[ausev] Smart battery chargers worth the cost?????

[Brian Lasseter]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 9:44 AM, Joby Wieser <sleeper02_14_06 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have an on topic question for those of you with experience.  In reading
> about various battery chargers, the switch mode power supply computer
> controlled types claim they charge faster, without risk of overcharge or
> damage in any way and they can actually dissolve life robbing sulfate
> crystals off the plates.  This is supposed to make your batteries last
> longer and even rejuvenate older ones.  Do they really work like this or is
> it snake oil hype?

I paid 18x $95 + tax = $1710 + tax = $1851.08 for my US8VGC batteries
from the local Interstate dealer on Burleson Road.

I paid nearly the same price, $1860, for my PFC-20 charger from
Manzanita Micro.  http://www.manzanitamicro.com/

Some might think that paying the same amount of money or the battery
charger as I paid for the battery pack to be a little silly.  However
I feel that I got a very powerful charger.  I can reconfigure it for
various other size and chemistries of battery packs, it will take
120VAC or 240VAC, it can put 20 Amps into the battery pack for very
fast recharging, it protects itself and the pack from various bad
conditions, and it fits easily in my trunk.

I could by 18x Mark 2D battery regulators for $720 to assure that each
individual battery is uniformly charging and discharging from the
pack... instead of overcharging the batteries to equalize them.
However I, for instance, feel that is a little too much babying for a
battery pack that I didn't pay a lot of money for.


Like anything... it's a question of how much money do you want to
spend vs. how much time do you want to spend vs. how much risk can you
tolerate.


-- 
TTFN,
Brian "Lasso" Lasseter

"No Sane man will dance." -Cicero (106-43 B.C.)