[Vwdiesel] Smart Charger Update

James Hansen

2006-03-28 08:14:34 UTC

thanks Val.
The local fire departments, particularly the volunteer ones that don't
see much action use them. They keep a float charge going on the fire
trucks so that when they need them, boosting the truck isn't necessary.
After one particularly memorable egg on face episode of three dead
trucks, they ran trickle charge on all the trucks- which caused fried
batteries after a year. When the smart chargers first came out, they
set up the trucks with them, to great benefit.
Actually, the local John Deere dealer now sells a charger that is
supposed to "condition" your batteries over winter- one charger that
services something like ten batteries still in equipment. There is a
big cable bundle that you can use to run to all the equipment in your
shop- the bundle goes back to the mothership. It's ain't cheap tho-
something like 800 bucks.

I would assume the one you bought is very similar, with one intended hookup.

Gonna have to invest in one I guess. Too many batteries around the farm
to not have one if it actually does something.
Do you have, or have access to a load tester? That should provide some
useful data on battery capacity before and after.

-James

Post by Val Christian
Several weeks ago, I posted an inquiry on a smart battery charger.
Since then, I bought the charger, played with it, and I am pretty impressed.
This group tends to be interested in these things, so I figured I'd
give back with some information. (No affiliation with either Sams Club
or Vector Manfacturing.)
The charger is a Vector 1095 APOB, nominally called a 2/10/25 amp
charger with a 75 amp boost (for about 5 seconds, as near as I
can tell). The charger also has an EQUALIZE feature, a DESULFATE
feature, in addition to smart charge monitoring. Additionally, the
charger can be configured for wet, gel and AGM batteries. It monitors
120 VAC line voltage, and compensates for extension cord losses (handy
when working in the north 40).
Clips don't spark, and there is reverse polarity detection.
There is an altenator test feature, which checks the car system with
the engine running, under accessory load, and without accessory load.
There is a digital current meter, which can also be used to measure
battery voltage. The same display is used to set charge rates, receive
diagnostics and show the proper operation of the charger.
Limitations: Some battery voltage (2V) and normal battery response is
necessary for operation. Only 12V batteries are charged.
The charger has a fan, which runs most of the time. The fan is not
readily servicable. Also the charger may take a large current
spike when first receiving AC power.
I bought mine for under $50 at Sam's Club about three weeks ago.
---
After some play, I removed the Group 27 battery from my Ford 1510
tractor (diesel, if anyone cares), and charged it. about 2 hours to
get it into the third phase of charging. Then I topped the cells with
water. The battery is 6 years old, and sits most of the time. I was
having problems with it self-discharging and with reduced capacity.
I ran the desulfate sequence, which gives the battery short high voltage
spikes, designed to clear the sulfate crystals from led acid batteries.
I don't have measurements to offer, but while the cell voltages dropped
during this process (I ran it for 5 days), there appears to be an
improvement, which I haven't quantified.
I then ran an equalize cycle, for about 2.5 hours. I'm doing one more
run of desulfate, and then I will top off the battery, and put it back
into the tractor.
CAUTION: Run desulfate with the battery disconnected from the vehicle.
The high spikes are short, and may not damage altenator diodes and
on car computers. On the other hand, the battery won't get full benefit
if some other electronics are absorbing the energy intended for the
battery.
----
I charged several small lead-acid betteries from two (diesel) generators,
and found that they came to a float charge after 1.5 to 3 hours.
The documentation is poorly written, but as near as I can tell, the
-rapid charge (25 to 10amps)
-absorbtion charge (const. voltage, usually 10 to 5 amps)
-top-off charge (step down regulation mode)
-(smart) float charge
Periodically the charger stops, and samples battery voltage. It also
appears to sometimes draw high current from the battery, apparently
to estimate the battery capacity.
The charger is temperature compensated.
The leads appear to be 8 ga, with serious clamps. I have found that
if the clamps are not on the battery securely, a fault code for a bad
cell may happen.
----
I can forward a pdf of the owners manual, if anyone is interested.
Some technical details are available by looking at the US Utility
Patent # 6,822,425.
----
These details are sketchy; if there are specific questions, I'll try to
answer them. My only other battery charger is over 30 years old, and
thusfar I'm happy that I bought this one. At least I now have two
chargers to rotate through all the batteries during the dead of winter...
Val
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