Recommend me a trickle charger

[Pistol Pete]

My link Find a copy of Car and Driver magazine there is a harbor freight add with a coupon.

I also got a set of eight screwdrivers free. What a deal.

** cough,

you get what you pay for

cough **

Good to see you back on board G-money!

[LS-One]

** cough,

you get what you pay for

cough **

Good to see you back on board G-money!

Yup you sure do but we are talking $4.99 here, I'd pay more for a cheap six pack of beer. All these small chargers are is a step down transformer and a rectifier, not a whole lot to go wrong. I'll take the gamble. And the free screwdrivers ? If they break I'm out nothing except maybe a bruised knuckle.

I felt the same way about your cheap burglar alarm thread awhile back

Edited November 16, 2011 by LS-One

[dalt1]

My link Find a copy of Car and Driver magazine there is a harbor freight add with a coupon.

I also got a set of eight screwdrivers free. What a deal.

That maintainer is what I have been using for years. I have 2 Blue top Optima batteries that I have used for my 5th year now. Over 100 hrs use on boat per year. 3 Amps, one 12" sub and 10 Polk Db651 speakers. I plug them in whenever the boat is in the garage (During the week and all winter). I have read that these are not the correct charger for AGM batteries, but it,s working for me.

[Pistol Pete]

I felt the same way about your cheap burglar alarm thread awhile back

LOL,

I found the cure to no more false alarms....don't set the damn alarm.

J/K

I dumbed down all the motion sensors to the less sensitive setting. So far, so good.

[Tao of Wake]

I'll take the gamble.

I wouldn't. See what happened to me with a cheap charger.

[LS-One]

I wouldn't. See what happened to me with a cheap charger.

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune. I have a customer who lost his house because the plug-in transformer for his cordless phone/answering machine overheated.

All of these small chargers use a class II transformer.

A class II circuit is defined as "The portion of the wiring system between the load side of a Class 2 Power Source and the connected equipment. Due to its power limitations, a Class2 circuit considers safety from a fire initiation standpoint and provides acceptable protection from electrical shock.”

The particular charger I bought uses a class II transformer and it is ETL listed. ETL is an electrical testing agency much like UL which tests electrical devices for safety.

All this being said occasionally you get a bad transformer. We use tons of class II transformers in our business. Once in awhile we'll have one overheat and fail. Luckily never to the point of combustion.

Edited November 17, 2011 by LS-One

[Tao of Wake]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune. I have a customer who lost his house because the plug-in transformer for his cordless phone/answering machine overheated.

All of these small chargers use a class II transformer.

A class II circuit is defined as "The portion of the wiring system between the load side of a Class 2 Power Source and the connected equipment. Due to its power limitations, a Class2 circuit considers safety from a fire initiation standpoint and provides acceptable protection from electrical shock.”

The particular charger I bought uses a class II transformer and it is ETL listed. ETL is an electrical testing agency much like UL which tests electrical devices for safety.

All this being said occasionally you get a bad transformer. We use tons of class II transformers in our business. Once in awhile we'll have one overheat and fail. Luckily never to the point of combustion.

I don't believe that just the type of transformer is important when dealing with battery chargers. I believe that the additional protection and circuitry that monitor the temp and output of the charger and shut it down when there is an issue is what is most important. That is why I only use Battery Tender and Battery Minder products for my batteries (not affiliated with Battery Tender or Battery Minder in any way). For all other battery chargers - cell phone, cordless phone, power tools (these have the worst track record of creating fires), etc. - I use some sort of timer so that if there is a problem, it won't just continue to feed current until combustion happens. On my power tools, I have a timer that I can easily set to 1hr, 2hr, 4hr, 6hr, or 8hr. Depending on the battery I am charging, I will set it to the correct time. The timer then just shuts off power when that time has expired. If I forget to remove the battery from the charger, no problem. For cell phones, cordless phones, etc. I just use a dial type timer that only provides power during the night, when the device is being charged.

Having been on the wrong side of a fire caused by a battery charger, I would recommend taking necessary precautions to avoid it. Insurance is there to protect in case it happens, but that isn't the only toll taken on you and your family.

[LS-One]

I don't believe that just the type of transformer is important when dealing with battery chargers. I believe that the additional protection and circuitry that monitor the temp and output of the charger and shut it down when there is an issue is what is most important. That is why I only use Battery Tender and Battery Minder products for my batteries (not affiliated with Battery Tender or Battery Minder in any way). For all other battery chargers - cell phone, cordless phone, power tools (these have the worst track record of creating fires), etc. - I use some sort of timer so that if there is a problem, it won't just continue to feed current until combustion happens. On my power tools, I have a timer that I can easily set to 1hr, 2hr, 4hr, 6hr, or 8hr. Depending on the battery I am charging, I will set it to the correct time. The timer then just shuts off power when that time has expired. If I forget to remove the battery from the charger, no problem. For cell phones, cordless phones, etc. I just use a dial type timer that only provides power during the night, when the device is being charged.

Having been on the wrong side of a fire caused by a battery charger, I would recommend taking necessary precautions to avoid it. Insurance is there to protect in case it happens, but that isn't the only toll taken on you and your family.

The timer is a very good idea I will consider that myself.

I didn't mean to imply the transformer is the important part of a small battery charger. It is the most likely component to start a fire though considering every thing downstream of the transformer is operating at 500 ma.

Edited November 17, 2011 by LS-One