Testing a Car Battery Charger

[jbmorrey]

OK, so I purchased an old car battery charger and oddly enough, there is no on-off switch, just a plug a metal box and a another wire with the positive and negative spring clips. When I plug it in, I hear nothing, I was expecting a "Hum" or something. What would be the best way to test this charger out without shocking the hell out of me!! don't have any pics right now, but here are the specs.
SCHAUER Battery Charger
A.C input 115 volts 0.6 amps 60/60 CYC
Dc output 12 Volts 3 amps

I was hoping to use this for Electrolysis, it was cheap $5, but I understand I need an older car battery charger, so that's why I picked it up. Thanks for the help everyone!

James M

 

[DIC]

I would hook it up to a battery and see if it charges. It will probably hum a little and get warm when it gets a load on it..

 

[koditten]

Hook it up to a battery. check battery voltage with a multi meter and note volts. Plug in the charger and check voltage. You should see around 13-14 volts if it is working.

KO

 

[HOTFR8]

Hook it up to a battery. check battery voltage with a multi meter and note volts. Plug in the charger and check voltage. You should see around 13-14 volts if it is working.

KO

Pretty much what was said above.

Hook it up to a battery and with a test light as it will do the same thing brighter when charging or better still multi meter connected see what happens when you turn on / off the power to the charger.

I often use this old unit and the only way I know it is charging is to add a test light to the battery. Test light bright power on charging. Test light dull power off not charging.

 

[jbmorrey]

Ok, I have a multi meter, I can just hook it up to that directly and get a 13-14 volt response and that will tell me it's working, Only battery I have is hooked up to my new truck, and I don't feel like taking a chance and hooking it up to my battery, just a little weary of that!! I will hook it up to the multi meter and go from there! do ya'll think this would be a good enough charger for electrolysis? Thanks again!

James M

 

[mayday0017]

On an old charger like that you don't even need to hook to a battery, check if it's puttin out 13-14 volts if so it's good... Yes I can have other things that "could" be wrong with it but realy if it's putting out 13-14 volts odds are there is nothing wrong.

 

[kamesama980]

You CAN test it that way but it won't tell you if it can maintain 13-14v under load like actually charging a battery.

If it puts out 14v open circuit, switch over to reading amps and hook it up to your truck's battery.