battery charger?

So at the begging of last summer I bought a battery for my fish finder on the yak, it kept a charge all year long until last week when I was sturgeon fishing. So I hooked it up to the car battery charger when I got home, left it on there for 6 hrs, and it was still dead. It is a 12 volt 7amp. sealed lead-acid battery used for security alarms. It says it is rechargeable. So my question is what type of charger do I use?  zac

Ouch, you might have killed it. Those batteries aren't made to be charged with a car charger.

You want a 12 volt 1 amp Automatic charger. They have 'em for 24 bucks at schucks. Best place i've found local. Make sure it's automatic so it shuts off or floats when the charge is done.

Yep, What Roy said.

I think you toasted that one.
I use a trickle charger from Harbor Fright (sic) for about 6 bucks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292

Good thing I was broke last week and didn't buy that one from Schucks

Have you used this to charge the battery from very low? I don't think there meantt for that, but it's not hard to throw it on there every three trips or so.

My 12v 5amp is pretty new and I haven't charged it yet after 4 trips it still has 12.07 volts on it, so much better then the AA's.

My Cabelas 12V 8ah battery came with a cheap single stage charger(500 mA?). I unplug the charger and check the charge with a voltmeter, every couple of hours. Also, it's best not to run the batteries all the way down, before charging.

The key is having a charge that automatically shuts off when the battery is fully charged.  Charging these batteries when they are fully charged will surely kill them rather quickly.

-Allen

I agree with you, Allen. I thought I had read that that was what I was getting with my Cabelas battery, but it wasn't so. I should have known, from the price. 

I can't tell what the capacity is on the charger that Wali linked. Auto shut-off, for 6 bucks, is dirt cheap. But then, Chicago Electric isn't exactly a high end electronics company.

I agree with you, Allen. I thought I had read that that was what I was getting with my Cabelas battery, but it wasn't so. I should have known, from the price. 

I can't tell what the capacity is on the charger that Wali linked. Auto shut-off, for 6 bucks, is dirt cheap. But then, Chicago Electric isn't exactly a high end electronics company.

I just thought of an idea pisco, if you have a electric timer you can figure out how many hours it takes to get a good charge and set the timer to shut off, just make sure the battery is down to the same voltage approximatly every time. If i used a manual charger like you have, i'm sure i would ruin my battery in no time..

I really need to get a charger with an automatic shut off.  Right now I have a fish finder that runs at about 200 mA and a charger that charges at 1 A.  Because of this, I've been trying to do this all manually. For example, if I use the fish finder 5 hours I set it on the charger for 1 hour.    In reality, I usually wait for 20 or so hours (3-4 fishing trips) of use to pass and then charge for about 4 hours.

It makes sense to me, but the $6 Harbor Freight charger would save some effort.

Brian

I bought a charger today from Napa that is a 12 volt (900 mAdc?) automatic charger. It has Led"s on it that indicate when it is fully charged. It is made for sealed lead acid battery's. It cost $27.00. I think I have a dead battery because it will not take a charge. As soon as I hook it up it said it was full. I don't know if it was because i left it in the yak upside down in my cold garage or if hooking it up to the car charger on trickle cycle killed it. Guess I will look on line for a new battery. Zac

Yeah, SCP, that sounds like dead one. Bummer. I'm not sure about the sealed batteries, but with regular lead/acid batteries it's death for them to expose them to freezing temps when they are discharged.

I bought a charger today from Napa that is a 12 volt (900 mAdc?) automatic charger. It has Led"s on it that indicate when it is fully charged. It is made for sealed lead acid battery's. It cost $27.00. I think I have a dead battery because it will not take a charge. As soon as I hook it up it said it was full. I don't know if it was because i left it in the yak upside down in my cold garage or if hooking it up to the car charger on trickle cycle killed it. Guess I will look on line for a new battery. Zac

I don't think being upside down will hurt these batteries.

Hey Zac, Battery exchange here in Coos bay has the 12 volt  5 amp hour battery for $19.95

Battery exchange? Is that the one across from Fred Meyer's ? I will be up there soon to grab one .. Thanks Roy!

After all the time I put into my battery i though was dead, It turns out my fish finder has a bad connection where the power cable hooks up to the back of it. I called humminbird and they said they would fix it under the warranty. Hope they get it back to me soon, I have the fishing bug bad for some reason!!!!!!!!

After a few issues with an older fish finder I started bringing a cheap volt meter with me on fishing trips.  It's great to figuring out if the battery is dead, a wire is loose, etc..

Brian