Did it at least charge the battery? I’ve got a 5 yr old, severely neglected boat battery that my Pulsetech drought back from the abyss. When I say abyss, I should have got a new one but wanted to see. I was able to take it from “replace” 38% state of health up to 89%. I do have a Schumacher jump pack because I know this things circling the drain but I’m on a mission lol. During winter months I generally hook my cars up to battery minder one day, then Pulsetech the next. Now that it’s summer time I’m only charging a few times a week. The jury is out in if this will work out in the end, but I’m still testing 100% healthy on 3 batteries that were all new this last December. I’d usually see a decrease somewhere by now without charging.
12V battery charger question
- Thread starter Metolius
- Start date
Believe it or not, I've used this stuff called " Charge It" on weak FLA batteries. Bought it on Scamazon. Sucked out some electrolyte in each cell, and topped it off with this stuff. Then stuck it on a smart charger for a few days. It actually worked. Supposed to break up sulfation in the cells. Won't work on a totally dead cell, or a shorted battery, but worked on a 5 yr old weak FLA battery. Still going strong 2 yrs later.
that is not what i was talking about.......
will your charge batteries that are really low? or would test as sulfated?....but not actually be?
Ok, I mentally retraced my steps, and yes, I am now certain that the battery wasn't bulged before, or at least to the degree is is now, because I cleaned it up beforehand, and it would have be noticeable.
Lesson learned, I suppose, and I will save such modes for the almost-lost causes, not as part of annual maintenance as CTEK recommends.
Yes, but too much so, at least for a battery in "normal" condition that isn't problematic other than having suffered a deep discharge.
However, in its manual, CTEK recommends the reconditioning mode as part of annual maintenance, which not only pumps 15.8v for the first desulphation step, but also up to 15.8v/1.8A during the last step, for up to 6 hours. Step 6 alluded to below:
In the end, "smart" ≠ foolproof.
I’ve never been a Ctek fan. No offense. My first smart charger was a Ctek knockoff from CCP. I’ve never saw a cloned battery minder or Pulsetech. I’m sure they exist. Ctek is cheap plastic and may be labeled everything from Corvette to Ferrari. Not that’s necessarily bad, I guess.
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That method of running the battery up on voltage is faster to desulfate, but risky as shown.
Battery Minder uses a pulse effect during the float stage...it does this continuously. If the battery is already sulfated, it can take a couple months or more to fully defulfate it. But if any other battery it will prevent suflation. I have seen it work on two older batteries maintained with other brand smart chargers without desulfation and the Battery Minder restored them. I just plugged them in when returning home each evening...at least 5 times a week for a couple months. I good see the gradual improvement when testing every few weeks.
My Noco will act like an old buzz box if the batteries to low to except a charge, which is why I keep it around. My son in laws battery just swelled one day for no reason in his f150. C tek is pretty reputable, I’d call it a fluke more than I’d blame the charger but, anything’s possible. Another good reason to have a set up like you have to track the volts.
Maybe a new one would get to a higher charge. The thing I don't like about the older ones is they charge at too high a current and cut out too soon - there float control is too rudimentary. Of course the old ones will charge a battery when its very low which the new ones will not.
There is no free lunch.
I seriously doubt a well maintained battery will care much about what charger is used in the end. Todays batteries have had every penny value engineered out so some are just bad from go.
There is no free lunch.
I seriously doubt a well maintained battery will care much about what charger is used in the end. Todays batteries have had every penny value engineered out so some are just bad from go.
Pull the leads ever 2 weeks. Put a fluke tester on the battery. That's how I track the volts in my spares layin around.
LOL.....That's hysterical !!!! Talk about rotten luck !!
None taken.
One thing I've forgotten to mention is that this is also the first time I've noticed how hot the CTEK runs during these extended sessions. Hot enough to notice, and trigger the curiosity to pull out the IR gun and take a reading -- ~125 deg at the hottest point.
Theoretically, it's passing ~68W max, which is a fair amount, and I'm sure they would say it was within normal operating parameters, but still not perhaps the best path to long term durability considering it's basically one large IC, on a board in a plastic case with no ventilation.
The Sears 10A, with its big old transformer, is basically all metal except for the switch and display, does have vents in the top, and has never gotten so palpably hot.
Admittedly, I haven't dug as deeply into the "smart" and maintenance charger realm as I probably should have, but thankfully, I haven't had the need to. Dumb and Smart are the only two tools in the box, and they've generally done what I've needed them to do during occasional use, with the latter being a "nice to have" item, not a regular necessity.
If/when the CTEK cooks itself and croaks, I will certainly take a deeper dive into the various options next time. Its five-year warranty runs out at the end of the year.
Everyone has their preference. There are so many to chose from on the market. Mine is Noco Genius. They are weather resistant, the connections are built very well, and they don't get hot. But, again, that's my " preference"
Optimate has always intrigued me. They look well built.
I have more than a dozen optimate 6's and they are my goto throwdwon for everything from a generator battery to a motorhome bank of 4 group 27's.
I had one problem in 15 years with the 10 amp optimate 7, and my dealer and the factory were great.
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