BoatBanter.com - Vector Battery Charger

RCE wrote:
A follow-up on the discussion on smart battery chargers.

I decided to get the bike going yesterday and discovered that (again) I had
forgotten to disconnect the battery when I put it away last fall. This bike
has a radio with presets and draws a small amount of current and, as a
result, the battery was dead dead.

For kicks, I hooked up an old "dumb" charger and saw that it would not take
a charge, even after a couple of hours.
My "smart" Vector charger had blown up, so I couldn't try that one. So, I
headed for the store planning to get a new battery.

Instead, I discovered that Schumacher now sells a smart charger with an
automatic desulfate mode. It can be set for three battery types, including
AGM, and has a 2 amp slow charge, 12 amp and 25 amp charge settings. It
automatically detects if the battery needs to be desulfated and turns on
that mode during the bulk charge cycle. I decided to get it since I wanted
another smart charger. I think it was under 80 bucks.

I hooked it up to the dead motorcycle battery. There are selectable
displays to indicate percent of charge and battery voltage. My battery read
"6" and 2.9 volts. Not expecting much, I put the 2 amp slow charge cycle
on and noticed that the "desulfate" mode was automatically initiated after a
couple of minuites. I left it on overnight.

This morning, the charger was in the "charge complete float mode" and the
battery was at 13.8 volts and indicated 100 percent charged. Disconnected
the charger, hit the bike's start button and the bike fired right up.
Turned it off and restarted several times to confirm that the battery was
indeed fully charged and it started every time. By 5 pm, the battery was
still holding a full charge.

These things work. I'll bet there's a lot of batteries tossed out that
still have plenty of service life left in them.

Eisboch

www.eisboch.com

A repost from earlier this year. You can hook one of these things on
the battery itself, rather than wait for the battery to go TU and the
worry about reviving it:

Surprising Results from Nanopulser Test

It's natural to be skeptical of gimmicks, gadgets, or chemical
concoctions reputed to work minor miracles. We met an enthused
gentleman at the 2006 Boat Show who claimed to have a device capable of
rejuvenating many batteries that had been discarded as "dead," and
would substantially extend the life of properly functioning, fully
serviceable batteries. I thought, "Well of course he does. This will
probably wind up in the bogus idea pile, right next to the cow magnets
that supposedly improve fuel economy and the 90-wt miracle oil
additives that all but promise to perform an engine overhaul." The
gentleman carried a notebook filled with test results from users around
the world; but
I'm not very impressed with tests conducted by unknown persons in
unknown conditions.
There's always a chance that the companies or organizations might not
even exist.

The gentleman's device, called a Nanopulser (tm), next appeared on my
radar when Seattle's Boat Electric began mentioning the product in
display ads in this publication. I spoke to Lori Hogan of Boat Electric
and learned that Boat Electric has been doing a local test of the
Nanopulser (tm) since the product was first presented to them in
September of 2005. "We don't want to carry anything that we
aren't certain is going to actually do what the manufacturer says it
is supposed to do," said Lori. "We had somebody ask us to carry a
similar product a while back, but they wouldn't let us have a unit to
test so we passed on that one. Pulse Genetech, the manufacturer of
Nanopulser (tm), allowed us to actually try one of their devices in a
real world situation, and now that we are convinced it works as
advertised we will be carrying them in inventory."

The chemical reactions that occur within a battery cell create
lead-sulfate during discharge. In a perfect world, and if batteries
were always allowed to fully recharge before being discharged again,
the lead-sulfate would revert back to its basic components of lead,
lead dioxide, and sulfuric acid as the battery regained voltage. In the
real and imperfect world, small traces of lead sulfate collect on the
positive and negative electrode plates. The lead sulfate is an
insulator, and reduces the surface area of he electrode plate actually
exposed to the electrolyte. As batteries age, the amount of
lead-sulfate continues to build on the plates, continuously decreasing
battery performance until one or more cells will not accept or hold a
charge. When one of more cells have failed, the normal practice is to
consider the battery "dead' and purchase a replacement. According
to Nanopulser's claims, verified by the results at Boat Electric, if
a battery is only considered "dead" because the plates have become
sulfated it is now possible to restore acceptable performance and
postpone replacement.

The operating principle behind Nanopulser (tm) is the continuing
application of sharp but low level electrical impulses that can inhibit
the formation of lead-sulfate deposits as well as dissolve existing
deposits in the cells.

One of Boat Electric's customers purchased a new 4D battery in
September of 2005, and brought in a failed 4D core. Boat Electric chose
this opportunity to try the Nanopulser (tm) in a "real world"
situation. When the test began, on September 6, the battery voltage
tested at 10.8 Volts, (definitely dead as a doornail for 12-volt
systems). CCA (cold cranking amps) were just over 950. A Nanopulser was
applied to the battery, and then the battery was placed on a low-level
"float" charge device. The battery was allowed to "desulfate"
from September 6 until October 21, 2005, and Boat Electric took the
following test readings during the process.

Voltage:

9-6: 10.8
9-13: 12.8
9-23: 13.2
9-30: 13.3
10-13: 13.4
10-21: 13.4

Cold Cranking Amps:

9-13: 960
9-16: 950
9-23: 950
9-26: 1010
9-30: 1110
10-07: 1130
10-13: 1140
10-21: 1140

The desulfating test concluded on October 21, 2005, but the toughest
test was yet to come. Would the newly restored battery remain viable
once it had been removed from the float charge? The 4D was
disconnected from the charger in October and left on the cold cement
floor of a warehouse until February 13, 2006. When tested again in mid
February, the 13.4-volt charge had fallen back to 11.75-volts, losing
no more voltage than most "brand new" batteries would have lost in
the same time period under the same conditions and still capable of
adequately powering most equipment rated at 12-volts.

Nanopulser (tm) is a self-contained system that actually draws its
power from the battery or battery bank it is being used to condition.
Power draw is 40mA. The Nanopulser is set for an automatic shutoff when
voltage drops to 11.6 V to prevent a draw down of a battery not
connected to a recharge circuit. (If a dead battery is being desulfated
it will require the introduction of energy from an external charger).
There is also a 24-volt Nanopulser (tm) that draws 30mA and has an auto
shutdown at 23.2 volts.

While the resurrection of a dead battery is an impressive feat, the
greater benefit to most boaters will likely be extending the life of
healthy batteries by preventing sulfation before it takes its toll. As
Lori Hogan explained, "We think that boaters with a Nanopulser will
be able to run their battery charging systems at lower voltages. It's
possible to knock the sulfate off a plate by introducing some high
voltages during the charge process, but there is a risk of damage to
the electrodes whenever those high voltages are being shot through the
cells. The Nanopulser (tm) keeps the plates clean without the risk."

Nanopulser (tm) retails for $90, and a single unit will condition all
of the batteries in a bank. (The 24-volt unit retails for $130.)

I may be a skeptic when it comes to gizmos, gadgets, and miracle cures,
but I know all I need to know about Boat Electric. If Lori and her crew
have tested the Nanopulser (tm) and found it effective as advertised,
that's good enough for me. I find a simple test on the concrete floor
of the Boat Electric warehouse more persuasive than 50-pages of
scientific equations assembled by some testing laboratory or a
"testimonial" letter written by Heaven Only Knowswho.