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To JD Maris. Battery maintainer

L

Lou from Wi.

Well-known Member
JD,
We bought a few of those Battery maintainers from Harbor Freight, a few years ago and use them on various equipment around here. Last week we lost power and had one on the OC 46 crawler battery,(all winter in fact) and went to start the crawler up. Had a dead battery,we swapped it out with the one in the Dodge truck and it started. Now for the question, When we lost power and had the generator going,but the circuit to the maintainer was disconnected, could the battery have reversed and started feeding the electrical circuits in the garage and drained the juice from the battery? We tested the maintainer and it works according to the meter. We put the dozer battery n our big charger and it charged back down to zero,but haven't checked it for amperage yet.So we may have a battery with voltage but no amperage. That is what we are thinking atleast. Have you run across anything like that before? Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
LOU
 
Lou,
It is very easy to test to see of maintainer is draining the battery. Simply install an ammeter between one leg of maintainer and battery.

I do this test everytime I install a battery. I measure the current to see if something is graining the battery. It's a good chance your crawler has a drain and not the maintainer.
george
 
Half of the Harbor Freight maintainers I've gotten in the past 3-4 years have gone bad. I started using the Duracell and Schumaker maintainers. No failures yet.

What does the voltage read when you have it hooked to the battery? Ought to be over 13.2 volts if working and the battery is OK. As far a backfeed from the battery and into the AC circuits - not possible as far a I know.
 
Can a battery maintainer backfeed the ac power that feeds it? NO.

Can a defective battery maintainer discharge a battery? YES.
 
Lou,
I purchased a battery minder 12248 about 4 years ago. I put it on a battery to charge it, desulfate it and when it goes in to the trickle charge mode, move it to another battery. I have over 20 batteries and haven't bought a new battery since I purchased it. I had to order it on line, couldn't find one at a store. It wasn't cheap, but it's paid for itself.
george
 
If you have the Harbor Freight type, notice that the LED stays lit even though you have the charger unplugged from the wall.

That will most certainly drain your battery... Eventually. Talking WEEKS here.

How long were you without power? For a few hours? The battery in the crawler failed on you, is all. Even with the maintainers you can still get a cell failing open.
 
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