, the bitterness of poor quality remains, long after the Sweetness of low price is forgotten." OH no, am I now afoul of the Rainbow or sensitivity police?

What I like about purchases of today is the elimination of : When you walk out the door it's yours.....no returns.
When you try to do something with what you bought it may or may not work as expected...........

Boy am I glad those days are long gone.......and with all the whining about big box stores and mom and pop shops, you can thank the big box stores for that long needed improvement in the supply chain.

 

[MeanGene1]

I have a big wheeled charger that I haven't used in a couple years, as I prefer slow charging when possible. Have about a half-dozen small chargers, including 2 Schumachers with 2 and 10 amp settings, several Schauers, and an old Monkey Wards that does 6V and 12V very well. A couple NOCO Genius chargers with the "Repair" setting that shocks the batteries that works quiet well unless the battery is completely shot. I go to a lot of swwap meets and garage sales, and there are small ones for sale everywhere for $5-$15. I went to a swap in Santa Rosa last year, went for a stroll and picked up 2 for $5 each. As I was carrying them back to my space, a guy hollered and asked if they were for sale? Make me an offer. He says $25 for both- all yours lol

 

[jimg.allentown]

What I like about purchases of today is the elimination of : When you walk out the door it's yours.....no returns.
When you try to do something with what you bought it may or may not work as expected...........

Boy am I glad those days are long gone.......and with all the whining about big box stores and mom and pop shops, you can thank the big box stores for that long needed improvement in the supply chain.

In case you don't remember the "old days" so well, what you bought back then was quality. If you bought any kind of appliance like a refrigerator, stove, or even a batterty charger, they worked and worked well, and for many years.

Today they sell a lot of junk that is marginal at best, and have high failure rates. That is the reason for the "no hassle" return policies.

I'm still using a battery charger that I bought 45 years ago, and it works perfectly. Other items like drills, grinders, and a host of power tools that simply keep on going nearly a lifetime before finally wearing out. I'll take the "good old days" any time when it comes to appliances and tools.