12/24 volt battery chargers

[Randy88]

Looking at new battery chargers, been asking a lot of questions and it seems the consensus so far locally is, any new battery charger for an equipment battery nobody likes, these smart chargers [which I've used and can't seem to be fixed so you throw them away] is what is out there to be had.

I want a charger with a boost function and also timer so it shuts off after a set time so when I forget its on, I don't end up cooking a battery to death. My shumacher chargers it seems after x number of years seem to all end up dead for some reason, been taking them in to be fixed, some can be, others can't be for whatever reason.

So now I've been looking at the Associated chargers, anyone know anything about them, good bad or what, don't want a smart charger, basically I'm wanting something that is simple and does the job, dials are better than digital readouts and push buttons. Was looking at the Associated model 6010b to put in my service truck, small and portable and simple.

If not that, anyone have any other suggestions what to buy?? I've got or had a half dozen shumacher portables over the years, a few have gone AWOL [must have walked off] or been misplaced really badly so it seems I'm down to only about one working unit now, the newer one's seem to always either be in the repair shop, or needing to go in for repairs. When I asked the local sales people, they seem to think nobody needs or uses a charger anymore??

I know every day I'm getting older and more are using to boost packs, but doesn't anyone need or use a charger anymore?? Am I the only one looking for a new battery charger or wanting one that will last more than a few months??

 

[56wrench]

My BIL is a sucker for new useless gadgets and in my opinion, those small boost packs are one of them. He’s tried a couple and they don’t work so he buys a new ‘better’ and more expensive one. Just like his fancy battery powered little oil pump that he uses in oil pails. He has a couple hundred bucks invested in that pos. He’s too lazy to lift a pail or pour the oil into a fill-can and use a funnel. I can have the engine filled in the time it takes him to rig it up in 2 pails. Battery chargers are still popular here unless you’re a sucker for useless junk gadgets. Just stick with the more popular brands in my opinion and whether they will also charge the agm batteries that are showing up more often

 

[funwithfuel]

In my career, I've replaced one rectifier, repaired a lot of loose connections and bad timer switches. I have yet to find a failed transformer

 

[Delmer]

Associated have a good reputation, but I think I've heard they've cheapened up some of them lately? can't say for sure. That would be the best option out there for a booster charger.

Why don't you want a smart charger? Like an inverter welder, once you use one, you'll use it more than any other. Get a noco and leave it on all night or all year it won't hurt a thing. If you need a jump, get out the jumper cables, or get a jump pack. I don't have a jump pack, just going on what I've read. I do have a number of 24V chargers that came with floor scrubbers etc. They'll work great for any 24V setup, automatic, won't overcharge, I'd get one of those for a higher amp 24v charger. I also have a pile of "vector" smart chargers that all failed, don't get any smart charger that has an extruded aluminum inverter like body, and the "vector" name anywhere on the small print of the label.

 

[Birken Vogt]

What exact style are you looking for?

I highly recommend these https://www.batterystuff.com/batter...pro-6-12v-6-amp-industrial-charger-28106.html

Put alligator leads on I suppose if you need portability.

Use 1 for each battery on 24 volt systems. 6 amps will charge a battery within a day and you can leave them on forever if you like.

I don't know if anybody makes a very good 24 volt only charger. There may be one, but I don't know about it.

 

[Delmer]

That looks like the same size, specs and lights as the similar kohler charger. They will burn out if you bypass the fuse and hook them up wrong, so I'd suggest a 6-8-10A manual reset circuit breaker to replace the fuse. I see noco 24V is now $500 or so, not sure I'd go for that. Lots of used industrial 24V chargers that work great, and are cheap if you can find them in the right place.

 

[ahart]

I’ve got the associated 6010B 6/12/24 charger, it’s small and compact so it’s great for on the truck. I’ve had it for probably 5-6 years, no issues with it. I bought it through caterpillar and at the time I think it was somewhere in the $400 range. My father in law has the roll around version and likewise has had no issues. Seem to be well supported on parts. If I were buying one today, I’d buy another.

 

[Coaldust]

This thread is relevant to my needs. I could use a new charger. My NAPA one is dying. The Associated 6010B looks like a good choice for carrying on a truck.

Nowadays, it’s easy to make the argument to use a individual, solid-state smart charger on each battery. Like Mr. Vogt suggests.

I’ve been seeing some good cyber Monday deals on the Noco stuff. The various Genius Pro models look tempting.

I like to use a battery power supply charger when doing software updates. Often don’t know the condition of the battery and the potential is there to create a huge mess, if the battery voltage drops during a update. Midtronics are stupid expensive, but appear to be the standard.

 

[Randy88]

Not sure how many batteries we have on machines at any one time, but I buy [I think its group 31] new group 31 semi batteries in either 10 or 20 at a time or about 40 per year it seems, because they only last about five or six years it seems. I've pretty much switched everything over to those thread top batteries, so we can swap out whatever is needed on job sites to get machines up and going without having to mess with carrying a lot of spares on the service truck. It seems we're always charging batteries or boosting them to get them going, especially ones in machine that end up sitting months on end without use.

I've got a goodall jump start unit I need to get mounted up on my service truck just for boosting things to get them going, as they say another project that's in need of completion, a box to cover the jump start unit up that sits on one of the tool boxes of the service truck. We had it on for a while, but it uses an older points and condenser gas engine, and once it gets wet or rained on, won't start.

This time of year is the worst for me it seems, warm weather all year long and the first few cold days, older batteries aren't enough to get the engines going it seems. As for jumper cables, whatever machine that needs those, it never fails, is always the one that I'm nowhere near at the time, and nobody else has ever had much luck with jumper cables in the past, been there and gave that idea up decades ago.

The maintainer units, we tried those as well, sort of mixes ideas on them, they have their own set of issues to deal with, but I have no intentions of buying about 80 plus of them, putting them on everything and then having to deal with that many units on top of battery issues too.

A few votes for associated chargers and one that owns the 6010b, anyone with anything bad to say about associated before I order two or three of them??

 

[Coaldust]

For sure, for sure. This time of year, a dead GP31 is usually a frozen GP31 and no jumper cables is gonna fix that. If the rig is parked at a Bull Rail is one thing, but a cold rig with dead batteries can be a all day project. A Honda EU2000 can be handy to plug the various heaters into and the 10 amp built in charger is convenient. Many times, I just install warm batteries. Sometimes, I can save the old ones if they didn’t freeze.

 

[d9gdon]

Randy, look at NAPA manual 12/24V battery charger part number NBC SC1633. It is a manual battery charger with no automatic shutoff, 10/50/200 amp with a timer on it and analog gauges. It's made by Schumacher and priced at $175. I don't like the automatic voltage sensing chargers that I have either. If I have a dead battery from a key left on, mine won't even try to charge them...

I don't have one, but it popped up on my screen along with a battery I was ordering last week.

I have heard good things about the Associated chargers as well.

 

[crane operator]

I've had a associated wheeled 12v for years (200amp), and it got the magic smoke released this summer.

I just got a associated 12/24 roll around cart charger to replace it. Has nice clamps. Just used it for the first time today on a dead 351 ford that someone left the lights on, and it popped right off.


The new one I got is a Model 6002B.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IOAWW4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details



I wanted/ needed a 24v - I've always just had two 12v (one bench, one wheeled) and disconnected batteries to charge.

This new one seems well built- nice clamps, I don't know how long the little lid over the switches on the top is going to hold up.

I also plan on a 6010B to replace/ add to my ancient shumaker 200amp, bench top. I've always preferred my bench top vs. wheeled unit, but I'm thinking the 400 amp associated will be worth rolling out when I really need to get something going.

The bench top are super handy to sit on a fender vs. a wheeled unit.

Whatever you do- don't order a associated from "century tool and equipment" aka centurytool.net located here in missouri. I ordered mine from them, only got a confirmation of my order by email. I called two months after the confirmation- after not hearing anything about shipping, "Yeah, it looks like they are on backorder, minimum 8 weeks". They had shown "in stock" when I ordered it. I ain't waiting 4 months. I got mine from the amazon warehouse in less than a week.

I think the century tool guys repair bad chargers, they just don't stock anything from associated. They would sell me a different chinese brand that they stocked.

 

[John C.]

A few years ago I got the Napa 12/24 jump pack. It seems where ever I go, there isn't any line power to run a charger. Mine has the big batteries inside and works well as long as I plug it in once every couple of weeks. A friend asked me about it but hadn't seen mine. On my experience he went and bought one and about tripped out when he saw what I had. What they sold him was half the size and would barely jump a pickup engine if it took more than a couple of revolutions. He told me that is what they are selling now. Told him I would be tempted to return it and get his money back. If you look into a jump pack I would make sure that it weighed in at around 50 pounds. The one he had was probably about 12 pounds.

 

[Birken Vogt]

That looks like the same size, specs and lights as the similar kohler charger.

Kohler used to make their own, but now it's this one with a different label. Cummins uses this one too. They stay on generators year round without losing any water from the battery. But they will also charge a dead battery pretty quick.

 

[Randy88]

The smart chargers as they call them, won't even attempt to charge a stone dead battery from my experience, the other issue I've had with them is, they stop to sense the charge of the battery, which can take a few seconds, few minutes or far longer depending on the charger, so if you go from machine to machine, just because it was hooked up for a half hour doesn't mean first off it even charged anything at all, or only ended up charging for five or ten minutes of the half hour, might work great in theory, but in reality time is money and I need enough of a charge in the batteries so it will start, the alternator will take care of the rest as it runs all day long, especially if a key was left on or someone forgot to shut off a fan or something as simple as that, which is usually the case most often.................or the battery is just old enough and weak enough it will start it fine on a warm day, but frigid weather hits and it needs a new battery or one of the set has a dead cell and is killing the rest which is the other most common issue we have.

When we keep switching batteries all the time, they are no longer all the same age, one might be five years old, the other only a year old, but for today, just get it going and get to work, a couple weeks from now, we've got all winter to sort out the problem batteries and issues.

Crane operator, thanks for the heads up on who not to buy from, I too am sick and tired of everyone having everything listed in inventory and they'll ship what you need right out, only to find all they've done is waste your time because they are on back order and won't tell you the truth when you placed the order.

I'll check out the models listed, thanks for any and all info.