battery charger problem!!

[jimbo2]

In april I purchased a 2/12/75 automatic/deepcycle charger from sears. It worked great for about 8 uses. On the 9th use the amperage didn't drop as the battery was charged, luckily I noticed it before too long and disconnected it. I returned this charger and with a little complaining was on my way out with a new one. This one has lasted for 2 uses. Unfortunately I trusted it overnight. When I hoked it up last night the amps went up to 12 like they should, that was at 8 PM, when I checed it this morning at 5:30 AM it was stil on 12 and my garage smelled like sulfur. I am really mad. I'm going to Winnie in 2 weeks and really need a good charger, I hope I didn't cook my battery too!
I am really P.O.'d.
Am I doing something wrong? Or are these things just poor quality!?!?
Thanks for your help!

[Chuck Pederson MN]

I think you are cooking those batteries. I'd return that charger for a refund and get a Guest onboard charger they are available at Cabelas. Also you may have damaged your batteries I'd check that also they may not hold a charge anymore. You will be happy with this charger And I'd let Sears side your house but keep them and Fleet and Farm away from your batteries. Good luck on Winnie.

[Paul Dickson]

It seems the odds of your having two battery chargers defective is very small. It seems there is a short(possibly intermittent if it does work some time) in the battery which is not allowing it to come up to a voltage level sufficient to turn off the charger. If you have a digital volt meter you should check the battery voltage. If it is not a sealed battery you can also check the specific gravity of the cells and if one is shorted it will read noticably lower than the others.

[Cangl]

Watch those battery chargers when hooked up with any kind of extension cords especially long inexpensive ones. The narrower diameter wire in them the more they will hike up the amperages and heat. If this set up is hooked up on a circuit with a motion sensor, garage door motor, flourescent lighting and its ballasts requiring big watts. There will be a burst of high amp and voltage surge with all electrical devices involved. Clamps will give you trouble with "hardened" battery terminals as well losing connection and raising amps especially to the display and charger. Sand the lead terminals occasionally when using clamps as well as the clamps.

[ebijack]

my buddy has been thru 2 sears chargers and 3 batteries (sears also)......go with guest!!!!! out of the many chargers i've used over the many years, guest is absolutely the very best. they do NOT boil or over charge your batteries even left plugged in over many months.

[curt quesnell]

i dont like those automatic chargers either, you just cant
trust em.

i have a guest charger in the boat and it really does a nice
job. you can leave it plugged in all week and things are just
fine.

i have a charger with a timer on it for other batteries, while
you may not get the batteries maxed out on charge everytime
you can leave it hooked up overnight without worrying about
boiling your battery dry.

go with the guest charger if you can. they are really nice
...easy..reliable.

good luck

curt quesnell

[mdj]

the charger in question may not be the problem any more since you said it cooked your battery ..now you may have to buy a battery or the battey was the problem all along...check each cell with a hydrometer..if one does not come up to the same reading as all the others you may have a shorted cell which will not charge and fools the charger into charging too much and then the whole system goes into what is known as thermal runaway, this is when the battery gets too hot and the voltage is supressed .and the charger trys to charge at a higher amp rate to compensate.kind of a catch22,,this is can and will kill a battery ...check out the battery and next time get a charger that says "fully automatic shut off" not just fully automatic..

good luck and get em,,,

[jimbo]

I'm going to Winnie on july 13th thru July 21. Staying at becker's. Where you staying?

[Weyes1]

I have the 2/10/75 charger from Sears also. I wound up getting a new one also. So far so good. Sounds like you had a bad battery, I had a battery that did what you described and found that I didn't take them out of the boat soon enough and a couple of the plates warped. I must have charged that thing for 3 days, adding water as it got low. I thought the charger was bad, took the battery in and it was bad. This was before I got this charger.
BTW - this charger has a 3 year warrantee. Each time you have to return it with in the 3 years the warrantee starts over. Atleast thats what the salesman told me, so keep you receipt. Also, charging over night you may be better off charging at 2 amps if you start early enough. Takes a fully drained battery a little over 7 hours for the charger to shut off.

Weyes1
Kevin Clark
weyes1@wamego.net

[jimbo2]

I checked it all out and it was the battery, 2 bad cells.
Thanks for the pointers guys!