THanks

Yes, that little charger tender plus is a pretty practical little device.

I been reading a lot and bubbling (to a degree) is common and expected.

Thanks for all the good advice.








"jeff" wrote in message
...
Tuuk wrote:
Hi

I bought the two Nautaulis deep cycle big batteries for 139. ea. Also the
motomaster 10/2 amp automatic charger regurlarily 70.

I have had the 2amp charger on one of the batteries for about 6 hours or
8
hours and little bubbling going on I can hear and the charger still is
not
changing from red light (charging) to green light (charged).

Should I keep it on the 2am for longer? Batteries are only 1 week old
from
Canadian Tire and charger is also new.


random thoughts:

Its hard to say about the bubbling because a small amount of bubbling is
expected, but a large amount means possible overcharging. As others say,
get a simple Voltmeter and a cheap specific gravity tester - you can get
both for under $10. And of course make sure the battery has the proper
amount of distilled water.

Your batteries hold a bit over 100 Amp-hours, meaning that if the were
totally dead it would take over 50 hours for your 2 Amp charger to get one
close to full. The last 10% could take some hours more. However, they
should have be delivered with at least a 50% charge - otherwise you'd have
a case to return them as DOA, since taking them below 50% diminishes the
lifetime. Look for a manufacturing code to make sure it hasn't sat on the
dealer's shelf for 6 months or more.

That said, I would expect the batteries to need a significant initial
charge (unless the dealer claimed they were fully charged) so the 2 Amp
mode really will take overnight or more to get it up to full. Or you
could use the 10 Amp mode to do it faster. BTW, I regularly charge at a
rate double that (scaled for my larger bank) but my charger is well
controlled so it doesn't apply too high a Voltage. In fact, the purpose
of a deep cycle battery is to be able to take them down to about 50%, and
then recharge them reasonably quickly, and repeat this about 500 times.
If you really want to charge at a slow rate, this is the device to get:
http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender...dp/B00068XCQU/

" Tuuk" wrote in
:

I tried it on an old 12v deep cycle and it did charge
it quickly (maybe an hour) and green light came on. But these two new
ones which are larger in size and weight are not shutting off the
automatic charger yet. I am a bit reluctant to charge it in the 10amp.
The folks at the C.T. told me to bring in the batteries and they will
put a 30amp on them and have them topped up in minutes but I did some
reading and that can't be too good for the deepcycle batteries.


Yes, by all means take them to some dunderheads who think they can recharge
batteries in 30 minutes flat. How horrible most are. Boaters typically
charge the house batteries for 20 minutes at full current, thinking wrongly
they are recharging them....They're not.

10A charging is fine. Huge batteries take forever to charge on 2A, of
course assuming they're discharged. I can't imagine 2A bubbling anything
not fully charged.

Are you SURE there's no loads, at all, on this tiny charger? Aren't these
batteries also hooked to the house circuit?



--
-----
Larry

If a man goes way out into the woods all alone and says something,
is it still wrong, even though no woman hears him?

" Tuuk" wrote in
:

The battery hasn't shut off the 2amp automatic charger yet and its
only been about 8 hours. Could or should i try leaving it on the 2amp
auto off, sure it is light bubbling as i can hear it, and see what it
looks like in the morning.


2A x 8 Hours = 16AH. Charging isn't very efficient, so you'd be lucky to
get 10AH of real charge this way. Overnight won't hurt them, even if the
charger were locked on. Don't leave them a week without monitoring until
you figure out what's what.



--
-----
Larry

If a man goes way out into the woods all alone and says something,
is it still wrong, even though no woman hears him?

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:30:29 -0400, " Tuuk"
wrote:

If battery light shows red and continuing charge, then return the
batteries and charger to C.T. and explain and have them test and
replace as necessary as this is simply normal operations and they said
do it anyway.

If battery light shows green then all should be good to go.

You need something more precise than red and green lights. The best
way is with a load tester which you can buy at a reasonable price from
Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. Also, as Larry mentioned, a specific
gravity test using a hygrometer is very useful. Last but not least,
test the battery with a DVM after it has been off the charger for at
least 24 hours. A fully charged battery should read about 12.6 volts
with no load or lightly loaded.


Harbor Freight has a new load tester, now. 0-500 amps! I gave my 50A
fixed load tester to a boater who is nice to me and got the new one. It's
a beautiful unit for so little money.



--
-----
Larry

If a man goes way out into the woods all alone and says something,
is it still wrong, even though no woman hears him?

On Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:22:20 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

I bought a small automatic 10/2 amp charger to hold
the batteries over the winter. It cost about $50.

Be careful. Those $50 chargers are really not designed for a damp
marine environment or continuous operation. I know of several boat
fires that have been started by them.

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...

The folks at the C.T. told me to bring in the batteries and they will
put a 30amp on them and have them topped up in minutes but I did some
reading and that can't be too good for the deepcycle batteries.




I don't think one charge like this would do much harm if you decide to
have them do it.


Now's that's the voice of experience! Ignore any advice from this
knucklehead he's blowing smoke from his ass.

"Mac Donald" wrote in news:2tn979.6g0.19.1
@news.alt.net:


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...

The folks at the C.T. told me to bring in the batteries and they will
put a 30amp on them and have them topped up in minutes but I did some
reading and that can't be too good for the deepcycle batteries.




I don't think one charge like this would do much harm if you decide to
have them do it.


Now's that's the voice of experience! Ignore any advice from this
knucklehead he's blowing smoke from his ass.




Mac? Don't you have 4 500A alternators in parallel so you can charge the
house batteries in 5 minutes, like some boats I know?....(c;]

(It's not funny...I actually saw one like this!....with kids aboard going
offshore!)

--
-----
Larry

If a man goes way out into the woods all alone and says something,
is it still wrong, even though no woman hears him?

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:58:11 +0000, Larry wrote:

Mac? Don't you have 4 500A alternators in parallel so you can charge the
house batteries in 5 minutes, like some boats I know?....(c;]

We have a pair of 250 amp alternators. They won't charge the
batteries in 5 minutes, but at half power they will drive a 2500 watt
inverter at full output.

http://www.alternatorparts.com/Extreme%20Duty%20Dual%20Rectifier%20CS-144%20type.htm

Capt. JG wrote:
" Tuuk" wrote in message
...
Hi Larry

Thanks for the reply and expertise,,

I do not have a dvm or specific gravitity measurer.

So I should shut it off now because it is lightly bubbling on the 2am
charge because it has not reached the capacity point where the automatic
shut off should have shut off. I tried it on an old 12v deep cycle and it
did charge it quickly (maybe an hour) and green light came on. But these
two new ones which are larger in size and weight are not shutting off the
automatic charger yet. I am a bit reluctant to charge it in the 10amp. The
folks at the C.T. told me to bring in the batteries and they will put a
30amp on them and have them topped up in minutes but I did some reading
and that can't be too good for the deepcycle batteries.

Without the dvm or hydrometer I cannot really do much as I will need to
know the condition of battery and maximum charge coming off that charger.

I will look for those tools,

thanks


I don't think one charge like this would do much harm if you decide to have
them do it. They're under warranty, right? Make sure you document when this
is done, then if there's a problem, you've got some leverage.

After, I would monitor the batteries condition closely for a few weeks, then
check them regularly thereafter.



Actually, the Amperage is of secondary importance, even though every
charger is identified by its max current output. The important thing is
the Voltage. If the charger is gentle (or intelligent) it will keep the
Voltage at a level that's appropriate for the state of the battery.
Your 100 Amp-hour batteries can accept about 20-25 Amps as long as the
charger start tapering off the charge as it gets past about 85-90%. If
it is really putting in 30 Amps, then the Voltage is probably too high,
and the batteries will start gassing. (An undersized charger will
likely not be able to hold the Voltage high on a discharged battery.)

Of course then you have to figure out whether your CT man is just some
bozo who is BS'ing you while he trashes your battery, or a professional
who knows exactly how much the battery can handle and will monitor it
carefully so that no damage is done. Worse, you have to figure out if
that already happened while the battery was sitting in the store all
winter. This unfortunately is a "crap shoot" but I try to maximize my
odds by getting new batteries as part of the Spring shipment to a golf
cart vendor.

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:58:11 +0000, Larry wrote:

"Mac Donald" wrote in news:2tn979.6g0.19.1
:


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...

The folks at the C.T. told me to bring in the batteries and they will
put a 30amp on them and have them topped up in minutes but I did some
reading and that can't be too good for the deepcycle batteries.




I don't think one charge like this would do much harm if you decide to
have them do it.


Now's that's the voice of experience! Ignore any advice from this
knucklehead he's blowing smoke from his ass.




Mac? Don't you have 4 500A alternators in parallel so you can charge the
house batteries in 5 minutes, like some boats I know?....(c;]

(It's not funny...I actually saw one like this!....with kids aboard going
offshore!)

How much voltage do you need to pump 2,000 amps into a battery?

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)