I mentioned the warranty as I wasn't familiar with Vector
but did happen to notice that on the last page. Personally,
I *NEVER* send in warranty cards. Well, lo and behold, this
past fall I managed to fry my Schumacher 2/15/100 charger
by jump starting a mower and when one battery clip popped
off and made contact with the other while in 100 amp mode,
the charger mysteriously stopped working. :^) I called
Schumacher, told them I had bought it a year before and
didn't hide the fact of what happened. They told me to
send it in. No questions asked, not even proof of purchase
for when I bought it. I did and they fixed it. I don't
remember if there was a warranty card to even send in as I
noted above, I wouldn't have sent it anyway. I'll reconsider
in the future. :^)

-JimL

Larry W4CSC wrote:
removed

Yes, already sent...(c; Noticed they have no online registration. I
also sent them my OPT-OUT warning with the card, properly encoded data
so I can tell if they sell my information to outside parties, the
usual reason they are so adamant these days about having your personal
information....so they can sell it to the spammers.

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 23:39:41 GMT, (Larry W4CSC) wrote
(with possible editing):

My humble apologies to r.b.c. I thought, wrongly, the little charger
might be of interest to small boaters as well as cruisers......

FWIW, I, too, thank you for telling us about it. I'm going to get one
next time I'm near one of their stores. Yeah, I hate WM too, but
life's too short, etc...
--

73,
Larry W1HJF

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 23:39:41 GMT, (Larry W4CSC) wrote
(with possible editing):

My humble apologies to r.b.c. I thought, wrongly, the little charger
might be of interest to small boaters as well as cruisers......

FWIW, I, too, thank you for telling us about it. I'm going to get one
next time I'm near one of their stores. Yeah, I hate WM too, but
life's too short, etc...
--

73,
Larry W1HJF

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 12:55:14 -0500, DSK wrote
(with possible editing):

Larry W4CSC wrote:
....The model is VEC1093A.
http://www.battery-rechargeable-char...y-charger.html
WalMart has it discounted to $89 and change from its $110 retail.
Walmart also makes refunds and returns just too easy, any port in the
country.

Sounds like a great leap forward in technology if it really will do the
same job as a "$800 West Marine smart charger." FWIW I bought a
UL-marine rated 40 amp 3 output smart charger for about half that, but
it's still a lot more than this Wal-Mart charger.

The only problems I see
1- you can't put 480 watts through a box much smaller & lighter than the
West Marine kind, something's gotta give.

Not necessarily. I've never seen the West Marine unit (nor the one
that Larry recommends), but the large auto parts store chargers use
large transformers and that is where they get their weight. It sounds
like the VEC unit is built on a switching supply and they are MUCH
lighter, because when they use a transformer, it is simply for
isolation and therefore carries substantially less current. Switching
supplies act sort of like a bucket brigade. They dump a bunch of
charge into a capacitor (bucket) and transfer it over to the battery,
rather than trying to regulate a constant or pulsating voltage. This
dramatically reduces both the weight and cost of the charger. As a
side effect, it also allows substantially better charging
characteristics as it becomes easier to measure battery condition
during short pauses.

I.e., it's different technology. There can be downside, however.
Switching supplies can produce substantial rf interference, but since
this is used to charge batteries and not power an electrical system,
it probably doesn't matter.
--

Larry W1HJF
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 12:55:14 -0500, DSK wrote
(with possible editing):

Larry W4CSC wrote:
....The model is VEC1093A.
http://www.battery-rechargeable-char...y-charger.html
WalMart has it discounted to $89 and change from its $110 retail.
Walmart also makes refunds and returns just too easy, any port in the
country.

Sounds like a great leap forward in technology if it really will do the
same job as a "$800 West Marine smart charger." FWIW I bought a
UL-marine rated 40 amp 3 output smart charger for about half that, but
it's still a lot more than this Wal-Mart charger.

The only problems I see
1- you can't put 480 watts through a box much smaller & lighter than the
West Marine kind, something's gotta give.

Not necessarily. I've never seen the West Marine unit (nor the one
that Larry recommends), but the large auto parts store chargers use
large transformers and that is where they get their weight. It sounds
like the VEC unit is built on a switching supply and they are MUCH
lighter, because when they use a transformer, it is simply for
isolation and therefore carries substantially less current. Switching
supplies act sort of like a bucket brigade. They dump a bunch of
charge into a capacitor (bucket) and transfer it over to the battery,
rather than trying to regulate a constant or pulsating voltage. This
dramatically reduces both the weight and cost of the charger. As a
side effect, it also allows substantially better charging
characteristics as it becomes easier to measure battery condition
during short pauses.

I.e., it's different technology. There can be downside, however.
Switching supplies can produce substantial rf interference, but since
this is used to charge batteries and not power an electrical system,
it probably doesn't matter.
--

Larry W1HJF
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

Does this great charger have a name and model besides "Walmart" and $89?


"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On 28 Jan 2004 10:51:12 -0600, Dave wrote:

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 07:30:32 GMT, WaIIy said:

Larry, I believe it was a rebuke to Krause the Troll, not you.

You got it. I too was happy to read the info about the charger.

I've been reading Larry's stories since he was in the Mindspring groups.

I love all the stuff he gets into and I hope he continues to share his
stories for a long time.

I swear he should write a book.

Does this great charger have a name and model besides "Walmart" and $89?


"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On 28 Jan 2004 10:51:12 -0600, Dave wrote:

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 07:30:32 GMT, WaIIy said:

Larry, I believe it was a rebuke to Krause the Troll, not you.

You got it. I too was happy to read the info about the charger.

I've been reading Larry's stories since he was in the Mindspring groups.

I love all the stuff he gets into and I hope he continues to share his
stories for a long time.

I swear he should write a book.

Have you checked for RF noise on an HF receiver? I would hate to see a bunch
of these running in a marine if they are noisy as I suspect they be.
73
Doug K7ABX

Have you checked for RF noise on an HF receiver? I would hate to see a bunch
of these running in a marine if they are noisy as I suspect they be.
73
Doug K7ABX

"Rick & Linda Bernard" wrote in message
...
Does this great charger have a name and model besides "Walmart" and $89?

This is a quote from the Larry's original post in case you missed it:

"WalMart is handling a new line of Vector switching,
microprocessor-controlled "Smart" battery chargers. I had to buy the
biggest one, of course. It's a manly charger...(c; AR! AR!

The model is VEC1093A.
http://www.battery-rechargeable-char...y-charger.html
WalMart has it discounted to $89 and change from its $110 retail."

You should be able to get more info from the link Larry provided.
--
Ken Heaton & Anne Tobin
Cape Breton Island, Canada
kenheaton AT ess wye dee DOT eastlink DOT ca