Pulse Battery Maintainers (was Pulse Charging)

[Third From Texas]

I've got a set of Hawkers that are not totally "dead" yet. In fact one is holding charge with a sustained drain and appears to be fine.

I have the usual PulseTech solar maintainer, but I ran across this and for the price I have to try it.

Has anyone tinkered with similar (Chinese crap)?



amazon.com/gp/product/B07VNL27X6/

Edit: Changed thread title for clarity

 

[Third From Texas]

btw: it's just an example

There are some that have decent reviews for 24v.

Edit, and 12v really will do as I'm speaking about individual/uninstalled battery refresh/maint.

 

[Ronmar]

I did a few years ago on a charger I had, it did improve some marginal batteries, but they were not horrible... Thats funny I just bought one of those last night, as I needed another automatic charger

 

[Mullaney]

I've got a set of Hawkers that are not totally "dead" yet. In fact one is holding charge with a sustained drain and appears to be fine.

I have the usual PulseTech solar maintainer, but I ran across this and for the price I have to try it.

Has anyone tinkered with similar (Chinese crap)?

amazon.com/gp/product/B07VNL27X6/

So, sometimes I fall off the wagon and spend more than I should on some toys... On the other hand I also find that "made here" at a "more reasonable than expected" price is pretty impressive too.

I just purchased two solar pulse chargers from Suprman (Will) and I am impressed! Attaches to the Slave Port.

 

[Third From Texas]

Yeah, I have a PulseTech.

Plan to mount it fixed on my M1079 once I get the rest of the solar package lined up.

For now I just want something that works on cloudy days. I wouldn't the the Chinese crap unattended, but for pulsing a 12v they seem to do the same thing (at 8amps).

 

[NDT]

Those pulse chargers seem to keep Hawkers going strong FOREVER, I have some 2007 Hawkers that are still going strong getting zapped 24-7 for years now.

 

[Ronmar]

I find it is also good to charge them then give them a good heavy load test(1000A) for a few seconds or so, then recharge them. the two hawkers that came with my truck were in bad shape. After doing this a few times I actually got them to hold a decent charge. The only good thing about the chinese ones is I don’t feel bad loaning them and if I forget and leave them out or they die on a friend it is no significant loss

 

[coachgeo]

Have not hooked it up yet... but you can try a home brewed solar pulse tech. Pulse tech military ones come in several varieties. The less expensive NOS ones on ebay are NOT chargers... they are set up for the solar panel to ONLY provide enough juice to continually send a zap (pulse) thru the battery plates to break up the crystals? the more expensive ones their solar panel has a higher output thus proving enough juice to charge AND zap (pulse)

this is an amazon list (with some duplicates) you could use to hack together your own version over either type. granted for the pulse only you likely could go with a smaller panel. check the output specs of the pulse device so you can more closely match a panel to it.

Amazon.com - Idea Lists

-- Idea List by

www.amazon.com

 

[coachgeo]

.... Attaches to the Slave Port....

It wires into the back of slave port.. or actually has a slave plug of sorts?

if wires in.... would you share the PDF that came with the kit....

 

[Third From Texas]

I have a load tester from Horror Freight and it would liquify at 1000a.

LOL

 

[Mullaney]

It wires into the back of slave port.. or actually has a slave plug of sorts?

if wires in.... would you share the PDF that came with the kit....

Yes sir. The wires attach to the box that is attached to the solar panel. There is about (guessing) 20 feet of cable with a slave plug attached. Not as beefy as the standard slave plug - but it is shaped like one and plugs into the slave port on the truck.

There was one piece of paper in the kit. There may be a proper TM but I haven't started looking for that yet.

I shot two pictures. If they are too crummy to read and I will scan them and be happy to email them to you tomorrow. (PM please)

 

[Ohiobenz]

I had 2 Chinese pulse chargers fail.
When parked outside the 60A 24v solar panel keeps it topped up.
I might have to tear the last pulse unit apart to see what's up. The 1st one went up in smoke lol

 

[Ronmar]

Don’t forget, a 24V input will not compensate for battery imbalance caused be a 12V vampire load...

 

[Awesomeness]

In addition to the big NOCO Gen4 I have mounted on my LMTV, I have a few of their smaller ones. They go on sale... I've asked questions to their chat support on their website and been given a big discount code (30%?), bought one on Black Friday for like $25, etc. They do the same type of desulfation charging, including changing the wave form. They have modes for different voltages, AGM batteries, etc.

 

[TechnoWeenie]

Just a heads up...

The small solar panels are usually Solargizer, and they're NOT chargers, they're desulfators and maintainers.. They prevent sulfation when sitting for a while, to keep them mission ready. They will not charge batteries..

Using a 2 bank 12V charger, which charges each battery separately, does better than charging both with one 24V charger. If one battery is low, or you have a 12V load, it won't fix the imbalance. Charging each battery separately WILL fix a simple imbalance.

Pulse charging is usually used to desulfate. It destroys the crystal build up on the plates.

 

[SCSG-G4]

I prefer the NOCO brand to the 'no-name' Chinese stuff.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

Amazon.com : ProMariner 43012 ProSport 12 12 Amp, 12/24 Volt, 2 Bank Generation 3 Battery Charger : Fishing Nets : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : ProMariner 43012 ProSport 12 12 Amp, 12/24 Volt, 2 Bank Generation 3 Battery Charger : Fishing Nets : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

Been quite happy with this unit.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

I prefer the NOCO brand to the 'no-name' Chinese stuff.

I believe NOCO is Chinese.

 

[Third From Texas]

Just a heads up...

The small solar panels are usually Solargizer, and they're NOT chargers, they're desulfators and maintainers.. They prevent sulfation when sitting for a while, to keep them mission ready. They will not charge batteries..

Using a 2 bank 12V charger, which charges each battery separately, does better than charging both with one 24V charger. If one battery is low, or you have a 12V load, it won't fix the imbalance. Charging each battery separately WILL fix a simple imbalance.

Pulse charging is usually used to desulfate. It destroys the crystal build up on the plates.

Yep.

I should have titled the thread "Pulse Maintenance" opposed to charging to clarify. As I said in the post, I'm just looking to see if I can breathe some life into some Hawkers. One of four are fine, but the others could have been dead for years. I already have a PulseTech kit (and it quotes you in giant letters that it won't raise the dead, only keep the living healthy).

I'm familiar with NOCO but never owned one and was wondering what results of the $30 versions were, if any.

A lot of good info from folks chiming in !

 

[Awesomeness]

I prefer the NOCO brand to the 'no-name' Chinese stuff.

Me too, which is why I was trying to point out (perhaps not clearly enough) that you can get a good NOCO charger for about the same as the Chinese ones, if you look around.

I believe NOCO is Chinese.

"Designed and engineered in the USA. Over 100 years of American ingenuity and vision." They're a US company, though I'm sure at least parts of their stuff are manufactured in China (like everything electronic). https://no.co/about-us

I should have titled the thread "Pulse Maintenance" opposed to charging to clarify. As I said in the post, I'm just looking to see if I can breathe some life into some Hawkers. One of four are fine, but the others could have been dead for years.

...

I'm familiar with NOCO but never owned one and was wondering what results of the $30 versions were, if any.

If the battery is truly dead, no fancy charger is going to help that. If it has a dead cell, no fancy charger is going to help. There are a lot of problems it won't help. But if your battery has some mild sulfation problems and stuff, they can help reverse those, and then keep it maintained going forward.

The small NOCO chargers do just fine, they're just lower amperage (for the most part... there are some feature differences). For example, I use a little NOCO charger to tend my tractor battery over the winter, because it sits for 5-6 months getting below freezing every night. In 13 years since I bought the tractor new, I've only replaced the battery once, maybe 4 years ago. As I posted earlier, the batteries my LMTV came with lasted ~5 more years, by charging and maintaining with the NOCO Gen4.

The NOCO chargers are designed to be left plugged in. They automatically monitor the battery, charge when needed, desulfate when needed, etc., so that they keep the battery as maintained as possible.

I can't say other brands of "smart chargers" wouldn't work as good, but I'm definitely satisfied with NOCO.