Posted by jdemaris on December 19, 2010 at 08:05:03 from (67.142.130.31):
There was a forum discussion here not along ago about on-board battery maintainers for cars, trucks, and tractors.
For reasons that still elude me, several people got upset over the use of them, claiming stories about fire hazards, families being burnt up, etc.
Also several people on this forum stated these chargers have no fuse protection on the input, and according to one guy here, I'm just plain "stupid."
I just pulled apart two brand-new maintainers one made for permanent mounting on a car, truck, or tractor (if desired).
Both are three-stage chargers. One is VOT,rated at 2 amps max and the other Harbor Freight, rated at 1.5 amps max. Both cost less then $20 each. Both look pretty much the same inside. The VOT is vented, and the HF is sealed and weatherproof. I suspect the HF was "detuned" a bit due to the lack of weatherproofing and no ventilation.
Both have 18 gauge AC lead cords and a 1 amp fuse at the AC input where the cord joins the circuit board. Both also have a 5 amp fusible link on the circuit board at the DC output. Can't see how you could build one much safer.
Now if lightning strikes, and the lead cord is laying on gasoline-soaked cardboard - OK, maybe a fire risk. But if that happened, who's fault is that? How many other lead cords are plugged in, all the time, in a house or shop?
I ran current draw tests for a full week. When in standy-by "float" mode at 13.5 volts DC, both draw near the same AC current. 1 watt for the HF, and 1.8 watts for the VOT. In 7 days, each maintainer used a max .49 of a KWH of electricity. If I was buying electricity here in NY, that would cost 9 cents per week, or 36 cents per month.
When the VOT was in high-charge mode, it made 2.2 amps in DC, while drawing 1/4 amp at 120 volts AC.
Considering all truck, car and tractor batteries self-discharge by themselves, at a rate of 3-10% per month, these maintainers can make batteries last a lot longer. Sitting around in discharge is a big killer of batteries. More so in newer cars and trucks that have a steady current draw, all the time.
I started using them because I've got over a dozen cars, trucks, and tractors sitting around that don't get used much.
I'm not promoting anything here. These things have saved me a lot of dead-battery headaches for stuff that rarely gets used. Just stating facts as I've observed them. In the past, there were many times I'd need to use a backhoe in the middle of the winter, only to find the battery dead - and sometimes frozen. All batteries discharge on their own.
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