noticed Harbor freight had a bat charger/starter on sale for their parking lot sale this weekend.
something like a 135-150$ charger at their store according to add anyway.. dropped to 70$
i decided to take a look.
must be a limited qty item ( loss leader? ) anyway.. after looking and getting ready to leave store employee asked if I was loking for anything.. I mentioned the bat harger. they were out.. etc.. she came back after looking and said there was one on the clearance table.
open box, but not a return. apparrently box was tweaked in loading and they opened it up to look at it.
unit is rectangle metal housing with an angled panel front and a bolt on tube handle at the op that sticks up.
then metal const.. etc.
anyway.. tube handle was tweaked a lil, and the metal housing was either tweaked or simply assembled in chine a lil out of square as onl 2 of the 4 holes lined up.. looks like a 3rd could be hand forced.. but the 4th was not hand forceable. I askewd them what they wanted to do with it as it wasn't priced..manager asked for an offer. I said how about 50$.. he sat there for a second and said.. sure, looked at the sales clerk and muttered some code to ring it under..
got home.. ende dup using a wood screw on that 4th bolt hole as the taper tip of the screw could be hand forced to line up just enough to catch.. then dray in. a dab of black gloss paint on the screw head and you can't notice.
now for the details.
box is a lil devoid of details.. and as you figured.. there is a bit of a catch on their numbers.
they make the claim.. 6/12v charger.. 2-10-40 charge
100-200 start.
once you get the manual out the details emerge.
12v is 2-10-40 selectable.. and rated for continous duty. has a tmer with a hold function.. rest and start button.
12v 200a setting is a misnomer. it's rated at 7v @200a
6v setting is 40a, continous... or 3.5v @100a.
both the starting settings are low duty cycle.. like 15 seconds on / 4m off.
xformer appears to be aluminum wired.
jump leads are claimed to be 78" but are 70.. I guess they ount the 8" that go inside for hookup
power plug is a healthy 30a rated one. ( good job.. )
now the test.
i did a lil charge testing and some carbon pile loading.
while they made some misleading claims.. their cheap lil aluminum charger starter DOES perform pretty good.
I got it as high as 58A on 6v start ( at 6v ) loading it further started rolling the voltage off. similar on the 12v start.. a brisk 116a at 12v.
open circuit voltages in various settings were measured as high as 16v
Lightly loaded high current settings produced voltages in the 13-15v range.
fairly acceptable.
the metal panneling comes off easy as they are nothing but panels and self tappers..
I plan on putting a line driven muffin cooling fan on the xformer that is tied past the primary switch.. thus it will have some cooling... it already has venting.
it's wheels are cheap plastic.. but fit and roll fine.
axle mounts are a lil overly basic clamp style.. but work.
insulation on the cable clamps is a soft rubber... good sized clamps.. appears to be some sort of plated or galv contacts. half way decent looking.
only thing it lacks is a plastic bunji or rod across the handle under it to hook the clamps to when not in use.. I added that..
for 50$.. heck.. even the 70$ I'd call it an ok buy.
I forsee my 2-10-55 not getting as much use now.. which is ok. I have a couple 2/6 12v/6v units.. a schumacher and a n old wards. wards works fine.. cloth covered wirews and all.
schumacher took a dump the other night.. think it's current limiter popped..
anyway.. neat lil unit. decent sized xformer inside.
ps.. it's claim of 30a primary usage is exagerated according to my ammeter.. I don't recall seeing a primary current over 16A .
soundguy
something like a 135-150$ charger at their store according to add anyway.. dropped to 70$
i decided to take a look.
must be a limited qty item ( loss leader? ) anyway.. after looking and getting ready to leave store employee asked if I was loking for anything.. I mentioned the bat harger. they were out.. etc.. she came back after looking and said there was one on the clearance table.
open box, but not a return. apparrently box was tweaked in loading and they opened it up to look at it.
unit is rectangle metal housing with an angled panel front and a bolt on tube handle at the op that sticks up.
then metal const.. etc.
anyway.. tube handle was tweaked a lil, and the metal housing was either tweaked or simply assembled in chine a lil out of square as onl 2 of the 4 holes lined up.. looks like a 3rd could be hand forced.. but the 4th was not hand forceable. I askewd them what they wanted to do with it as it wasn't priced..manager asked for an offer. I said how about 50$.. he sat there for a second and said.. sure, looked at the sales clerk and muttered some code to ring it under..
got home.. ende dup using a wood screw on that 4th bolt hole as the taper tip of the screw could be hand forced to line up just enough to catch.. then dray in. a dab of black gloss paint on the screw head and you can't notice.
now for the details.
box is a lil devoid of details.. and as you figured.. there is a bit of a catch on their numbers.
they make the claim.. 6/12v charger.. 2-10-40 charge
100-200 start.
once you get the manual out the details emerge.
12v is 2-10-40 selectable.. and rated for continous duty. has a tmer with a hold function.. rest and start button.
12v 200a setting is a misnomer. it's rated at 7v @200a
6v setting is 40a, continous... or 3.5v @100a.
both the starting settings are low duty cycle.. like 15 seconds on / 4m off.
xformer appears to be aluminum wired.
jump leads are claimed to be 78" but are 70.. I guess they ount the 8" that go inside for hookup
power plug is a healthy 30a rated one. ( good job.. )
now the test.
i did a lil charge testing and some carbon pile loading.
while they made some misleading claims.. their cheap lil aluminum charger starter DOES perform pretty good.
I got it as high as 58A on 6v start ( at 6v ) loading it further started rolling the voltage off. similar on the 12v start.. a brisk 116a at 12v.
open circuit voltages in various settings were measured as high as 16v
Lightly loaded high current settings produced voltages in the 13-15v range.
fairly acceptable.
the metal panneling comes off easy as they are nothing but panels and self tappers..
I plan on putting a line driven muffin cooling fan on the xformer that is tied past the primary switch.. thus it will have some cooling... it already has venting.
it's wheels are cheap plastic.. but fit and roll fine.
axle mounts are a lil overly basic clamp style.. but work.
insulation on the cable clamps is a soft rubber... good sized clamps.. appears to be some sort of plated or galv contacts. half way decent looking.
only thing it lacks is a plastic bunji or rod across the handle under it to hook the clamps to when not in use.. I added that..
for 50$.. heck.. even the 70$ I'd call it an ok buy.
I forsee my 2-10-55 not getting as much use now..
which is ok. I have a couple 2/6 12v/6v units.. a schumacher and a n old wards. wards works fine.. cloth covered wirews and all.schumacher took a dump the other night.. think it's current limiter popped..
anyway.. neat lil unit. decent sized xformer inside.
ps.. it's claim of 30a primary usage is exagerated according to my ammeter.. I don't recall seeing a primary current over 16A .
soundguy
