From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Fri Dec 17 2004 - 22:46:12 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Buzz" <buzz@softcom.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Battery Tenders; tips?
>
> I had a 24V trickle charger across two unknown 12V batteries in my MUTT.
I went out in the garage
> one morning to a terrible smell and found one battery empty and the fuse
blown on the charger.
> I installed 2 Delco freedom batteries in the MUTT and put a timer on the
trickle charger so that it
> comes on for 8 hrs. every seven days and haven't had a problem.
> I like to use 24V because I can connect to the slave connector.
I've got both the 24V and 12V ones at work, but if you have one bad battery
in a series setup and charge it with 24V - you'll have an experience similar
to Buzz's. What seems to happen is that one crap battery sucks 40 amps out
of the charger in an attempt to (hopelessly) charge, and that same 40 amps
gets dragged through your good battery because they're charging in series.
One boils dry and gasses its innards into the atmosphere, and the other gets
really warm. Anyhow, that's how it was simplistically explained to me, and
sad to say I've had ample opportunity to see it in practice too.
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