[Vwdiesel] Boosters

[William J Toensing]

I can highly endorse these "battery tender" type trickle chargers for
greatly extending battery life. My experience has been they can triple
battery life. I bought a used  Rockwood diesel pusher motorhome (which is
for sale) in 1999 & the two engine batteries (12 V in parallel) which were
on the motorhome when I bought it are still going strong & must be at least
12 years old, thanks to a battery tender which I have left connected to the
motorhome. These float chargers cost from half the price of a battery to as
little as $10 at Harbor Freight. To bad auto manufacturers don't inbed solar
cells in the dashboards & rear package shelves of new cars. The only car
that I think has such an option is the Toyota Prius.

As an aside, I have been having computer problems. My old computer which
runs XP died. My new computer, which runs Windows 7 seems to require a whole
new learning curve which I don't understand. I thought this posting had
disapeared & then reappeared, fortunatly. If some postings come thru that
look like they are half complete, blame my lack of Windows 7 skills.

Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA


























































































































































410

On Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 3:00 PM, James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net> wrote:

> I have one too, same deal.
> 12 v socket that is fairly handy, charges easy, can hook it up in the dark
> (it won't turn on the relay that powers the cables if the polarity is off),
> but it is a small thing, and certainly will not boost a dead battery, but,
> most boosts happen because the host needs just a little push to get sparked
> up, so for that it is fairly handy.
> I keep one around for the stock car mostly, if there is a charging system
> problem that lowers battery voltage during a race.    I have a voltage reg
> going to the hei, to feed it 18v regardless of input voltage, to reduce
> horsepower losses from lower spark voltage... so really if it starts with
> the battery pack helping, and there are enough electrons left in the
> battery, it runs at full power. The boost pack is just the thing, handier
> than a battery and cables, but small.
> IIRC, the first ones were horrible expensive, but could put out current
> like
> a hot damn- had big nicads in it. They would jump start rocks.
> -another farmer jim, who does use a smart charge, and solar tenders....
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
> Behalf Of Val Christian
> Sent: December-24-10 4:07 PM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Boosters
>
> Yep, battery boosters, and in jump start packs.
>
> Farmer Jim down the road, says he gets his 12 cyl combine going with one
> of them.  Debugging a car, he dropped on off for me to play with.
> Interstate 3000.  LEDs on the clamps, long, but not long enough clamps,
> polarity wrong warnings, a go/no-go meter for the onboard battery,
> a roadsize flasher, and so on.
>
> So I tried it.  Yep it boosted things, but I'm not sure that it was any
> different than a battery with jumper cables.  I returned it before I took
> it apart.
>
> So are these things something like a 20 Ah battery, and other than the
> onboard charger, the warning electronics, and the cute little LEDs in the
> jumper clamps, is there any fancy electronics?  Or is it simply a battery,
> with a switch, in parallel with your existing, presumably cranked-out
> battery?
>
> Anyone know?
>
> Diesel relevancy:  Eventually, your diesel will need a jump.  If the other
> engine has a 130+ Amp alternator, and you have 4 ga or better cables, your
> life is always easier.
>
> ps: Farmer Jim should consider a solar trickle charger for the combines
> parked outside, and a smart charger for the batteries inside.  Actually,
> I think one of the combines already has one...
>
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