Battery charger question

[Louis-Alain Richard]

Marc,

My charger is indeed a 1A, like in the picture I've posted. Sorry for the
confusion.

Good news, the car fired right up even if it was under the cover since
mid-september. The battery was at exactly 12,0V, good enough with the
temperature 3 degrees over freezing, but if it was fully charged back then.
Either it's the radio memory or an internal drain. The radio is a period MEI
auto-reverse cassette and digital tuner radio; could this little circuit the
responsible for the voltage drop ?

Louis-Alain




-----Message d'origine-----
De : Marc Boucher [mailto:mboucher70 at hotmail.com] 
Envoyé : 21 décembre 2011 20:50
À : laraa at sympatico.ca; 'Steve Sears'; quattro at audifans.com;
urq at audifans.com
Objet : Re: Battery charger question

Hi Louis-Alain,

I have the exact same Motomaster charger that you pictured in your earlier 
email.  The ones that go on sale at CDN Tire for $9.99 every few months :-)

I just did a test where I connected it to charge a 12 Volt battery through 
an ammeter.  When not plugged in, the current 'backdraw' was 0 on even the 
smallest micro-amp scale.  Thus I can't see how it would drain the battery.

You mentioned that your's was a 2 Amp charger (although the one you pictured

was 1Amp).  So perhaps your's is different.

Something else to mention.  I had a similar charger before that developed a 
burnt out diode (they have 4 simple diodes inside to do the rectification). 
I don't know about these diodes, but sometimes when an IC blows it fails in 
'always on' state, allowing large current flows in either direction.   So 
that's a thought, to check.

Finally, CDN Tire actually has a 50% off sale on a very highly rated 
charger, the CTEK 3300.  It has a desulfation mode, and then shuts off when 
the battery isn't taking more than 0.4A.  It can be left on permanently, and

re-starts itself when the battery voltage drops below 12.9.  Think the sale 
finishes tomorrow.

Best
MC