[Vwdiesel] Smart Charger Update

[James Hansen]

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

Val Christian wrote:
> 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 
> charger is a four stage charger:
> 
> 	-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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