Charging a Battery Booster Pack with a Battery Maintainer

[strnjss]

I just ordered myself a Solar JNC600 Car jump starter, and noticed that the charging of it doesn't have any 'intelligence'.

So basically, I need to unplug it once the voltage gets up to a certain point on the meter so that I don't over charge the jumper pack.

Now, I have a 'smart' battery charger/maintainer too,

so couldn't I just clamp my charger leads up to my jumper leads just like as if I were charging a battery, and have it charge up my jumper pack properly and not have to worry about overcharging it?

I think it should work in theory, but don't want to mess anything up.

 

[lametec]

Yep

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[strnjss]

Yep

..........

Nice, that's awesome. Thanks!

 

[strnjss]

Ok, so I got my jumper pack today. The built in meter says the battery is 100% charged. But all over the place there are "warning charge for 24 hours after opening box" labels.

Well where it says 100% (almost right on the 13v line), I didn't think it was a good idea to let that happen, so I hooked up my little Schumacher 1.5A charger/maintainer to the clamps of the jumper.

The weird thing is, it's been charging it for the past half hour already (not switching to maintain mode).

I don't really understand. I'd hate to think I'm overcharging my brand new jumper pack right now, but I'm trying hard to trust my maintainer for the moment.

I mean, I'm sure the jumper has been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for months before I bought it, but where the built in meter is reading almost 13v, it just doesn't make sense.

I guess I'll give it another half hour, and if it doesn't switch to maintain mode, I'll disconnect it until I figure this out...

 

[HOTFR8]

Do you have any way to test the battery pack ? Did it come with its own charger ?
the battery packs I have came with a 12 volt and plug in wall charger. Some of the newer battery packs now come with a charger / maintainer as part of the kit.

 

[strnjss]

Do you have any way to test the battery pack ? Did it come with its own charger ?
the battery packs I have came with a 12 volt and plug in wall charger. Some of the newer battery packs now come with a charger / maintainer as part of the kit.

It came with a built in charger, but it's not a maintainer. It will keep charging the battery forever, which is why I'm using my maintainer to try to be safe.

While it was charging just now, I pushed the 'test' button, and the meter shot up to the red 15V range!

I immediately disconnected my charger, and hooked up my multimeter to the jumper, which is showing ~13.4 volts, which is what the jumper's built in meter says too. But that's probably all surface charge.

For now, I'm going to assume something is 'confusing' my maintainer. I don't want to damage anything.

I may hookup my load tester for a few seconds just to remove that surface charge and get an accurate reading.

Maybe I'll contact the company that makes the jumper pack. This is the Solar 660, which is the booster pack all the tow truck guys use, and is meant for professional use.

I charged up my old crappy Costco model with the maintainer two days ago with no problem, but I'm nervous now with the nice one.

Does anyone know what might be going on? My maintainer shouldn't have been continuing to charge the jumper while it's holding at 13V! And certainly shouldn't have been shooting the meter up to 15V while charging.

I use this charger on plain old car batteries all the time without any issues.

EDIT: Just load tested the pack. Tests fine, and even after a full 10 seconds of load, it popped right back up to 13v after the test. I'm sure it's fully charged and maybe a little overcharged....

 

[ishiboo]

It came with a built in charger, but it's not a maintainer. It will keep charging the battery forever, which is why I'm using my maintainer to try to be safe.

While it was charging just now, I pushed the 'test' button, and the meter shot up to the red 15V range!

I immediately disconnected my charger, and hooked up my multimeter to the jumper, which is showing ~13.4 volts, which is what the jumper's built in meter says too. But that's probably all surface charge.

For now, I'm going to assume something is 'confusing' my maintainer. I don't want to damage anything.

I may hookup my load tester for a few seconds just to remove that surface charge and get an accurate reading.

Maybe I'll contact the company that makes the jumper pack. This is the Solar 660, which is the booster pack all the tow truck guys use, and is meant for professional use.

I charged up my old crappy Costco model with the maintainer two days ago with no problem, but I'm nervous now with the nice one.

Does anyone know what might be going on? My maintainer shouldn't have been continuing to charge the jumper while it's holding at 13V! And certainly shouldn't have been shooting the meter up to 15V while charging.

I use this charger on plain old car batteries all the time without any issues.

EDIT: Just load tested the pack. Tests fine, and even after a full 10 seconds of load, it popped right back up to 13v after the test. I'm sure it's fully charged and maybe a little overcharged....

Batteries in cars are charged by relatively "stupid" alternators and last a long time, not as long as if they had uber-smart chargers on them but the difference is negligible in most applications.

I wouldn't worry about it. The on-board charger is not the fastest to recharge it, using a lower voltage, so it will never hit "peak" charge nor be able to desulphate, but under normal usage that shouldn't be a problem for a jumper pack.

 

[HOTFR8]

I would use the charger that came with the battery pack and nothing else. A battery pack will sit for some time with stored power if not used. Keep the maintainer for you car or what ever. I would be worried that maintainer is not suitable to charge the battery pack given what you have told us and you may damage the battery pack by using the maintainer and not the correct charger dessigned for the battery pack.

 

[strnjss]

Ok thanks everyone. I'll just do it the way it was meant to be done.

 

[D.J.]

"Read and follow manufacturers directions"
________
NEXIUM LAWSUIT

 

[strnjss]

"Read and follow manufacturers directions"

If I did that, my battery pack would be fried right now, since they 'directed' me to charge my jumper pack for 24 hours even though it was fully charged from the factory. They had warnings everywhere. "warning charge for 24 hours after opening" and such

 

[ishiboo]

If I did that, my battery pack would be fried right now, since they 'directed' me to charge my jumper pack for 24 hours even though it was fully charged from the factory. They had warnings everywhere. "warning charge for 24 hours after opening" and such

No, it'd be fine. Plug the wall wart that came with it in and leave it until you need it.

 

[ForceFed70]

Battery charge isn't easy to measure. You have to put a load on the battery, and even then it only gives you a vague idea.

Here's what I would do: Buy a $5 christmas lights timer. Set if for 10 or 20min every day, plug the original charger into the timer and forget about it.

 

[strnjss]

No, it'd be fine. Plug the wall wart that came with it in and leave it until you need it.

That's not true. The built in charger will keep charging the battery even after it's fully charged which will cause damage to the battery from overcharging.

Some of the most recent versions of my jumper pack have smart charging built in. You can leave those plugged in all the time, but not the model I got.

Battery charge isn't easy to measure. You have to put a load on the battery, and even then it only gives you a vague idea.

Here's what I would do: Buy a $5 christmas lights timer. Set if for 10 or 20min every day, plug the original charger into the timer and forget about it.

That's a good idea, but I'm afraid that would be too much charging for the pack. If I used it every day that's a really good idea.

I'm not a professional, and won't be using it everyday. That's also why I wish my maintainer would work properly with this thing.

I've still got the meter showing ~13v today even after load testing the pack, so I know it's charged for the moment.

These Solar 660 things have a reputation for holding their charge for a really long time, even through multiple vehicle jumps.

So I'll wait until it drops down to maybe 90% charge, and experiment with charge times to get it back to 100%

Thanks

 

[strnjss]

Just an update:

I bought a Deltran Battery Tender Plus, and it charges and maintains my jumper pack without any problems.

I don't know what was going on with the Schumacher one. It's out maintaining a car battery right now without any problem.

The only thing I can figure is that my Schumacher supposedly detects sulfation of batteries, and goes into a "special charging mode" to break it up.

Maybe going through the thick battery cables to get to the battery was providing enough resistance to trip the anti-sulfation mode, which may explain the 15+ volt reading I was getting. But I'm just guessing.

 

[jimo55]

strnjss,

Hello. This is Jim O'Hara from Clore Automotive, maker of the JNC660. To address your questions and points regarding the charging of the unit:

1. It is recommended to recharge the unit for 24 hours because, often times, the product sits on a store shelf our mobile truck for a period before final sale to the eventual user and the battery has drained during that period. By charging it upon purchase, you ensure it is ready for service. If the unit were at or near full charge at the time of purchase, it will be fine if the charge period is kept to around 24 hours. The battery is robust enough to handle that. Leaving it charging longer could cause problems, as you note.
2. Newer JNC660 units have automatic smart charging incorporated into them, so this issue is not in play with current units.
3. You can use your smart/automatic battery maintainer and charge through the clamps or the 12V outlet - we recommend that you use a maintainer with a 2A or lower output current. Charging "low and slow" is best for all batteries, and even more true as you get to batteries the size of the JNC660 Clore PROFORMER battery.

Here is an article on how to keep your jump starter in top condition:
http://cloreinfo.com/2010/08/top-5-things-to-remember-for-long-jump-starter-life/

More information can be found on our web site at www.cloreautomotive.com.

I hope this helps.

Jim O'Hara
Clore Automotive

 

[strnjss]

strnjss,

Hello. This is Jim O'Hara from Clore Automotive, maker of the JNC660. To address your questions and points regarding the charging of the unit:

1. It is recommended to recharge the unit for 24 hours because, often times, the product sits on a store shelf our mobile truck for a period before final sale to the eventual user and the battery has drained during that period. By charging it upon purchase, you ensure it is ready for service. If the unit were at or near full charge at the time of purchase, it will be fine if the charge period is kept to around 24 hours. The battery is robust enough to handle that. Leaving it charging longer could cause problems, as you note.
2. Newer JNC660 units have automatic smart charging incorporated into them, so this issue is not in play with current units.
3. You can use your smart/automatic battery maintainer and charge through the clamps or the 12V outlet - we recommend that you use a maintainer with a 2A or lower output current. Charging "low and slow" is best for all batteries, and even more true as you get to batteries the size of the JNC660 Clore PROFORMER battery.

Here is an article on how to keep your jump starter in top condition:
http://cloreinfo.com/2010/08/top-5-things-to-remember-for-long-jump-starter-life/

More information can be found on our web site at www.cloreautomotive.com.

I hope this helps.

Jim O'Hara
Clore Automotive

Thank you so much for this information. It gives me more peace of mind.

I have been using my Battery Tender to keep the JNC660 charged up.

You're right about the jnc600 having such a robust battery. It holds it's charge extremely well, and has been holding at almost 13v even after using it to charge a few things.

Thanks again for the information, and for responding to this post!

 

[lmualem]

We just went through some power problems out in Southern California, and I imagine there will be more in the parts of the country that actually have weather, and seasons. I was using a battery booster for 12V power to recharge phone and other items. I didn't put much of a strain on mine this way. I was wondering if in case of emergency it would be possible to charge this type of unit from the car directly, since charging for 24-36 hours could seem like a very long time to get enough juice to power your phone through the night. It seems like this is possible, allowing the obvious long term risk to the batteries. This might be discounted in emergency situations, and then one could recharge fully in the recommended way when the crisis was over.

 

[HOTFR8]

We just went through some power problems out in Southern California, and I imagine there will be more in the parts of the country that actually have weather, and seasons. I was using a battery booster for 12V power to recharge phone and other items. I didn't put much of a strain on mine this way. I was wondering if in case of emergency it would be possible to charge this type of unit from the car directly, since charging for 24-36 hours could seem like a very long time to get enough juice to power your phone through the night. It seems like this is possible, allowing the obvious long term risk to the batteries. This might be discounted in emergency situations, and then one could recharge fully in the recommended way when the crisis was over.

If your battery pack has a cigarette lighter lead to charge it then it is ok to charge it from the car.

 

[MBfreak]

Hi.
To get some understanding how to charge a typical car/truck battery, here is the way a "smart" charger works.

Trickle charge at 100 mA up to a bit over 10 Volts battery terminal voltage.This makes sure that no shorted cells are in the battery
After that increase to bulk charge rate ( typivcally 5-8 Amps for a 50-80Ah battery) until battery terminal voltage reaches around 13,5 V.
At this switch to current limited Voltage setpoint charge.( Boost for yáll) Current limit is same 5-8A, but charging voltage is limited to 14,3 V.
When 14, 3 V is reached no more voltage increase. Charging current will start to taper off and when it reaches 10% of bulk charge rate , the charger changes to Maintenance charge.
Maintenance charge will be done at a setpoint voltage of 13,85 V, and current can vary between leakage rate ( a few mA) up to bulk charge limit.

The smarter chargers will factor in temp differentials and also revert back to bulk charge etc if voltage drops .

Charger can be hooked up för months , wil not cook the battery.

Ola

 

[HOTFR8]

Hi.
To get some understanding how to charge a typical car/truck battery, here is the way a "smart" charger works.

Trickle charge at 100 mA up to a bit over 10 Volts battery terminal voltage.This makes sure that no shorted cells are in the battery
After that increase to bulk charge rate ( typivcally 5-8 Amps for a 50-80Ah battery) until battery terminal voltage reaches around 13,5 V.
At this switch to current limited Voltage setpoint charge.( Boost for yáll) Current limit is same 5-8A, but charging voltage is limited to 14,3 V.
When 14, 3 V is reached no more voltage increase. Charging current will start to taper off and when it reaches 10% of bulk charge rate , the charger changes to Maintenance charge.
Maintenance charge will be done at a setpoint voltage of 13,85 V, and current can vary between leakage rate ( a few mA) up to bulk charge limit.

The smarter chargers will factor in temp differentials and also revert back to bulk charge etc if voltage drops .

Charger can be hooked up för months , wil not cook the battery.

Ola

or more commonly known as a tender ot maintainer. Unlike the more conventional battery charger or trickle charger.