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View Poll Results: What charger do you use
KOP charger 26 25.24%
AM 1 bank charger Dual Pro RS1 1 0.97%
AM 3 bank charger Dual Pro RS3 70 67.96%
Battery Tender 10 bank charger 5 4.85%
other please note in your comments 8 7.77%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 103. You may not vote on this poll

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  #16   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 20-02-2015, 17:38
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckDickerson View Post
Could someone please provide some credible documentation to substantiate this please? I have seen this posted on Chief Delphi numerous times but I have never seen manufacturer documentation that states this.

It is my understanding that this is true of old liquid cell batteries so that the electrolyte doesn't spill but modern SLA batteries are safe to use/store/charge in any orientation. I may be entirely incorrect in my understanding which is why I am seeking some actual documentation which I am unable to locate even though I have looked. I may just not know what to search for. Thanks.

Edit: For the record our battery charging station is designed so that the batteries are charges laying down. This has seemed to work perfectly fine for us for more years than I can remember right now but that in no way means we are doing it correctly.

Edit #2: I found a wealth of info about a large number of 12V 18Ah batteries of the size we use in FRC at ATBatt.com. They seem to have manufacturer PDFs and technical documentation for just about all of the various brands of batteries we use. As an example I pulled up the Technical Manual for the PowerSonic PS-12180-NB batteries we have purchased to use this year and while there are pages and pages of information on battery charging I did not find one single mention of battery orientation during charging. I would think that if it was important the manufacturer would make mention of it somewhere.
The vents for these batteries are on the top. When charging, the battery can generate excess gasses that need to vent. Charging upside down will not allow that to happen.
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  #17   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 20-02-2015, 17:42
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis View Post
The vents for these batteries are on the top. When charging, the battery can generate excess gasses that need to vent. Charging upside down will not allow that to happen.
Why? Are the vents some sort of a one way flapper valve or something that do not function properly in an inverted position?
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Unread 20-02-2015, 18:27
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

If the battery is upside down and gas does need to be vented, there is a real possibility that some of the electrolyte (i.e. acid) will be forced out along with it. In normal operation there shouldn't be any significant liquid outside the glass mat, but overcharging to the point where the battery is overpressurized is not normal operation.
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Unread 20-02-2015, 22:02
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

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Originally Posted by MrBasse View Post
Well worth the $450 we paid for it.
If you dont mind me asking... How did you get it at that price
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Unread 20-02-2015, 22:14
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wferr View Post
If you dont mind me asking... How did you get it at that price
We asked really nice at our local Batteries Plus store and the manager cut us a deal. Also, Amazon has it right now for $487 and it goes on sale from time to time.
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Unread 20-02-2015, 22:55
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Anderson View Post
If the battery is upside down and gas does need to be vented, there is a real possibility that some of the electrolyte (i.e. acid) will be forced out along with it. In normal operation there shouldn't be any significant liquid outside the glass mat, but overcharging to the point where the battery is overpressurized is not normal operation.
This is what Enersys told us at work. We use a 7 AHr version of the Genesis in some of our equipment.
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Unread 21-02-2015, 06:05
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Schumacher INC-406A 6 Amp Automatic Microprocessor

Chargerhttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31ypRnUMLwL.jpg

These things Rock
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Unread 21-02-2015, 11:06
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by MrBasse View Post
we got the big Battery Tender.

Well worth the $450 we paid for it. If you have enough batteries to keep it fully loaded, you'll never need more than two amps to charge a battery. Plus it is made by a company named after maintaining batteries...
We got the same charger, and we love it. We never half to worry about having a charged battery at competition. By the time we get through 5 or 6 batteries, the first one is already fully charged again.

By the way, I love your charging station!
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Unread 21-02-2015, 11:20
MrBasse MrBasse is offline
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Re: Battery Charger Poll

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris_Ely View Post
We got the same charger, and we love it. We never half to worry about having a charged battery at competition. By the time we get through 5 or 6 batteries, the first one is already fully charged again.

By the way, I love your charging station!
Thanks, aside from the charger the most expensive part was the SB50's! We use some old plywood, some scrap lexan, and some extra wire channel.

Charger $450
Harbor Freight hand truck - $38
Leftover plywood - $5
Wire channel - $10
Black paint - $3
SB50's advertised as red but showed up grey - $60
Time spent milling grey sb50's while cursing Amazon - priceless
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