Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

Ok , I have a fishing pole that is a battery operated one , has a reostat type control to regulate retrieval speed . 12v battery pack .
It came with a small 12 v battery and charger , the charger was a wallwart type that was from a telephone answering machine , 110v ac in with 12v ac out to charge a 12 v dc battery . I'm using a 12v battery from a computer power backup power supply 12v dc 11 amp hour . I have a trickle charger for a car battery 110 ac in 12v dc at 1 amp out , if I use that to charge the battery would I just plug it in and let it charge for 11 hours to get full charge ? Why would they have been using a 12 ac out charger to charge the original DC battery ? I've been using the charger from my kids power wheels jeep to charge the battery but want to cut the wires to add a cig lighter male end on it so I can just plug it into the cig lighter female end I have on the battery rather that taping on loose ends from jumpers between the battery and the power wheels charger.
The original small battery lasted for several hours and clipped on your waste , the battery I use now lasts for several days and is in a camera case that sits beside me while fishing .
BTY I only have 1 arm that works which is the reason for the battery power pole .
Hope it all makes sense , thanks.

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

Use one of the Schumachers (el cheapo) at 3ADC for an overnighter. You could use the 12V unit, but the batt charger-not the trickler-will exceed the 12V nominal and do a bit of a better job. The Schumachers might offer 5vdc as low----I've seen a few variants. Hardly matters, they're automatic.
By Schumacher, I refer to any of the $50 or less breadbox size units everybody should have and can get at just about any store. Refrain from thinking 10adc is better in the smaller batts.. We're talking a 1250 or 1280? Slow is good.

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

Basic Battery Information

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/07.09/array.html

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

Not sure about the 12v out on the wall wart.

What ever you use to charge the battery if it is a gel cell ,
is a charger that will float charge the battery to some ware between 13.4 and 14v .
low amp charger=good
hi amp charger=not good , will ruin the battery.
If done right it will take 11-12 hours or so to charge.

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

A little off topic, but here's a site that offers various equipment that may be of interest to you.

http://www.achievableconcepts.us/usa_fish.htm

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking.

It sounds as if the battery you wish to charge is from one of those APC units. I'd assume it's the black rectangle battery - maybe 3" x 2" x 5".
You should be able to use your car battery trickle-charger to charge it if it only puts out 1 amp. Don't go higher than that without careful monitoring (make sure it doesn't get hot or start making noises.)

You want to charge these type of batteries slowly, and often. If your wallmart charger is less than 1 amp, use it instead. Don't run the battery down to nothing, it's a lot like a car battery (ie. cheap) in that it's not meant to be run down all the way over and over. The low-end APC unit will keep it from being worn down too far - that's why you only get something like 5 mins out of it when your power dies even though the battery should last much longer in theory. The battery is just good enough to avoid warranty claims.

A couple stores near me sell the batteries for $20-25. APC wants about $50 for a new one. Even at $20 I feel ripped off... the damn thing is 1/10th the size of a $60 car battery. I'm trying to find a cheaper source, but no luck so far.

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

yes the batteries are from APC units , got 4 free .Company sent a US company ones for over seas so power was different , fried the power supply on a new dell before the tec noticed the mistake . APC sent the correct ones and said to dispose of the 4 . There were 2 batteries in each unit . Dumpster diving is fun.

I was wrong , the power wheels battery was the 11 amp hour battery and the APCs are 7.5 amp hour .

The original battery for the fishing reel was @ 1.5 amp hour and they used a 12v ac out power supply from a answering machine to charge the battery with. Not a 12v dc power supply .

http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/batterysupplyco_2055_4518651

The trickle charger is 12v 1 amp with over load protection on it .
So I could use it , and a 8 to 10 hour charge should be a full charge on the 7.5 amp hour battery ?

Re: Little help with lead acid battery charging
 

My vote is yes..!

Next..?