[NLRS] Battery ChargeRS

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

Voltage is a good indication of charge for lead acid batteries. When 
they reach 14.2 and stop drawing current they are fully charged. Its not 
so good an indication for other battery chemistries. Voltage is a direct 
function of electrolyte specific gravity which has been the standard 
measuring technique for lead acid wet cells for a century. The full 
charged voltage and the full charged specific gravity does depend on the 
cell design with deep cycle batteries tending to be designed for a bit 
lower full charge specific gravity (and so voltage) than starting batteries.

Schumacher is sometimes found at wallyworld and likely amazon. Maybe 
Northern Tool and farm stores.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 9/7/2011 1:34 PM, John (JK) Kalenowsky, K9JK wrote:
>
>
> "Seconding" Glen's and Zack's comments...VERY nice to have a
> battery charger that can select between Gel, AGM (which I PREFER
> over Gel) and 'conventional' wet Lead-Acid batteries.
>
> At the South Milwaukee Swapfest this past July, I came across a
> Schumacher SpeedCharge unit that I think was only $25 or so. It
> has the selection for the three types, selectable 2, 8 or 12 Amp
> Charge rates and a display that reads out the voltage or "%
> Charged". While I'm a little dubious of the "% Charged"
> business, by watching the voltage, it has worked well charging
> some 7Ah Gel Cells (at the 2A rate) and my 70Ah AGM (at the 12 A
> rate). I've not had the opportunity to try it on any of the
> starting batteries (wet) in our vehicles (and I guess I'm
> thankful for that ;-).
>
> 73, JK
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Glen Overby"<goverby at charter.net>
> To:<nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 13:00
> Subject: Re: [NLRS] Battery charge regulator
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>> Zack Widup wrote:
>>> Several years ago I got a Vector 2/10/15A smart charger. It
>>> has a setting
>>
>> For those who want to take Zac's suggestion, Vector was bought
>> by Black&
>> Decker a few years ago.  I think Home Depot carries B&D
>> products, and
>> amazon.com has some chargers.  Fleet Farm in Lakeville didn't
>> have any B&D
>> chargers earlier this month.
>>
>> I browsed the Black&  Decker web site and found two that have
>> battery type
>> selections: VEC1089ABD and VEC1095ABD.
>>
>> I have a Vector charger and a Peak charger that was
>> manufactured by Vector,
>> both which are supposed to detect the type of battery it's
>> charging and do
>> the right thing, but I'm not sure that they do.
>>
>> Glen
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> NLRS mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/nlrs
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:NLRS at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>