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Well, my good 'ol trusty Schauer Charge-Master, 10 Amp battery charger, finally gave up the ghost! It served me well for nearly 20 years, had one slide switch for 6 and 12 volt charging sequence, and had it's handle, and all cords replaced throughout the years. And it is only the second one I've ever owned! So I started looking for a new one, I could have troubleshot this old one, but thought I'd investigate the new fangled stuff first!

Well, let me tell you, I found one with all the bells and whistles I need, and at 50 bucks, just can't go wrong! Let's see first and foremost it has a built in battery de-sulfenator, (Wow! You can save batteries this way!) can diagnose your alternator! (Gee, don't have to break out the meter....again!) Has three charging rates, 2, 6, and 12 amp. (sweet) and ya just can't screw it up when hooking it up, as it has a reverse polarity indicator. ( Of course I would never do that! ) And to top it all off, it is an LED readout, and the smallest footprint and so lightweight, the cords are stowed neatly in a cradle tucked in the back, it is unbeliveable! Time will tell, if it will outlast the 'ol Schauer, but I sure won't miss it, if all these gizmo's work on this model! I guess I'll get around to seeing if I can fix it, but it too will probably collect dust, rust some more, and end up in a trash heap someday!

Here is a link to one for 50 bucks, they have them all the way to 100 amps for $109.00, but I'll never have the need for that! I chose Vector Model 1008. Read the review also! And you can download the specs too!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... i&n=228013

Hee, Hee, just found the problem with the 'ol Schauer, there was a neat and hardly noticeable nick in the AC cord, OK, now I can charge both batteries in my boat at the same time! Man, that American made stuff, is built right! Oh, and I found the receipt tucked in the inside of the housing, I bought it for 12 bucks in 1979....25 years and still tickin', now that's durability!

Tom Root wrote: .... Here is a link to one for 50 bucks, they have them all the way to 100 amps for $109.00, but I'll never have the need for that! I chose Vector Model 1008. Read the review also! And you can download the specs too! (Link to Charger on Amazon)

Tom,
Thanks for access to your research. I have a charger in the garage that's rarely used (mainly for my motorcycle), since the boat batteries seem adequately maintained by the Suzuki alternator. Strange, isn't it, that you can buy a 30 amp charger for $80, and you can buy a 1000w inverter for $80 ... but a Xantrex "inverter/charger" at similar capacities would cost you $1,000. Chalk another one up to "marine" pricing. (Xantrex 1500w Charger-inverter)

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Regarding an on-line purchase from Amazon.com, be cautious ... I have a story about a recent "purchase" from Amazon. An associate from Japan was visiting here in NorCal and wanted to buy the latest USA-version of a Toshiba PDA. We couldn't find one in local stores, and he was ready to return to Tokyo - I suggested he just buy one on-line and have it shipped directly home. He chose one on Amazon, and entered his credit card info. Thereupon, he received an email from the "Amazon distributor" that the item was not in stock, but could be shipped in about 3 weeks if he wanted to confirm the late delivery. Meanwhile, the credit card had already been charged for the full purchase of $600+. (!!)

I was unaware that his purchase was not directly from Amazon. It turns out that this "Amazon distributor" is simply a guy with a computer and a bunch of catalogs. Allthough the email offered to reverse the charge, my associate elected instead to phone his credit card institution and have the reversal forced immediately. I would have expected this scenario with a purchase through eBay ... now I know that Amazon's simply a big auction house too, requiring similar precautions over method of payment. I think there are plenty of critics of PayPal, but I've always relied on them to protect my credit card info (at least) and to manage the payment process. Seems the same might be good for Amazon.

Tom, I am also still using a Schauer 6 Amp battery charger from the 70's. Although I recently bought a similar 2/6 amp charger for about $25 at an auto parts store (not so fancy like the one you got). It now stays in the boat all the time (the old one stays in the garage). I just lay it next to the batteries and it is jammed in there pretty well. I decided against the permanent charger in case I want to take it out to reduce weight for trailering, etc. I'm still towing with my stock trailer and Honda minivan. Although it tows pretty well due to a large wheelbase, I hate to overload it too much.

After reading your post I dashed off to Walmart to look for the battery charger you mentioned. The Desulphate feature is something I definitely wanted. They did not have the Vector , but they did have a similar line of chargers from Schumacher that are electronic type with desulphate listed as a feature.
I bought the 12 Amp version for 39.00 .
When I got it home and compared it with your web link, I noticed that the Vector seems to have a button to manually engage the desulphate function, while on mine there is no button and the instructions say that it does this automatically when the charger senses it is needed. Doesn't sound as promising. I'll try it out but I am not optimistic and it may be going back, so I can wait for the Vector model to be stocked..

Just tried it on a battery that I was getting ready to throw out because it would not take a charge and seems to have a bad cell from the hydrometer readings.

It automatically went into the desuphate mode (flashing charge light and 15 to 16 V pulsed voltage.) Maybe it does what it is supposed to do. I'll let it do its thing for a day and see what it does.
I think it tries to do a normal charge and if it sees the voltage resistance rise quickly it concludes that the de-sulphate step is needed and automatically goes into this mode.

Craig,
Well I too had a battery with very uneven cells as per hygrometer, and let it do it's thing as per instructions for 24 hours. It saved that battery! It can be in that cycle for up to 5 cycles, and turns off automatically after 24 hours! I have about 10 batteries total around the place here in various cars, R.V.'s etc. and had been looking for this feature for a long time. I was aware of this technology for about 7 years, but only knew of one company that offered it for fleet type operations for about $700.00+,(depending on the model) which wasn't really feasable for home use IMO. When I saw this charger though, I am glad it was way more resonable for sure! So, I will try and revive some trashed batteries I have on the place.

Something I have been doing for about 2 years is, refreshing my small rechargables. I tend to have devices with AA cells and have about 30 NIMH cells up to 2000 Ma hrs, but believe they have 2200+ Ma hrs out now. They do not have a memory of course like the NICADS, and seem to be holding up, after having them for about 3 years, and use them all very much. I have alot of onboard handhelds, and use batteries, along with D.C. power cords. I wouldn't even consider a digital camera without the capability of "AA" battery power, as battery packs that are one of a kind proprietary become obsolete almost overnight, and you are stuck with an electronic device that you can't power up!

Anyway, I use a Powerex brand MH-C777 Plus charger for small cells, and they can also be used for about any battery known to mankind used in electronics. It refreshes batteries, and I have revived more than a dozen batteries that was considered worthless, and ready to be chucked in the trash! Good technology for sure, and it also has a temperature probe to ensure it does not over heat the cell as it is charging! ( Heat is the number one destroyer of ALL batteries!!!!)
See--> http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/item.asp?idproduct=185

It is pricey, but when you consider how much you rely on batteries for everything, it is well worth it! And I highly reccomend it!

I have a Mac 26 , but I also have several antique cars, too, so naturally I've got a lot of batteries. Not all of my cars get driven as often as they should, so the batteries would go dead all the time... end result wat that I was seemingly always replacing batteries in one or the other of the cars (grrrr). That got old really quickly.

Anyway, I came across this product:

http://www.vdcelectronics.com/batteryminder.htm

I bought a couple and let me tell you, they are *great*. It's small, inexpensive and I've yet to have one fail on me. I keep all of the cars, and my Honda EB1100 generator as well, on these "Batteryminder" de-sulphating chargers all the time. In fact, I've wired my cars in pairs... one charger per two cars.. and whenever I pull in from a run I just plug'em back up to their cable (I hard-wired leads into the cars so hookup is a breeze). Works great. I've done this for about 5 years now and all of those batteries are as fresh and powerful as the day I bought them.

Well just an update on the desulphate attempt on the old battery. THe bad cell is still bad. It was the original 7 year old battery and I guess it probably had an internal short in the cell and no amount of charging or desulphating was going to fix that, but it seemed like the charger did what it was supposed to do. I still think I would prefer the manual button to force it into the desulphate mode however. The Schumaker model only seems to go into desulphate mode until it thinks it is fixed and then goes back to normal charge (and got fairly hot by the way). I would prefer to be the one telling it what to do and how long to do it.