External house battery chargers

[john r. lebetski]

I thought the opposite was true about deep discharging. 50% is deep in my opinion. I disconnect the negatives on any stored vehicle. Then use the
BatteryMinder to bring back to 100% from the 95% or so it was at on a monthly basis. Or try to. It can he a couple months. Going on about 9 years on a
4D that still tests good with a digital tester. Have IOTA when in use on AC. I think once a non deep cycle battery is deep discharged it is on
borrowed time. Had BatteryMinder on a 78 on my Tahoe last week. Showed fully charged flashing green. No crank. Bad cell at 6.5 years in a 7 year
prorate. Got about $15 off new 78. I remember this one being fully dead at least once due to interior lights maybe more than once. Any fail at home
with tools and testers is a win for me. The good, then sudden bad seems to be the fail mode on today’s batteries. Happened to me a few times now.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[Matt Colie]

> Hello:
>
> Over the past weekend I replaced our two house batteries (two 6-volt golf cart GC2). It looks like we got about 8 years out of the old ones, with
> light use. When I say light use, the batteries are usually kept at full capacity as we are either on the road or on shore power, not much rough
> camping. I thought with such light use we may have been able to get 10-12 years out of them.
>
> While talking to the dealer where I bought the new batteries, he said that often times they only last a few years and that RVs by nature can be
> bad for batteries in that they tend to sit for a long time in storage (even if hooked up to a smart charger). I have read on this issue as well,
> and that it is good to "exercise" the battery occasionally, by draining it down to close to 50% of its capacity then charging back up. We have the
> Progressive Dynamics smart charger that is used when we are on shore power, and when in storage I hook up an external BatteryMinder with the
> desulfation mode. But I was curious if anybody knows of an external charger that can occasionally drain and recharge it when it's in storage and do
> the desulfation all in one. I've been looking and so far haven't found something for RV or automotive use.
>
> I will post back if I find anything, just curious if anybody had looked in to this before.
>
> Chris

Chris,

I did get 12 years out of a pair of Duracell (who knows?) GC2s bought from Sam's club. They were maintained buy a PD9145w/wizard all that time. The
thing is thought that we did do a pretty good amount of dry camping and with electric refrigeration, the bank got drawn down from time to time and
often past 50%SOC. In all my research (usually for clients), I have never seen a system that was designed to do an occasional draw down.

Judging by the make-up demand, they bank took the biggest beating when we did long road runs because the alternator part of the system is not nearly
as nice to the bank as is the PD converters.

According to the Bogart battery minder (and I have had most of a year to watch it while we did Nothing), the PD cycle does let the self discharge get
down as much as 5% before the system switches back to charging from maintenance mode.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit

 

[lw8000]

Thank you for the replies, this is great feedback. I did find this regarding the Progressive Dynamics chargers, which I did not know previously.

 

[Jim Hupy]

If you get 11 years from a wet cell battery, consider the fact that you
must be doing something about dead right.
When you consider that you have a hard rubber case full of sulphuric
acid with lead plates suspended in it, it amazes me that they last anywhere
near that long.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Oregon

> Thank you for the replies, this is great feedback. I did find this
> regarding the Progressive Dynamics chargers, which I did not know
> previously.
> From their website:
>
> Quote:
> > In order to prevent Battery Stratification, an Equalization
> Charge(increasing charging voltage to 14.4-volts) must be applied
> periodically.
> > The Charge Wizard automatically selects its EQUALIZATION MODE (14.4
> volts) every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes
>
> I have been using the VDC BatteryMinder with desulfation on regular
> automotive "maintenance free" (I check the water levels anyway) batteries
> and have
> been able to keep them alive up to 11 years or so consistently, but wasn't
> sure how well this is for deep cycle, even though VDC recommends it.
> --
> Chris S. -
> 77 Kingsley, 3.70 FD, mostly OEM -
> S.E. Michigan
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
>

 

[lw8000]

I may have stumbled on one product that is along the lines of what I was looking for. Looks like VDC now has a charger that will do the desulfation
AND does a load test every 12 hours, for 10 minutes:

https://www.batteryminders.com/batteryminder-model-244cec1-24v-1-2-4-amp-charger-maintainer-desulfator/

Manual:
https://www.batteryminders.com/content/SAFETY%20%26%20QS%20128CEC1-244CEC1%20RevA2%20010516.pdf

A little pricey, though (is the cost of a new 6V battery!).
--
Chris S. -
77 Kingsley, 3.70 FD, mostly OEM -
S.E. Michigan

 

[john r. lebetski]

I just use the older 1.5A BatteryMinders from Northern Tool. About 40 bucks. Never had one go bad. I prefer these to the Battery Tenders.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[d c *mac* macdonald]

I definitely agree that Battery Minders are far better than Battery Tenders.
Not a big difference in price and Northern Tool frequently has them on sale.

D C "Mac" Macdonald
Amateur Radio K2GKK
Since 30 November '53
USAF and FAA, Retired
Member GMCMI & Classics
Oklahoma City, OK
"The Money Pit"
TZE166V101966
'76 ex-Palm Beach
k2gkk + hotmail dot com
________________________________
From: John R.Lebetski
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 22:20
To: gmclist
Subject: [GMCnet] Re: External house battery chargers

I just use the older 1.5A BatteryMinders from Northern Tool. About 40 bucks. Never had one go bad. I prefer these to the Battery Tenders.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[lw8000]

Well I ended up making the plunge and got the VDC Batteryminder 128CEC1. If I can get more than 10 years out of these new batteries (Trojan T-105),
then I'll be happy. Already I'm impressed with how well it works. It has 3 different amp settings for charging and it defaults to 2 amp, giving you
the option to step it up if you want (I leave it on 2 as I'm usually in no hurry and it's better for the batteries). It does the desulfation just
like the basic units, but also measures ambient temp to avoid overboiling in warm conditions. What I like most is the fact it will automatically load
test the batteries every 12 hours and it will indicate if that fails, hopefully warning me of dying batteries. I too , like others posted, have been
extremely happy with the VDC Batteryminder basic units for many years. I keep them on all of my batteries and have consistently gotten upwards of 11
years on the better brands, and 7-8 on the really cheap brands. So, crossing fingers for many more years!!
--
Chris S. -
77 Kingsley, 3.70 FD, mostly OEM -
S.E. Michigan

 

[Matt Colie]

Chris,

I will be interested to see how this new things does. I got almost 10 years out of a pair of Duracell GC2s on a 9145w/wiz. They were still at bout
80% capability when I got a chance at a pair of T-105s at a good price.

Matt

> Well I ended up making the plunge and got the VDC Batteryminder 128CEC1. If I can get more than 10 years out of these new batteries (Trojan
> T-105), then I'll be happy. Already I'm impressed with how well it works. It has 3 different amp settings for charging and it defaults to 2 amp,
> giving you the option to step it up if you want (I leave it on 2 as I'm usually in no hurry and it's better for the batteries). It does the
> desulfation just like the basic units, but also measures ambient temp to avoid overboiling in warm conditions. What I like most is the fact it will
> automatically load test the batteries every 12 hours and it will indicate if that fails, hopefully warning me of dying batteries. I too , like
> others posted, have been extremely happy with the VDC Batteryminder basic units for many years. I keep them on all of my batteries and have
> consistently gotten upwards of 11 years on the better brands, and 7-8 on the really cheap brands. So, crossing fingers for many more years!!

--
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit