A tip for battery charging

[The Gman 476]

For those who have a plethora of horses plus batteries, or not.

Over the years I've kept or found those 12 volt power converts, mostly from cordless phones but other things as well. I wire them to the battery with an on/off switch or a fuse.

When it's time to put most of the heard away for the winter, in the shed or just covered up I run a few power bars, plug them in and say "see ya come spring"

I've been doing this for about 5 years now and leave them on permanently.

I use ones that only put out .5-.7 amps.

I thought of getting a bunch of battery minders, they run $10 to $15 up here north of the boarder.

Works great.

Anybody else tried this?

 

 

[formariz 11,849]

That is an interesting idea. There are about a dozen of those here accumulated over the years. I wonder if they would overcharge if they are not automatic.

[ZXT 2,394]

I would be very leery of doing that. They don't have any sort of an automatic shut off feature, and in an event of overcharging, that could become a fire hazard. .5-.7 amps is fine when the battery needs it, but once the battery is fully charged it'll just sit there and boil the battery.

 

I think it's worth the investment to buy a proper tender. $15 is cheap compared to replacing your horses and rebuilding your barn when it burns down. Power strips are a fire danger by themselves if you have anything pulling much current.

 

They can be had for cheaper off of the internet.

Edited June 11, 2019 by ZXT

[peter lena 8,038]

been using battery tender for years, just bolt on to battery terminal, or clamp on ,then you have a simple plug in port . i have the lead  tyed  on to my throttle cable , hiding in plain site , always ready for a simple plug in , pete

[The Gman 476]

I hear ya...... they are plugged into a timer that set to 6 hrs on, 18hrs off.