OT: Automotive Battery Charger

[oliver1850]

My old charger crapped out the other day so I'm looking for recommendations for a new one. What I'd like is one that's capable of 30-40 amp continuous, with a 100-200 amp engine start. I'd prefer a timer, but could probably work around the lack of one with an outlet timer. I'm not very confident in automatic chargers. The ones I've used have been problematic. Dayton (Grainger) and Schumacher both used to make about what I want, but I couldn't find either for sale. Any suggestions?

[Ken Robb]

Never used such a heavy duty charger with the start feature but-----I used a Battery Tender with float maintenance on my motorcycles for many years. I installed the pigtail wires on some bikes or installed jacks so I could plug the output line from the charger easily. I did this to avoid having to expose the battery and use clamps to connect the Tender. The float feature worked great and my batteries were always ready to go so I never needed a start booster.

[oliver1850]

I have machines parked in places I may not get to for months. Sometimes they need to be moved in a hurry. Can't afford 15 or 20 battery maintainers.

[AngryScientist]

I have a much older schumacher that has served me well for a long time. mostly used for our boat stuff, keeping electric motor batteries charged, and occasionally jumping one of our dead clunkers, etc.

all the new ones seem to be "automatic", but i'd bet they are still pretty reliable, once you get beyond the really cheap ones.

this one for 100 bucks on Prime looks OK to me:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLP573M/ref=psdc_15707061_t4_B07DLTXNVY

[Louis]

This is the perfect type of question for the ADV forum.

Edit: If you do ask there be sure to provide the details, because without them the obvious answer will always be "trickle charger."

[parris]

I haven't had to use anything that big since we got out of farming years ago. Maybe check NAPA, TSC, and some other heavy equipment outlets for options. We actually had a John Deere branded charger that was beat on for years and one of my brothers may STILL have it in his shop.

Have you also considered a portable battery pack to use for starting your equipment? Our fleet garage has several that work well.

[cinema]

very in depth review of lithium ones. the best one is the Audew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN8A2nIMUWA

[oliver1850]

I haven't had to use anything that big since we got out of farming years ago. Maybe check NAPA, TSC, and some other heavy equipment outlets for options. We actually had a John Deere branded charger that was beat on for years and one of my brothers may STILL have it in his shop.

Have you also considered a portable battery pack to use for starting your equipment? Our fleet garage has several that work well.

Been leery of them because they seem so small. Can't imagine you'd get many attempts at starting a diesel in cold weather with one. Perhaps they are better than I think.

[zmudshark]

Buy the battery tender at Costco. I have a couple of the older 3 amp Deltran, and bought a 4amp Duracell this year, because I needed one more. I leave cars in storage in MI in the Winter and AZ in the Summer. The tenders have been great. I have an older Miata that doesn't get driven a lot, and it's easy to plug in as needed.

[oliver1850]

I have a much older schumacher that has served me well for a long time. mostly used for our boat stuff, keeping electric motor batteries charged, and occasionally jumping one of our dead clunkers, etc.

all the new ones seem to be "automatic", but i'd bet they are still pretty reliable, once you get beyond the really cheap ones.

this one for 100 bucks on Prime looks OK to me:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLP573M/ref=psdc_15707061_t4_B07DLTXNVY

Not sure if it's the same model, but I was looking at a similar Schumacher on eBay today that had very poor reviews.

The one that died Saturday was a Shumacher, probably ten years old or more. Never gave much trouble once I replaced the cheap original clamps. I think it has a thermal limit switch in it. I suspect that's what failed.

[Ken Robb]

I have machines parked in places I may not get to for months. Sometimes they need to be moved in a hurry. Can't afford 15 or 20 battery maintainers.

I am pleased that you can afford 15-20 machines. :)

[oliver1850]

I am pleased that you can afford 15-20 machines. :)

Can't really, I just put more value on them than they are worth in the marketplace, same as my bikes. There are 9 Olivers, 2 Farmalls, 2 John Deeres, 5 pickup trucks, and at least 6 garden tractors that have batteries and are "expected" (would be the optimistic word) to start when I need them. They are spread around various farmsteads that are miles apart. There are numerous other "projects" but I don't keep batteries in them. Then there are the cars.....

[parris]

It's very common to collect equipment on a farm over years. It's also sad to witness just how little a good amount of that equipment will bring at auction when a farm shuts down.

What Farmalls and John Deere tractors do you have? Our main planting tractor was an old Farmall 560. Our cultivating tractors were 4 2 cylinder John Deere's.

[oliver1850]

Brother is the 2 cylinder man. He has an A, a G, and a B. I have a 1965 4020, a 1973 4630, and a 4010 that I've put a 7700 combine engine in. I have driven it around the barnyard but it's still in the project stage. For Farmalls I have a 1942 M (rare war year tractor) and a 1952 Super M that has a very low serial number. I had a 560 for decades. Sold it to the son of the guy I bought it from after the dad died in a motorcycle accident.

[oliver1850]

I have a much older schumacher that has served me well for a long time. mostly used for our boat stuff, keeping electric motor batteries charged, and occasionally jumping one of our dead clunkers, etc.

all the new ones seem to be "automatic", but i'd bet they are still pretty reliable, once you get beyond the really cheap ones.

this one for 100 bucks on Prime looks OK to me:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLP573M/ref=psdc_15707061_t4_B07DLTXNVY

It is the same model I looked at. In that listing it has two ratings of 1 star. In other listings people have given it 5 stars. I'd prefer a carry around model as opposed to a wheeled one as I don't think 6' of cable will reach from the ground to the battery on some of the Olivers. I usually set the charger on the floorboard or hood to reach the battery.

[parris]

Oliver Our 560 went to a farmer that we rented land from for several years. It had several issues by the time he picked it up. To his credit he rebuilt the hydraulics and TA. He then did all the stuff to make it pretty and then used it as his big tractor. He told us at my dad's wake that the reason he bought it was because of all the years we did business with him that the 560 was to his mind my dad's "tractor". It made for a very nice memory.

The 2 cylinder John Deere tractors we had went into the utility and cultivating role as we got bigger and needed bigger iron. We had a couple of 50's, a 520, and 530. My brother now owns the 530.

Our big tractors were initially 3 4020's. 2 were open air and the newest had a cab with heat and a/c. THAT tractor saved my brothers life when a bridge he was going over collapsed dropping one of the main carrying beams across the cab/roll bar.

We were green until we got a bad 4430 which was a nightmare for my dad. It was bad to the point where we eventually went into the IH world with a 1466 and 1486. We kept the 4020 with the cab for several years until a deal too good for dad to pass up came around in the form of a Deutz DX 140. That became the tractor I operated most of the time until the farm shut down in the mid 80's.

[oliver1850]

Nice that your 560 went to someone who evidently appreciated it for its own qualities, and as a way to be reminded of your dad. I have several tractors that came from neighbors and using them keeps the former owners in mind.

It's interesting to think about how regional sales of some tractor models seem to have been. I've never seen a 50/520/530. In our area, the A/70/720/730 were the models that sold the most.

Must have been a pretty big farm to have had three 4020s. My dad bought a new 3010 gas in 1962 and it was our main tractor for a number of years. We had a mounted picker/sheller on it. Hard to imagine how slow it must have been, picking corn with that rig.. My Oliver 1800 came from a neighbor who bought it new in 1962. It was his big tractor until he bought a Case 1030 in 1966. Another neighbor told me that his dad tested a 4010 and liked it but found that he could buy two Minneapolis-Molines of roughly the same size for the cost of one 4010, so that's what he did.

I'm surprised that a 4430 was a bad experience. Dad bought a new one in 1973 and sold it 20 years later for more than he paid for it. Next door neighbor who is a die hard IH man told me that he considered the 4430 to be the tractor that killed IH.

[parris]

You're right about the regional difference. There were some 70-730 tractors but given the field sizes in our part of the state things like the 50-530 worked.

The 4430 in our case was just a lemon. It had transmission problems the entire time we owned it. The local dealer had us changing out filters every 10 hrs because it was shedding metal consistently.

I've heard that it was actually the 560 that started IH's downward spiral big time. When that tractor came out it had a great engine mated to an undersize final drive system. There was a big recall which cost market share that IH never regained. The New Generation Deere tractors and then later the Sound Guard tractors really put Deere well ahead of IH and several manufacturers for that matter.

[jds108]

Have you considered quick disconnects for the batteries? That should noticeably decrease the amount they discharge over time (but won't completely eliminate self-discharge).

They're only about $5: https://www.ebay.com/i/333161265703?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=333161265703&targetid=809744117945&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9021324&poi=&campaignid=6470661075&mkgroupid=76459667446&rlsatarget=aud-298628318826:pla-809744117945&abcId=1141156&merchantid=131376431&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk7TuBRDQARIsAMRrfUaZLAerS4a-pOnx9SB363hPr1AeJdnJubRmiunriG6Xm-qeFdseCLAaAoJFEALw_wcB

[fmradio516]

i havent read through the thread so idk if it was mentioned yet, but for ease of use, there is a way you can have your cigarette lighter be wired so that you can use a trickle charger that only needs to plug into that. So no popping the hood, easy to put it, take off. This may only work for old cars though. I know it worked on my 89 BMW and my grandpa's 87 Merc, but something to think about

[oliver1850]

Have you considered quick disconnects for the batteries? That should noticeably decrease the amount they discharge over time (but won't completely eliminate self-discharge).

They're only about $5: https://www.ebay.com/i/333161265703?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=333161265703&targetid=809744117945&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9021324&poi=&campaignid=6470661075&mkgroupid=76459667446&rlsatarget=aud-298628318826:pla-809744117945&abcId=1141156&merchantid=131376431&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk7TuBRDQARIsAMRrfUaZLAerS4a-pOnx9SB363hPr1AeJdnJubRmiunriG6Xm-qeFdseCLAaAoJFEALw_wcB

Hadn't though about them but it's a good idea. I normally pull one cable off if I think the tractor will be sitting more than a week or two.

[oliver1850]

i havent read through the thread so idk if it was mentioned yet, but for ease of use, there is a way you can have your cigarette lighter be wired so that you can use a trickle charger that only needs to plug into that. So no popping the hood, easy to put it, take off. This may only work for old cars though. I know it worked on my 89 BMW and my grandpa's 87 Merc, but something to think about

I really like the little solar panels that plug into the lighter socket. My tractors are normally under a roof though.

[oliver1850]

You're right about the regional difference. There were some 70-730 tractors but given the field sizes in our part of the state things like the 50-530 worked.

The 4430 in our case was just a lemon. It had transmission problems the entire time we owned it. The local dealer had us changing out filters every 10 hrs because it was shedding metal consistently.

I've heard that it was actually the 560 that started IH's downward spiral big time. When that tractor came out it had a great engine mated to an undersize final drive system. There was a big recall which cost market share that IH never regained. The New Generation Deere tractors and then later the Sound Guard tractors really put Deere well ahead of IH and several manufacturers for that matter.

Which transmission? The 4430 dad bought new had the Quad Range. The 2nd was purchased for a loader tractor and had the Powershift. I think the PS trans was considered pretty bulletproof as long as you didn't run it low on oil. We still have a QR 4440 and it's never given any trouble.

The 460/560/660 were definitely dinosaurs compared to the 10 series Deeres. The 560 was basically an overgrown MTA as far as technology goes. IH sold a ton of 66/56/26 series tractors though, and most of them are still running.