[AT] Battery Charger recommendations

[Dean VP]

Greg,

Thanks for the tips.  Good comments about the cheap trickle chargers. I have
to read instructions on a less than $10 device???   Red goes to the positive
battery terminal and black goes to negative battery terminal. The thingy on
the other end plugs into a wall socket!  Single light comes on. Must be
working! :-)  Maybe I should read the instructions. I think I still have a
new one in the box

Dean VP
Snohomish, WA 98290

It's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Greg Hass
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 2:16 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] Battery Charger recommendations

I have three battery charges, not because I'm rich but due to necessity. 
I first had a ten amp. but after using it once the neighbor borrowed it and
had it a year before I got it back to charge the combine.  A week later he
wanted to borrow it again and kept it for a few months until he burned it up
by hooking it up backwards with sparks flying; I myself saw him do it a
couple of times. Of course he never offered to pay for it. I decided I
wanted one with boost; I ended up with a Dayton with 150 amp. 
boost. It has worked well for over 10 years but at the time I bought it I
looked all over and could not find one of that size with automatic shutoff;
I think maybe now some are available. I didn't like guessing if the battery
was charged so I bought a ten amp. Solar brand ;not sun operated, charger
for about $40 (ten years ago). It is automatic so if I have time I leave it
on until it shuts off. If I'm in a hurry and want to get something started I
use the big charger just to add some juice to get it started. Unfortunately,
I think the 10 amp might be toast as the last couple of times it shuts off
every 30 seconds and then restarts again. I guess I'll give it one more try.
A couple of years ago John Deere had a 1 and a half amp charger-maintainer
on sale for $40. I use that in the winter or when I might forget it for a
couple of weeks. What I like about it is that it can charge a battery
although slowly. It has a red light saying it is charging and a green light
saying fully charged. I bought it because a couple of the cheap maintainers
my brother bought have warnings to only use them on fully charged batteries.
This may be the reason some of you are having bad luck with the cheap ones
if a battery has to be brought up to charge ( mine you I said MAY be, there
could be others reasons such as poorly built to start with). The 1 and a
half amp charger has reverse hook up protection and will say if the battery
can't be charged. Probably more than you wanted to know.
     Greg Hass
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