Sulfated Batteries

[boondocking]

Just thought I would put this out there for anyone needing a good battery charger that won't drain your bank account.

My batteries (two 6's in series) would not take/hold a charge higher than 12.41 volt using a regular 12 amp smart charger.
So I purchased a "Schumacher PSC 12500A" battery charger and the instant I connected it to the batteries it went into desulfication mode. Four hours later it said the batteries were charged. Checked the voltage 48 hours later after the surface charge had dissipated and it is 12.70v

Awesome charger for $120 Cnd.

[B and B]

They are great chargers, highly recommended as well. Almost camping time there boondocking... Warmer than here.

[boondocking]

Yes, we have been hitting temps of 8-12C here for over a week now. Couple more months to go then out into the wilderness, can hardly wait.

[itat]

I'm in the market for a new battery charger. Thanks for the recommendation. The Schumacher PSC-12500A DSR ProSeries is still on sale on Amazon.ca for CAD$129.

I have been looking at the NOCO Genius G7200 as well (Canadian Tire has them for CAD$135). I need something to charge both the 12v flooded deep cycle for the TT and a 12v AGM for my motorcycle. I don't need the starter function.

Anybody else have experience with either charger?

[boondocking]

That one thing I would consider is how fast of a charge are you looking at for the deep cycle batterys, seeing as the Shumacher is a 40 amp charger and the Noco is a 7.2 amp

The deep cycle batterys would be more suited to the 40 amp. The motorcycle battery can be charged with the 2 amp setting on the Schumacher

[itat]

Good point but I'm not really concerned about speed of charging since I'll only be charging the batteries either off season or between camping trips.

My needs are:
- automatically detects battery charge level and selects proper voltage/amperage
- desulphating capability
- for use with lead acid and AGM batteries (don't know that I would ever have a gel or lithium battery)

Sounds like the Schumacher PSC-12500A DSR ProSeries has all that I need.

[hammick]

Currently trying to restore a group 24 CCA marine/rv battery that a friend dropped off at my house a few days ago. Battery is almost five years old and had very little use sitting in a pontoon boat. Obviously not on a charger.

After the first full charge it would fall to 10.5v within a few hours. I'm using the recondition mode on a Cetek 4.3a smart charger which desulphates at 15.8v for 30 minutes or 4 hours depending on voltage. I have also over gassed it for a few hours using an old 10a auto charger that has a manual mode.

I think it's holding a charge at 12.4v now. I may be a able to bring it back. I'll know in a couple days.

I won't trust it for anything mission critical but kind of fun to see what's possible.

[hammick]

It's consistently falling back to 10.5a. I'm assuming I have a bad cell. I removed the sticker and pulled the plugs so I could add distilled water. I put it on a 10a manual overcharge for five hours last night as a last ditch effort to revive the cell.

[OldCoot]

Question, how do you know if a battery is sulfated, especially a sealed battery?

[boondocking]

There are a few different indications of a sulfated battery.

- Will not charge to 100% SOC.
- Noticeable drop in AH capacity from previous capacity.
- Excessively long time to charge. eg: 80 AH battery taking 3 days with 10 amp
charger.
- Will not take or hold a charge.