Any input? My battery charger quit working today and i need to get a new one. I have been searching around and there appears to be quite the price difference for basically the same specs. The one that died was a cheap die hard but i also have a K Tool American made charger which isnt bad but i would like a bit better one. I need one that will quickly charge a battery and boost start equipment.
Associated is excellent but very expensive. I have one that can be used for 6, 12, 18 and 24 volts. It has a boost setting for starting also if batteries are down.
i always judge them by what they weigh..... a cheap one has an aluminum transformer where the good ones are copper is what ive always heard. i dont like the digital ones they dont seem like theyll bring back a total flat battery unless you put jumper cables to another one to acttually pull a load on the charger, knobs and timers are great ! lol. as far as a 24v charger I have a boat charger we use once in a while that works pretty good and reletively cheap. pj
This is what I've got, and it spends a bunch of time in the back of my pickup so I don't have to chase it down to start equipment. It'll roll over a small 24V Deere engine with completely flat batteries on the boost setting, and in 12V it's got some really nuts in the charging.
What is it? I will agree on the associated chargers...... they are big bucks though!
I love the Schumacher hand held one that's about $100 with 200/40/10/2 amps, the 200 and 40 are the boost setting with and without the starter operating. Not in the same class as the wheel around version but very handy, you can leave it on trickle over the weekend, or fast charge a dead battery in a reasonable time. It won't boost start for very long before the internal breaker trips, but there's no automatic stuff inside to fail.
Yeah, the Schumacher wheeled chargers have been very good for me. The fan went out on one, and I bought a fan from Surplus Center for about $5 that would blow leaves and dust from around it. After the fan upgrade, that thing would run on boost for a loong time.
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...24-Volt-Manual-Wheel/_/R-NBC856000_0006389653 Lets try this, I forgot to put in the link too
thanks i will check into this one!
You guys have got me wanting a new battery charger now lol.. i just called and part number changes to a 857000 and list price is $699, he priced it to me for $550 tho..... i didnt order it but was close, i may call back before the days over if i dont find anything else pj
Am i wrong in thinking that i dont really need one that will do 24V? I have a couple big trucks but they only use 24v to start....... so what would the purpose (in my case) be in having the 24v setting?
are you sure your bigtrucks are 24 start or are the batteries hooked in parallel with each other making it a 12v system ?? sometime when we are having trouble firing a big truck i'll hit it with 24v just to get it to start easier pj
As i understand it anyways........ big trucks run off of 12v but the starter starts off of 24v.
nope some ex military trucks do but not real common pj
Please give a thorough explanation if you dont mind. I would like to really understand how the charging system in a big truck works.
This is easier than trying to explain! You'd charge at 12V, but could hook a 24V to the starter, but then the 24v booster wouldn't charge when it wasn't cranking. If the + is hooked to the + and both - are hooked to ground then they're hooked up parallel, 12v all the time and this doesn't apply.
Battery I had the same problem previously. Spent more bucks on batteries buying from many sources. Recently bought batteries from batteryshopwa . Its quite better compared to earlier ones.
That's a little bit different design than those we used to have on our old B model and DM model Macks but still the same idea. They were "affectionately" refered to as "Serious Problem Switches". I believe somewhere on a shelf at work I still have a spare one sitting. There was a different system we had on an RW Mack. That one used an alternator with a special transformer mounted on it to charge two separate pairs of 6 volt batteries wired in series for twelve volts but used them for 24 volts to start the truck. I'll have to check and see if I can find that diagram somewhere.
Not the best diagram should give you the basic idea. T-R is the Transformer/Rectifier. Our truck used pairs of 6 volt batteries in series where the diagram shows straight 12 volt batteries but the idea is the same.
Whatever you do, do not jump start a newer truck with 24v, you will fry the ECM Computer) and or sensors. Some of the older big trucks were hard starting due to the style injection systems on the engines and they ran a 24v starting circuit due to the extended cranking times. Todays trucks will have several 12v batteries wired in parallel for sustained cranking with no voltage drop. The ECM's don't fair very well with low or high voltages and they get expensive. Back on-topic, if you have heavy equipment in your fleet, you will want to own a charger capable of 24v charging, as most larger machines run on a 24v system. These chargers are typically more expensive, and with most contractors, time is money, so either you charge one battery at a time or hook up a 24v charger and do them all at once.
Forgot to update this...... I bought an Associated 6006 charger off of Amazon for $479.00 delivered. Very pleased so far, its extremely well made and heavy duty. We will see what it does in the long run but for now i couldnt be happier with it and would highly recommend.