Manual Battery Charger Issues

[JTx1717]

Hello Everyone. I picked up a older manual battery charger (Schumacher SE-82-6) to use for an electrolysis set up. It's a 6/2 amp, 6/12 volt. I am electronically blind so please bear with me. So tested it out to see if it works. I'm having issues because the values I'm getting are telling me something is wrong with the charger. Anything that might be the culprit that I need to replace? i.e. circuit breaker, diodes. Thanks in advance.

Here are the values I get on the different settings:
6V/6A - 2.57mA/8V
6v/2A - 1.82mA/6.28V
12V/6A - 4.43mA/12.8V
12V/2A - 3.70mA/11.0V

Things to keep in mind:
1) I didn't test it under load
2) The ammeter gauge isn't working. It just barely wobbles and stays at or around the "0" mark.

 

[BillK]

How are you testing it if you didnt have a load on it ? Hook it up to a battery and see what happens ?

 

[JTx1717]

What I meant plugged in and testing the output at the clamps, not hooked up to a battery. As stated before, I'm electronically blind.

 

[BillK]

That wont tell you anything other than the voltage. Depending on the resistance of your meter I would suppose the 2.5 ma current might be about correct. You need to put a load on it to test it properly. I bet the meter is working just fine too. Do you have a spare car battery you can use to test it ?

I dont think the voltage regulation on those things is that great so the voltage is probably about right.

 

[walta]

To my eye the voltages seem about right maybe a little low.

You will not see any current flow without connecting a load to the charger. Maybe try something like a headlight bulb from a car if you have something on hand.

Walta

 

[JTx1717]

So I hooked it up to a good lead acid car battery and measured values at the terminal clamps. Ammeter did move but got inaccurate, however constant, values. Around 4mA regardless of the Amp selector position. Here's what I got:

6V/6A - 4.21mA/12.51V
6v/2A - 4.22mA/12.52V
12V/6A - 4.97mA/14.54V
12V/2A - 4.51mA/13.23V

Previous:
6V/6A - 2.57mA/8V
6v/2A - 1.82mA/6.28V
12V/6A - 4.43mA/12.8V
12V/2A - 3.70mA/11.0V

Not sure what the behavior of the charger would be in an electrolysis set up would be but I guess I can just try it out and see what happens. Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[Bert_]

How are you connecting your meter? Maybe put up a picture.

Testing even the voltage without a load is meaningless. It needs a battery connected to stabilize the output.

 

[BillK]

If you used a 12 volt battery for your test then the readings for the 6 volt position mean nothing. Also how are you reading the 4.97 ma ?

If the battery is pretty close to full charge you might not see much reading on the meter.

Hard to say without being there but I bet there is nothing wrong with the charger. The ONLY way to properly test it is to put a known resistance load across the cables with an amp meter in series.

Also, like I said earlier those types of chargers are not rocket science and I would not be at all surprised if the voltages varied quite a bit.

 

[walta]

Try loading the charger with something like a headlight bulb from a car if you have on hand.

 

[JTx1717]

Try loading the charger with something like a headlight bulb from a car if you have on hand.

Will do that this weekend when I have a chance.

 

[FMB4]

Try loading the charger with something like a headlight bulb from a car if you have on hand.

Preferably with an incandescent sealed beam (super cheap from a wrecking yard).

 

[JTx1717]

Just an update. I used the charger in question over the weekend in a simple electrolysis set up. It worked well on a rusty cast iron skillet. Before that I had opened the charger up to inspect. Yeah, it's a very simplistic set up. Even I could see that. Just happy that I can use it for my cast iron restoration projects. I'm not so concerned much about the values I was getting anymore. Thanks everyone who gave input.