Battery trickle chargers are designed to recharge batteries over a period of time. Trickle charging, also known as float charging is the charging of a battery at the same rate as it is self-discharging thus maintain the full capacity of the battery. Most rechargeable batteries have a moderate rate of self-discharge. Therefore, batteries lose their charge even if they are not used in a device. Therefore, there is a demand for battery trickle charges. How does one use a battery trickle charger?
Care must be taken when using a battery trickle charger to avoid overcharging and creating acid leaks. Before using a battery trickle charge one must know the battery manufactures specifications for the batteries’ ampere-hours. For example, a battery may have a normal capacity of C (ampere-hours). The manufacture’s discharge rate of the battery is designed to be C/8 or an eight hour rate or as fast as C/2. Charging rates for battery trickle charger are very low. For a battery trickle charger, the float or trickle rate of may be as low as C/300 (a rate 300-hor discharge rate). Thus, the time of trickle charging may take up to 72 hours or more for the battery trickle charge to overcome the battery discharge rate and recharge the battery to full capacity. The charging time will depend on the manufactures discharge rate for the battery and the battery trickle charger’s rate of discharge. It is wise to use a battery regulator to ensure the rate of charging isn’t greater than the rate of the battery discharge rate. Overcharging may cause overheating of the battery resulting acid leaks and damage to the battery.
There are many manufactures of battery trickle charges. For example, there are 254 types of car battery trickle chargers. The type of battery trickle charge one selects will depend on the type of battery being recharged and the features of the battery trickle charger one desires. Some trickle chargers have battery regulators as a feature where as others do not. There is different discharge rates that battery trickle charges are designed to handle. There are battery trickle charges that handle a range of different voltage ratings and rates of discharge. These battery trickle chargers recharge different types of batteries. This feature allows the owner to recharge an array of batteries like 6 volt, 9 volt, and 12 volt batteries. One should have knowledge of their battery specifications before selecting a battery trickle charger.
