(help)battery chargers

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Leav

holy battery charger markup batman!

thanks guys!
but what's with the huge price jump from the single chargers to the mutiple chargers??
the single battery chargers I was looking at were about $30-$50 which turns out to be $300 max for 6 batteries....

the cheapest I can find the Autometer buspro-600s is for $486.. 62% more than the singles!

anything I'm missing here? cause it seems that if you are willing to waste some space you are getting not only a better price, but also an option to spread them out (3 in the gym, 3 in the lab...)

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

-Leav

A consolidated charger is just so much nicer to work with; one power cord, only one unit to move, takes up less space overall, etc...

[Leav]

but would you pay $150 for that?
my team won't..... for that kind of money we can go paintballing again

-Leav

[Al Skierkiewicz]

The multi charger works for us. It hangs on a wall or a stand we have made, it is compact taking up about half the space that six chargers would and weighs less. It has a little less heat output, keeps the pit neater and we don't worry which charger a battery is connected to since the cables are color coded. It is a luxury admittedly, but one that has worked for us. Since we have two schools and two facilities, it allows us to distribute KOP chargers to other areas.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Does anyone know if a battery laying horizontally can damage the plates? I've heard it makes no difference.

The manufacturer says you can use the battery in any configuration. I personally would recommend you charge it with the terminals up. Charging in any configuration is likely OK but I avoid upside down to be sure that fluid is not covering the vents during charge.

[grambo]

The biggest thing to look for in a charger is the "three stage" charging. Essentially what that means is that the charger will go thru these stages: First, "bulk" stage: hit the battery with 6amps and wait for the voltage to rise (near about 14.6V). Second, hold the voltage at that "overcharge" mark (14.6V) until the current drops to 1/10th of that original 6amps. Finally, drop the voltage to the "float" mark (about 13.5V) pretty much assuring that when you unplug the battery from the charger it is as full as it can be.

Cheaper chargers will do various things, generally like if you have a lab supply and set it for 13.5V, 6A and then hook the battery to it, it'll dump 6A intot he battery until it gets to 13.5V, and simply taper the current back as the battery reaches that point. These will generally have timers and aren't very good for cyclic use of the battery as you miss out on the overcharge part of the cycle. ...for "standby" use, these chargers are perfectly fine, like for emergency lights and such.