SuzukiSavage.com - float chargers

rl153 Serious Thumper Offline S40 Just right! Posts: 906 Bloomfield,CT Gender:	float chargers 12/09/14 at 13:54:17 Are the harbor freight float chargers being sold now ,different than the old ones? I just bought one, and I'm curious,it has a different name.
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28638 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #1 - 12/09/14 at 14:04:45 I hope so... my old one from them didn't charge... it just lit up, but put out no charge... It took me ages to figure this out, because I don't use it much, and I just assumed that it was keeping a charge because the light was on... Darn thing was probably lying to me since I bought it... ...
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rl153 Serious Thumper Offline S40 Just right! Posts: 906 Bloomfield,CT Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #2 - 12/09/14 at 14:08:25 My old one seemed to work ,but I dropped it. How can you tell if its charging?
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Re: float chargers
Reply #3 - 12/09/14 at 14:27:22

That is the problem with them....there is no way to tell if they are working or not. They light comes on even when you attach the battery and have not yet plugged the charger into the wall outlet. I own a few of them, and my mother has 2 and they work for her Cub Cadet and Tractor that are stored all winter.....at least they have worked for the last 5 years.

I have some better quality ones that show you when they are cycling on and off, and you can see what is happening. Those are the ones I use currently, and I have stopped using the Harbor Freight ones.

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Re: float chargers
Reply #4 - 12/09/14 at 14:28:46

Quote:

How can you tell if its charging?

Hook a voltmeter across the battery terminals. Remember the voltage reading. Hook up the charger. Check the voltage across the terminals again. It should be higher. How much higher depends on the charger and the condition of the battery, but with a typical 1 or 1 and 1/2 Amp motorcycle charger it should be a volt or so higher than whatever the battery read without the charger hooked up.

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rl153 Serious Thumper Offline S40 Just right! Posts: 906 Bloomfield,CT Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #5 - 12/09/14 at 14:29:06 Thanks Dave. Do you think putting a multi meter on the charger ,will tell you anything?
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28638 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #6 - 12/09/14 at 14:37:09 Well, this is complicated... ... So, maybe mine's working, and maybe it ain't... ... I shall do more testing... ... UPDATE... tested mine on a spare battery... 12.3v unconnected... 12.3v connected... Whadda' POS... ...
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rl153 Serious Thumper Offline S40 Just right! Posts: 906 Bloomfield,CT Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #7 - 12/09/14 at 17:38:27 Thanks oldnSlow.what would it tell you if you hooked the voltmeter,just to the charger?
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Re: float chargers
Reply #8 - 12/09/14 at 18:50:23

rl153 wrote on 12/09/14 at 17:38:27:

Thanks oldnSlow.what would it tell you if you hooked the voltmeter,just to the charger?

Interesting question. I have two chargers, both made by Schumacher.

One of them is just a charger, not a maintainer. If I check the output of that one without connecting it to a battery I get 12.35V.

The other one - which is the one that spends the winter connected to the bike battery - is a charger/maintainer. When that one isn't connected to a battery there is 0V across the terminals. So I guess if whatever circuitry is in there doesn't sense a battery, it doesn't put out anything.

That one has two lights on it. A yellow light that indicates that it's charging, and a green light that supposedly means the battery is fully charged and the charger is in "maintain" mode.

I've noticed that anytime I disconnect that charger, even for just a few minutes - I sometimes have to move the bike to get at something else in the garage - it takes a couple of hours for the yellow light to go off and the green light to come back on, even though I'm disconnecting and reconnecting the charger to a fully charged battery. I don't know how it figures out when a battery is fully charged, but this particular charger isn't smart enough to figure it out instantly. I've been using it for a couple of years now, and it hasn't wrecked a battery yet, so I guess it's as smart as it needs to be

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Re: float chargers
Reply #9 - 12/10/14 at 03:35:31

And here is the weird thing about the modern battery "tenders" and the new smart "chargers" that can sense polarity and voltage. The circuity that identifies the battery condition will not charge a dead....or nearly dead battery. Whatever it looks for to see if the battery is fully charged, the charger also sees the same thing when a battery is dead. So.....the tender and modern chargers will not charge a dead battery. Sad

I have 30 year old battery charger that does not have any sensors and just has an amperage dial.....and I use it for charging batteries that are very low on charge. If you see one of these old primitive chargers at a yard sale or flea market - you might want to pick it up. They can come in the small trickle chargers of 2 amp or less that work well on motorcycle batteries, or the larger ones are about 5 amps and are better for the car sized batteries.

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Re: float chargers
Reply #10 - 12/10/14 at 05:13:13

I have a battery tender junior.... el cheapo I know, but it works very well.
I left a power switch on my little ninja 300 and drained the battery down to 2v, and it still brought it back to life!
It also has a couple of lights on it... and tells you when its charging, fully charged (battery monitoring mode) and if your battery is dead and will not charge.
It comes with two cables, one with standard clips and one for connecting to your battery and dangling out the side of the bike, so you won't have to keep taking stuff off to charge it.
Here is a link to my youtube for the install and the ninja... I know, I talk a lot on it, but...I try....
I hook it up at the end and you can see the lights....

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Re: float chargers
Reply #11 - 12/10/14 at 10:00:35

I've been using an Accusense Xciter charger for the past few years. It's "smart" enough, knows when to maintain or charge, and I've been able to charge flat dead batteries back to life. I even used it on an Optima Red Top battery from a tractor at my work because we didn't have any chargers there. No idea how long that thing was dead, but it worked great after a day on this!

Mine has a switch to pick between 6v or 12v, and it's "smart" enough to not try to charge the wrong system. It's also "smart" about polarity. The new ones have 3 choices: 6v, 12v large (flooded) battery, or 12v small AGM.

This and the Battery Tender Jr. both seem to be up to the task. Wink

http://www.amazon.com/Xciter-5-Stage-900mA-Charger-Maintainer/dp/B002MUY3KO#p...

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Art Webb Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 3007 columbus, Texas Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #12 - 12/10/14 at 10:10:45 My schumacher won't charge a dead battery, unless you 'trick it' by wiring another battery inline that has some charge
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rl153 Serious Thumper Offline S40 Just right! Posts: 906 Bloomfield,CT Gender:	Re: float chargers Reply #13 - 12/10/14 at 16:44:29 What do you think the cost of running a float charger all the time is? I'm curious.
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Re: float chargers
Reply #14 - 12/10/14 at 17:45:27

Art Webb wrote on 12/10/14 at 10:10:45:

My schumacher won't charge a dead battery, unless you 'trick it' by wiring another battery inline that has some charge

Yup. I went to the Schumacher web site and read the FAQs. The 1 1/2 AMP charger/maintainer that I've got has to sense 4V in the battery it's connected to or it won't do anything.

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