Battery charger warning

[Docuscg]

So now I need a 24 volt charger for my M35A3. Found one at battery plus for a little over $200.00. Wow, these things are not cheap. I bought a Schumacher SE-1072. It will charge 12v,24v,36v,48v,60v, and 72volt at 5-10 amp. GREAT !! I get this heavy thing home and hook it up..........looks like the 4th of July coming out from the top of charger. Unplug it ....QUICK!! What happen? All I did was hook up the battery leads (correctly I might add) the same way for years. Then plug in the unit and place button to the 10 amp and turn the volt control knob to 24 volt ( for two 12 volt GI batteries ) and then turn the power button on. NOT A GOOD DAY. Went back to Battery Plus and told them what happened. They said, you have to call the factory as we cannot returned your money or give you another one. Find, I call the Schumacher, after 3 weeks I finally get someone that returned my call. Bob says send it back and we will take care of it. GREAT !! ....... cost me $25.00 to send it to them. .........After about 3 weeks I have to email Bob and ask about my charger,--- I going to pull one off the shelf now and ship it to you. GREAT !!.......... I get it in. Exciting, I want to see this thing CHARGE. I go set it up and pull out my Volt meter to check it. I will try it on one 12 volt battery first. Took a volt reading on the battery and read 11.7 volts. Hook up the charger, 12 volts ----10 amp---plug-in , turn on power. WATCH NOW !! took volt reading while charging,.........11.7v.............11.7v............11.7v......5 mins. latter .......11.7v NOT WORKING AGAIN !! Now I have to try to get the Company to make good on this unit.
Went online to Ripoff .com and guess what I read. Yeppppppppp Other people are having the same problem with other products that Schumacher makes and thats sad because they are an old company that did have good products. By the way --- Mine was built not in the USA. NO ,--- not any more ---- it's made in MEXICO. Says so right on the box in very small letters.
I do not think I will get my money back or even hear from the email I sent out to Bob today, but I just thought I would warn you all about Schumacher Products.
We all need to let our friends know what works and what don't!! I wish more people would stand up and tell the truth more often --- tell it like it is--- I think it would help our country. Pass it around.

 

[papercu]

Well I can only tell you about the 2 Schumacher I have (not the 200.00 ones) and they both work great, better than any I've had before. Wayne

 

[3dAngus]

Did you set the voltage to 12vdc, or to 24vdc, and verify it before you hooked it up?
Just curious.

 

[Docuscg]

A stopped clock is right twice a day too. I sorry, I wish I could say all is well, but if someone here would have posted a problem ( like I have )about anything --- I would have at least checked out BBB before I bought a new charger from them. Today, with so much dishonesty going around, it would be very refreshing to have someone out there who cares to warn others about the crooks and cheats so they might not end up losing there hard earned money. That's all I have to say about that.

 

[Docuscg]

Did you set the voltage to 12vdc, or to 24vdc, and verify it before you hooked it up?
Just curious.

Everything was set on 12 Volt for the 12 Volt battery. And the volt meter was on DC.

 

[3dAngus]

Recommend you set the charger to 13vdc prior to hooking up to one battery. Leave it on overnight. Retest the next morning. Good luck.

 

[Docuscg]

Well right now I have two smaller chargers on the two GI bat's, and they are coming up to 13.7 now . But I have notice I have a small discharge when I put the cables back on. Something is ON. I have checked all switches. Maybe it is the block heater on the engine. 3116 CAT. Any ideas?

 

[rickf]

I bought a top of the line 12 volt Schumacher and it has never worked right. Sometimes it charges, sometimes it goes into desulfate mode and then shuts down indicating a bad battery. Put my OLD Shumacher on the same battery and it charges fine and load tests fine. When it does charge normally the fan never shuts off like it is supposed to do when it goes to float stage.

Rick

 

[3dAngus]

There could be dozens of different things causing a discharge. If a wiring issue, it is one of the hardest to track down. I had a instrument in my instrument panel causing a discharge. only way I found that out is it was warm after the truck sat for about ten days and was never turned on. Pulled the meter wiring off and the batteries stopped discharging.

On the deuce, there just isn't enough fuses in a panel to help troubleshoot effectively. You just have to pull one connection after another to isolate. You'll need to find the wiring diagrams in the tech manual, and start from there. On the instrument panel, you can pull the one wire supplying power to the panel and that should help isolate it, but it is unlikely you'll be that lucky.

 

[glcaines]

I have a 5-amp 24 VDC charger from Schauer. I use it for my airplane, genset and deuces. It is fully automatic and you can get one for around $75.00. I have never had any problems. For your wiring problem, the first place to start is with the schematic. As 3dAngus stated, all you can do is isolate circuits until you find the issue.

 

[Docuscg]

I do know that my Tach is not working. I have not had the time to even check it out to see if it is a wire or cable driving tack. If wire, that may be my problem. ( I have the 3116 Cat engine .)

On the charger side of things, I have two each small Schumachers which I've had for years and they run just find. I don't think big ones are designed right at all.

 

[Keith_J]

The ONLY reason to use a 24 volt charger is for a 24 volt battery. Meaning it has 12 cells.

Yes, you CAN use TWO 12 volt chargers on a dual battery system since the transformers isolate the output from the input.

 

[3dAngus]

The tach issue on the M35A3 is probably the pickup sensor at the other end. (engine side). Not sure, but it might be magnetic. I do know they get dirt and grit in them every now and then and require disassembly and cleaning. A friend just had that same problem a month or two ago and cleaning it out did the job.

 

[littlebob]

We have the same charger at work(made in Mexico), it works fine for what we use it for. We use it for charging golf cart batteries up enough for the automatic chargers to take over, the automatic chargers won't turn on if the pack voltage is too low. I also have 6/12v of the same brand that I haven't had any issues with. Hope you get it worked out.

 

[m16ty]

The ONLY reason to use a 24 volt charger is for a 24 volt battery. Meaning it has 12 cells.

Yes, you CAN use TWO 12 volt chargers on a dual battery system since the transformers isolate the output from the input.

I wouldn't waste my money on a 24v charger. Charging the batteries separately is much better on the batteries.

As long as both batteries are in the same state of charge you can get by with a 24v charger. If one battery is weaker than the other (which is often the case), you will overcharge one battery while undercharging the other one. Batteries won't last long being overcharged.