Increasingly Difficult To Find Manual 6V Battery Chargers

[keithb7]

 Digital battery charges, you have no control. I had a manual 6V 1 amp charger that I bought new in 1997. I literally punched the date on it when I bought it. It just died. I threw it out.

I have a few digital 0.75 amp digital chargers. When batteries start to degrade a bit, it seems these digital chargers come up with many reasons why they won't charge. I want a manual charger that I control. I have been seeking out a new one. I don't have a lot of floor space. I like the idea of the industrial grade charges. Made in the USA, on wheels, but they take up valuable floor space. They are generally overkill too, at 40A or so. Too big. Sure they will likely outlast me though.

 

It's not super easy to find a bench top, 6V manual charger it seems. I did find this one here. It's on the Canada Walmart site, yet absent from the USA site. Made in China (not ideal but will do). Pretty sure the 100A start option will only work on 12V. This one delivers 15A at 6V. That ought to give a seasonal 6V battery a pretty good shake.

 

Most battery threads turn into talk about Optima batteries. I'm not interested. I'm 5 years into a flooded wet cell conventional. No issues yet, just the digital chargers. I saw some Optima batteries at the auto parts store locally last week. $400 range plus taxes & enviro levy. I'm staying more toward the old fashioned conventional route. I'm stubborn.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by keithb7

[Bryan]

Tried to look for a few, still mentions automatic but looks like manual Amazon.com: Westward Battery Charger, 6/12V (A), 55 A Start : Automotive

 This only has one 6V setting at 25 A, too expensive for me   Amazon.com: Schumacher DSR139 225/50/25/10 Amp 6/12V Manual Wheel Charger : Automotive

 

Auto chargers:

 Amazon.com: NOCO GENIUS10, 10-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V and 12V Portable Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, and Battery Desulfator with Temperature Compensation : Automotive       

                   

Amazon.com: Schumacher SC1360 Fully Automatic Battery Charger and Maintainer - 15 Amp/3 Amp, 6V/12V - For Cars, Trucks, SUVs, Marine, RVs : Automotive 

 

Amazon.com: Schumacher SC1362 Fully Automatic Battery Charger with Engine Starter Boost, Maintainer - with Advanced Diagnostic Testing - 85 Amp/30 Amp, 6V/12V - For Cars, Trucks, SUVs, Marine, RV Batteries : Automotive

 

 

[plymouthcranbrook]

I have one of the Century brand chargers I bought years ago when I needed a 6 volt charger and my old Montgomery Wards charger was 12 only. It has worked fine and done everything I have asked of it in the 15 years or so I have had it. I also have two maintainer chargers that I use more.  I just installed an Optima on my 1980 Volare since my success with the current crop of lead acids available here has not been good. Cost was about $30 more than a top level regular battery. That said I have also read that the Optimas are nowhere near as good as they once were.  

[Los_Control]

I was going to suggest shumacher, I bought my bench top charger a couple years ago and happy with it.

I looked at their website and as you say, only the large floor models available.

 

I honestly like a slower charge on my battery, seems less hectic & theatrical then acid boiling out the top side spewing fumes all over the place .... I could be wrong.

 

My Shumacher is a 6 amp charge 6 or 12 volt with a option of a 2 amp trickle charge for 12 volt only. Personally I am ok with it taking 2 hours to charge a dead battery enought to start anyways ... I often just leave them on the charger overnight for a full charge.

 

For a quick charge or a jump start, I would rather go with a jumper pack that you can charge then stow away in your trunk in case it is needed. Would be 12 volt only, but if everything is turned off will be enough to jump start you on the side of the road.

[Sniper]

I would have tried to fix the old one, but that is along the lines of what I do for a living. 

 

A 6v, ~1 amp manual charger isn't all that tricky to build, but again, it's along the lines of what I do for a living.

[RobertKB]

Swap meets are a good place to look for a 6V charger if you can afford to wait. 

[keithb7]

29 minutes ago, Sniper said:

I would have tried to fix the old one, but that is along the lines of what I do for a living. 

 

A 6v, ~1 amp manual charger isn't all that tricky to build, but again, it's along the lines of what I do for a living.

I have replaced plenty of transformers in vintage guitar tube amplifiers. I took it apart,. looked at this 1 amp 6V charger, thought about the service life I got since '97. I tossed it.

 

@Los_Control The car's generator puts out more amps than this 15A charger I ordered. I won't be boiling any acid. A flooded acid battery benefits from a good hit of reasonably higher amps once in a while. Not long term, or overnight. After it's been sitting for a while,  15A will do what a 2A or a digital charger cannot do.

 

@Bryanthat Westward is along the lines of the one I bought. Yet the Westward is no longer available to order. The others are floor models, I preferred not to opt for those types.

Edited February 19, 2022 by keithb7

[keithb7]

4 minutes ago, RobertKB said:

Swap meets are a good place to look for a 6V charger if you can afford to wait. 

I have been looking for some time. Swap meets dried up for the last 2 years due to covid. I hummed and hawed. Placed the order this morning.

 

I found one of these or sale locally. Made in USA. Way overkill I figured. And the foot print? I chose to move on from it. Looks like a quality charger tho.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by keithb7

[knuckleharley]

Harbor Freight might be a good place to look. They are opening stores all over the country,and even opened one in the nearest podunk town to me.

 

They usually have a selection of cheap Chinese crap,mid-range items,and quality items so you have a selection to choose from based on how often you might need whatever you buy.

 

My best advise is to go ahead and buy the best 6 volt/12 volt charger you can at the momement that you can afford that will do what you need a battery charger to do.

 

I say this because 6 volt batteries are so obsolete now that it probably won't be long before the manufactuers quit making them. Would have probably already stopped if it wasn't for tractors and other farm equipment.

 

And,of course,there is nothing preventing you from taking an old 6 volt generator and regularator,mounting them on a board that also has an electric motor with a pulley on it,and making your own battery charger.

You would,of course,have to add an amp gauge to the circuit so you know how if the battery is taking a charge and when it is fully charged.

 

I did this back in the 70's,and it worked fine for years. 

 

And,of course,you can also make a 12 volt battery charger at home using the same method.

 

The downfall is they are not very portable,and you end up having to carry the battery to your work bench and then back to the car or truck.

 

I guess you could get around this if you have room to drive inside the garage and have long jumper cables.

Edited February 19, 2022 by knuckleharley

[Oldguy48]

You might have luck at a farm store like Tractor Supply.  The last I checked, they still sold 6 Volt tractor batteries, so they might carry 6 Volt chargers as well.  Good luck!

 

[allbizz49]

I second the swap meets. I drive my old cars every day year round so the old 6v charger I bought at a swap meet for ten bucks just sits. 

[MarcDeSoto]

I have an old 6/12 battery charger from the 80s that still works, I think.  Haven't used it in years.  I debated for months about whether to get an old fashioned 6v battery from OReillys, or order a 6v Optima.  I did see the video where Scotty trashes the Optima batteries, but others in the hobby said they were great, so I went with an Optima.  A friend of mine who hangs around Randy Ema, said Randy only uses Optimas on all his Duesenbergs, Auburns, and Cords.  I don't have a running car right now, so I bought one just to check my starter and fluid drive ring gear.  So the Optima sits on a shelf most of the time.  I had to buy a charger that charges glass mat batteries.  So I bought a NoCo Genius 10 charger for $100 on Amazon.  NoCo makes much cheaper 6 volt chargers, but they don't say AGM on the 6V setting.  AGM is for charging glass mat batteries like Optima.  The NoCo 10 has a setting for 6V and 6v AGM.  I wonder how often I should charge my Optima 6v battery up?  

Edited February 20, 2022 by MarcDeSoto

[Sniper]

Problem with thinking you need a special charger for an AGM is that your car's charging system neither knows, nor cares, that you have an AGM.

[Sam Buchanan]

31 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Problem with thinking you need a special charger for an AGM is that your car's charging system neither knows, nor cares, that you have an AGM.

 

Exactly. We have a great deal of discussion in the aviation community about care and feeding of AGM batteries. A fully charged AGM battery as a general rule retains 90% of the charge for six months. The special AGM chargers are not different in the way they charge a discharged AGM but in the way they maintain the charge in "trickle" mode. Conventional trickle charges can cause sulfation in an AGM battery and greatly shorten its life.

 

The best way to maintain an AGM is to fully charge it.....then leave it alone. If the battery will be idle for several months, top up the charge every four months or so and don't kill it with a trickle charger. If the car is being driven regularly then there is no need for a charger of any type.

[Sniper]

I work on commercial and industrial uninterruptible power supplies.  We mostly use AGM's as the battery source, there is the occasional flooded cell and lithium option selected.  The AGM's have a 28 day charging scheme that involves monitoring and testing as part of the scheme.  We warranty the batteries for 5 years.  In our case the AGM's are not continuously being charged.  Both the flooded cell and lithium setups have different charging schemes.

 

No DIY car charger I know of is anywhere near as sophisticated as our charging setup and if there were one out there it doesn't get over the fact that your car is still charging like it had a lead acid (flooded cell) setup.

[MarcDeSoto]

Sniper, are you saying it's a waste of money to buy an Optima battery?  If so, I wonder why a guy as knowledgeable as Randy Ema uses them in all his restorations?  

[Sniper]

The optima is a sealed battery that won't leak acid or fumes and can be mounted in any orientation.  Other than that, I see no reason to spend that kind of money for a battery.  I used to own an optima, back when they still made them in the US, and never had an issue.  Till my regulator full fielded the alternator, overcharged the battery and caused the vent caps to pop.

 

Tell you what Optima thinks of their batteries.  36 month free replacement warranty, that's it.  3 years.  The Optima equivalent of my Napa group 24 battery is more than twice the price.  The Napa has a 24 month free replacement warranty. 

 

I think the use of the word Optima is more buzzword like saying your SBC has Corvette heads.  Or how every rear has a posi.  I have zero idea who Randy is so I looked him up.  If I had a Duesenberg question, he'd be the man.  I can see why he might prefer the Optima due to it's sealed nature, but on the merits of it just being an AGM?  Not sure he'd qualify as a battery expert.

 

 

[Los_Control]

As far as old school chargers go ... this is the model I was able to get from my local brick & mortar store 4 years ago ... Quick search on Shumachker site I do not see it.

 

While it is a cheap charger, I am totally happy with it and it's performance.

 

 

 

 

@keithb7 I also get that your generator puts out more amps then your charger.

 

No way I can explain the difference between a battery charger and a charging system. Their is a difference.

Back when I was 17 years old and working at the Union 76 gas station pumping gas and cleaning windshields. We had a back room where we charged batteries.

Seemed their was always 3 or 4 batteries on charge at a time. One day the boss went and disconnected a battery and caused a spark ... the battery exploded in the room and he was out of work for a few days.

 

I also worked in a used tire shop, we had a gizmo that would rejuvenate dead batteries. Was very low amps and we would daisy chain 5 or 6 batteries together at very low amps. A lot of batteries would come to life.

 

Just saying today I am very happy with a slow 6 amp charge, no worries about a charger or battery exploding in my face.

The modern charger I bet many here have them in their shops. Simply not a charger I would want.

I actually bought one for my Uncle as a gift ... While he was happy with it for several years ... nothing I would buy and use myself.

 

[keithb7]

21 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

 

@keithb7 I also get that your generator puts out more amps then your charger.

 

No way I can explain the difference between a battery charger and a charging system. Their is a difference.

 

 

The car's 6V generator may put out a max of 30A. However the regulator cuts down the amp flow as the voltage comes up. Preventing an over-charge, or boiling the battery.

 

The 6V 15A charger I bought, set to manual mode I suspect will keep pouring amps into the battery as long as it is on. I won't be leaving it on long term. Its easy enough to plug it in to a timer often used with block heaters. The 15A charger I bought will supplement my .75A trickle charger. As needed, either option will be used. I think of it like having the right tool for the job. Safety wise, I will be unplugging the 15A charger before disconnecting it from a battery. I'll also use it in a well ventilated area.

[Los_Control]

10 minutes ago, keithb7 said:

Safety wise, I will be unplugging the 15A charger before disconnecting it from a battery.

I get it ... I am the odd ball in the conversation. Just saying I have seen bad problems in the  past but that was 35 years ago.

At the gas station we had the big wammer jammer battery charger that put my employer in the emergency room.

 

Chances are we can use these large chargers and nothing bad will ever happen. .... But it can. I used them in a shop.

We also can use a 6 amp charger and it does the charge & simply no worries about it blowing up in your face.

 

@keithb7just enjoy it.  I specifically want a smaller charger. For past experiences.

[Sam Buchanan]

I have an ancient manual charger from the 70's but this is what I use now:

 

 

1.5a, automatic voltage sensing (6v or 12v), reverse hookup protection, trickle mode. The thing works great, hook it up, return next morning and disconnect it.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Sam Buchanan

[Eneto-55]

On 2/19/2022 at 2:06 PM, Sniper said:

I would have tried to fix the old one, but that is along the lines of what I do for a living. 

 

A 6v, ~1 amp manual charger isn't all that tricky to build, but again, it's along the lines of what I do for a living.

I have a small 3 Amp 6/12 volt battery charger I bought at K-Mart back in winter 76-77.  Last year it quit working.  How would I go about testing it to see what's burned out?  I don't have a lot of technical electrical knowledge, but I did once rewind an electric motor, and as someone said, these things are pretty simple.  Can I check continuity on the different parts to identify what part is bad?  Wondering if the main coil is burned out.

[Sniper]

Well...

 

Teaching me electronics took the Navy a year, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, no summer vacation, no spring break, no Christmas/Thanksgiving week off.  That was classroom time, it doesn't count the after hours studying I did.  We did get Federal holidays though.

 

Not sure I have that kind of time, lol.

 

But I will share a few things.  Look for anything obvious.  Broken wire, burnt component, smell around with your nose for anything burnt smelling.  If you find anything shoot me a pic of it. 

 

[Eneto-55]

8 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Well...

 

Teaching me electronics took the Navy a year, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, no summer vacation, no spring break, no Christmas/Thanksgiving week off.  That was classroom time, it doesn't count the after hours studying I did.  We did get Federal holidays though.

 

Not sure I have that kind of time, lol.

 

But I will share a few things.  Look for anything obvious.  Broken wire, burnt component, smell around with your nose for anything burnt smelling.  If you find anything shoot me a pic of it. 

 

Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be simple to explain, and so I was just wondering what simple tests I could do to identify what component is bad.  I did open it up and I don't see anything that looks burned, no smell.  (I build & repair computers, so I am familiar with burned smells.  Of course most of the time with motherboards, for instance, there is no visibly burned components.  Just a couple where a capacitor top is bulging, and one where part of the board had actually been in flames.)

 

Like, should the main coil show continuity?  (I reckon I can open up the one my son-in-law got for me from his dad, and compare results.  It's also an old one, non-electronic.  I didn't want one of those, because I've read/heard that if a battery is pretty low, it won't put out a charge.)

[Young Ed]

On 2/19/2022 at 1:35 PM, keithb7 said:

I have been looking for some time. Swap meets dried up for the last 2 years due to covid. I hummed and hawed. Placed the order this morning.

 

I found one of these or sale locally. Made in USA. Way overkill I figured. And the foot print? I chose to move on from it. Looks like a quality charger tho.

 

 

Not much at the swaps but I found quite a few options between garage sales and Facebook market. Ended up with this Dayton from a garage sale for a cool $20. Pic isn't that good as it's just the one wifey sent me to see if I wanted it.