Battery Maintaining (1 Viewer)

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I hate/love Amazon... reading the negative reviews of just about anything can ruin your day... even the NOCOs get trashed multiple times.... ARRRGGGHHHHHHH
 
When looking at the amazon reviews I usually click on the "1 Star" bar graph and read a couple of them. Each one I decide if the reviewer is an idiot or not. That in turn determines how much faith I place in those reviews.

Seems like if the unplugged resistance on the battery side of such a unit isn't infinite or pretty close to that then that unit should probably go back. Or use a relay (SSR?) to disconnect it when there's no 120VAC.
 
ntsqd said:
When looking at the amazon reviews I usually click on the "1 Star" bar graph and read a couple of them. Each one I decide if the reviewer is an idiot or not. That in turn determines how much faith I place in those reviews.
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I generally take the most damning and most glowing reviews and toss those and read/evaluate the rest. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

ntsqd said:
Seems like if the unplugged resistance on the battery side of such a unit isn't infinite or pretty close to that then that unit should probably go back. Or use a relay (SSR?) to disconnect it when there's no 120VAC.
Click to expand...

edited: If its an issue then I would just NOT add a diode inline but eh. :meh:
 
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Addi
NLXTACY said:
I generally take the most damning and most glowing reviews and toss those and read/evaluate the rest. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

If its an issue then I would just add a diode inline but eh. :meh:
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Adding a diode isn't a particularly good plan...

1) the diode adds a voltage drop (0.3V to 1V depending on the diode). This makes state of charge measurements a real problem.

2) since it prevents the reverse path being present, some chargers may decide there isn't a battery connected and not even start a charge cycle. They won't be able to sense state of charge in maintenance mode to decide when to apply float voltage.

So, diode - bad idea especially with more advanced chargers.

Anyhow, if you are worried about the reverse discharge path with the charger unplugged, why not just put a meter in line and measure the actual current to determine if it is even a concern versus other vehicle based quiescent current draws.

cheers,
george.
 
Goof info George. Likely its not an issue for me nor something that has cropped up. I gave a suggestion that seems to be bad info so I edited my post to reflect. :cheers:
 
george_tlc said:
snip....
Adding a diode isn't a particularly good plan....
Click to expand...

Those reasons are why I didn't mention that option. Wasn't aware of all of the issues listed, but of enough of them to know it wasn't a good plan.
 
Bringing this back to the top. I don't know if Mark ever resolved this and bought a maintainer, but I though I would post my experience in the last 6 weeks. I think the desulfater thing works, but not sure why.

I have several trucks with older costco Marine/Deep cycle batteries-the 3 year warranty ones. They usually go about 3 years and then need to be replaced.

My FJ62 has the oldest one-installed spring2011 and it was getting tired-you can just tell. I put it on a BatteryMinder desulfater for 2 weeks after topping the electrolyte with distilled water. The battery now acts like a new battery and holds a resting charge of 12.8 volts. It starts with authority.

Same story on my 80 series where the #2 battery is also on schedule for replacement. In 2 weeks on the desulfater thing its acting like a fresh battery-can power the fridge for 2 days before it hits 12.1 volts (about 1/2 charge).

So count me as impressed that these gizmos may actually work. I'm assuming they buy you an extra year or something and realize the batteries will need to be replaced at some point.

So if George or someone else knows why they don't work, please let me know, otherwise, I'm recommending these chargers as a very good thing. You can even watch it step through bulk/absorb/float stages and monitoring the voltages, it's spot on.
 
I have not gotten this worked out, although I think Ill just go with a 120v maintainer. Ive been planning the dual battery set up for the car trailer instead of thinking about this :)
 
My NOCO Genius2 is still working great. Fridge stays on 24/7 and sometimes the truck doesn't get used for weeks at a time.
 
I have the same BatteryMinder unit in our pop-top camper. Unfortunately with the 100W of solar on the roof I've yet to really need it.
 
Andy, I also have some Costco dual use batteries. I have one stored in the garage. The battery is dated 9/09, so almost 6 years old. I had removed it from the truck a couple of years ago because it felt sluggish and then used my desulfating Battery Minder Plus 12117 on it regularly. I charged it again fully on 3/21 of this year with that charger. It showed 12.82V after a few hours of rest after the charging, at 70F. Today, after 1 1/2 months -with no additional charging- it still shows 12.67V at 69F. Only lost 0.15V and still would count as close to fully-charged I imagine. I think that's pretty good for a 5 years old battery. So yes, I'm also inclined to think those desulfators work.
 
I've been using the Batteryminder 12248 since around 2009:

http://www.batteryminders.com/12-volt-battery-charger-maintainer-desulfator-12248

A yellow top optima I bought new in 2007 and used in the 40 since then for everything (start, winch, electronics) still charges to "green" and seems ok. I replaced it with a diehard platinum agm a few years ago and moved it to the backup position in a dual battery system. It's seeing less use now but based on so many optima-sucks posts it's either a rare good one or the smart charger helps.
 
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