My old battery charger

[Carlostrece]

I just bought a new flooded starter battery for my 97 Buick as I mentioned in another thread(s).

My old battery charger is a semi-smart Schumacher which I think has a transformer and a capacitor in it, though I'm not sure. It seems to still work properly. I've attached a photo of it. See photo.

Is my old Schumacher charger good enough, or should I get a modern charger like a Battery Minder or other?

 

[jkasch]

I have that one. It still works. I’d use it to charge a battery but not to maintain one. Never used it to jumpstart. Not sure I’d trust it with modern car electronics.

 

[UncleDave]

I just bought a new flooded starter battery for my 97 Buick as I mentioned in another thread(s).

My old battery charger is a semi-smart Schumacher which I think has a transformer and a capacitor in it, though I'm not sure. It seems to still work properly. I've attached a photo of it. See photo.

Is my old Schumacher charger good enough, or should I get a modern charger like a Battery Minder or other?

View attachment 253933

Get a modern smart charger/maintainer combo & keep this, in a far away storage.

I know its annoying but this will do one thing that lots of smart chargers have a problem with, which is get a totally dead batter "kicked" enough to start taking a charge. Another way to do this is to wire two batteries in parallel for a bit, but whats handiest o keep - a charged battery or a battery charger.
Only use it short periods never left clamped on.

 

[eljefino]

What do you want to do with the charger?

IMO, the "automatic" they mention relies on the increased resistance of a full battery to flip a simple logic circuit, lighting that green LED. It's a shaky way of doing it.

You could put it on a timer for an hour at 12 amps to top off your new battery. Watch the ammeter, it should dip pretty quickly.

 

[WobblyElvis]

That's not old.

 

[bullwinkle]

My Schauer is a LOT older than that-it is only a 6A one, that starts at 6 & gradually tapers to around 2, too high to run continuously. I just picked up a NOCO Genius 1 (amp) that can do standard flooded or AGM & can desulphate too, & is small enough to leave on a battery all the time without boiling out the electrolyte.

 

[dishdude]

Now I feel old!

 

[Chris142]

I have that same one. I bought it for my dad before he passed. As of right now it's charging a Porsche panamera in my bay.

 

[f355spider]

I have a similar one to that, and only use it for the rare jump start of a friends car or something.
It is also used to charge a battery very rarely, and would be safe to do so on your new battery.

It cannot be trusted for anything else. It WILL overcharge a battery if left connected long term, even on the 2 amp setting. I could hear the electrolyte boiling when left for more than 24 hours. They are not microprocessor controlled. Pretty archaic technology by current standards.

I have a three Battery Minders and two Granite Digital "Save a Battery" battery charger/tenders that see daily use for my cars.

 

[f355spider]

I have that one. It still works. I’d use it to charge a battery but not to maintain one. Never used it to jumpstart. Not sure I’d trust it with modern car electronics.

It's fine to jump start. No worse than a jump pack.

 

[ctechbob]

Get a modern smart charger/maintainer combo & keep this, in a far away storage.

I know its annoying but this will do one thing that lots of smart chargers have a problem with, which is get a totally dead batter "kicked" enough to start taking a charge. Another way to do this is to wire two batteries in parallel for a bit, but whats handiest o keep - a charged battery or a battery charger.
Only use it short periods never left clamped on.

This. They can be super handy to have around when a computer thinks it is too smart to do something you want it to do.

I had the exact charger and used it for years (mostly always on batteries out of the car.) Finally developed a short in the secondary side of the transformer and I tossed it.

There's nothing smart in there. Its mostly just 3 transformer windings and a rectifier as memory serves.

 

[Carlostrece]

I have that one. It still works. I’d use it to charge a battery but not to maintain one. Never used it to jumpstart. Not sure I’d trust it with modern car electronics.

My car isn't modern. It's a 97 Buick Park Ave with a flooded/wet battery. I want to charge/maintain it with charger on 2A setting. I might occasionally want to jumpstart a car.

 

[Carlostrece]

What do you want to do with the charger?

See prior post.

 

[Carlostrece]

It sounds like I should buy a modern trickle charger/maintainer for maintaining my flooded battery in 97 Buick. I'll probably get a BatteryMinder, unless there's something better.

However, would my old Schumacker set on 2A boil a G34 flooded battery if only left hooked up each week for 24 hrs?

 

[Carlostrece]

Here's my charger hooked up to my battery. It was hooked up and set to 2A for 48 hrs. Then I disconnected it tonight. Prior to disconnecting it, I heard a slight buzzing, which suggests to me that it was still outputting some power, even though the green light was on.

The green light is supposed to indicate the battery is fully charged.

The charger's manual says it shuts off when green light comes on, but the buzzing noise suggests to me that it's still outputting power (as someone already said earlier).

The clear packing tape is to hold the control switches in place at 2A & standard/wet battery. i.e. - tape prevents the switches from getting bumped out of position.

 

[Lubener]

I just bought a new flooded starter battery for my 97 Buick as I mentioned in another thread(s).

My old battery charger is a semi-smart Schumacher which I think has a transformer and a capacitor in it, though I'm not sure. It seems to still work properly. I've attached a photo of it. See photo.

Is my old Schumacher charger good enough, or should I get a modern charger like a Battery Minder or other?

View attachment 253933

Your old charger will be fine to charge a low battery. If your intention is to leave a device connected during long times of inactivity, then go for a small maintainer type unit. I use both types depending on what I wish to accomplish.

 

[k1xv]

get a CTEK battery maintainer. I leave it on all winter on my Corvettes. I traded in my last Corvette with its original battery, 7 years old.

 

[eljefino]

The buzzing noise is the transformer inside, you will get that from a lot of electronic equipment. The ammeter on front should show what's flowing through the alligator clips to the battery.

Your post remains mysterious, "I bought a new battery" isn't reason alone to buy a charger... your later posts indicate you want to "maintain" the battery, perhaps on an infrequently driven car.

 

[shortyb]

I too have an ancient Schumacher charger, big boxy looking one. It does the auto taper from about 75A down to 1A as the battery takes a charge. It has saved my butt many times, most recent when my son left his ignition on overnight and battery was in a coma. 4A Battery Tender didn't budge the needle, but the heavy hit of the Schummie did. Stayed on for about 3 hours until the car could crank.

As others have said, wouldn't routinely use it, but for bringing back a "dead" battery, especially a flooded cell, or jump-starting, you'll kick yourself for getting rid of it. Supplement with a NOCO, CTEK, or Battery Tender for maintenance duties.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Definitely worth keeping a "dumb" charger or two around.