My Schumaker charger is so old you'd need to do a carbon test to date it. It served honorably as the main charger for 10 years in my motorcycle shop and then went into private practice. I've come across quite a few dead chargers in the last 10 years and upon internal inspection I can tell you that in the case of most brands, including Schumaker, that the circuit boards are a lot thinner and of a much lower quality phenolic and not glass, even the wiring is of lower quality, and the soldering techniques (if I can call contemporary production soldering "technique") are of a poorer execution than in the past. Production QC today guarantees neither quality nor control. We are victims of the market screaming "cheaper" and we're getting exactly what (the majority of us) asked for so grin and bear it. Milacqua's favorite charger has it's share of complaints too. Storied names of the past on a box on the shelf today mean little to nothing cause the name is what is bought and paid for by some pacific rim conglomerate a la Zenith, Crosley, and such. Want a good charger? Cruise the thrift stores and flea markets and find an old, working Schumaker. clean it up and charge away and away and away and away... There is NO contemporary charger or maintainer that I would leave unattended plugged into an AC outlet, in my home or garage, connected to a battery for any period of time... except my old Schumaker. Out of sight... out of mind... out of luck sooner or later.

You could try Battery Specialists, I use them very often for things I need for work. They have always been able to find what I need. They are local for me, but they ship stuff too. They have a website with live chat and/or a toll free number. Just Google "Battery Specialists".

Hi Jerry. Looks like the hook is set.. :) Trying to understand exactly why certain things happen is what keeps me studying and reading everything I can. It also keeps me asking questions when a further solution isn't really necessary at times as well. Thats why I'm an automotive tech, there is so much to feed the curiosity beast. Alternators in general use a delta or(triangle) or "Y" shaped stator. The stator is the wires that are visible just inside of the case of the alternator. The ends of the wires that make up the stator are connected to the diode bridge. The bridge typically consists of six diodes which allow the current to flow to the alternator output, and of course from the alternator case. If someone does not really understand how diodes work, they can do some web searching on the subject, or just accept the fact that they act like a one way valve. The diodes are connected to allow electrons to be pulled from the + (positive) side of the circuit, and then pushed onto the - (ground) side. Inside the alternator there is a component called the rotor. Basically it's a coil of wire that has a current flowing through it to create a magnetic field. The rotors ends are designed to pull the magnetic field around the sides of the coil, and into a series of + and - magnets as viewed from the side. The rotor is connected to the pulley and is turned by the belt. This "series of magnets" rotate inside the stator, and the result is electrons are pushed and pulled in the stator creating an AC voltage. This AC voltage is rectified by the diode bridge, and we see it as DC on a volt meter. But looking closer with an ocilliscope we can actually see something else. The DC voltage isn't steady. On a normally operating vehicle with little electrical load (low current flow) there will be small humps as each diode begins and stops conducting. Charging systems also have a capacitor across the output of the alternator. The capacitors job is to slightly charge up higher than the present system voltage, and then discharge when the voltage it stored is higher than the system voltage. This effect is used to smooth out the humps from the alternator. There are two things that happen when a stator or diode fail. The diode failing can either short, or open circuit. If it shorts, generally the result is an alternator that drains the battery and is pretty easy to diagnose. (I'm not going to be real specific here, there isn't enough time but there are other possibilities as well) When a diode fails open though what you get is a space where instead of overlapping diodes conducting, there is a conductive hump, a period where the capacitor has to discharge longer, and then another conducting hump. I have seen situations under load where the AC voltage on top of the DC output gets up between 2 and 3 volts. (A shorted diode could have an even more dramatic voltage change) Now take a sensor where the output is an analog signal, and allow the system voltage to vary like this and you can get a computer reacting to inputs that are not really occuring. One such example would be false cylinder ID pulses, or incorrect crankshaft speed calculations by the computer. To an inexperienced tech, they pull the car in, it's running erratic, missfiring, maybe an incorrect idle speed. The use a volt meter and see the system voltage around 14v where they expect it to be and they end up running around and testing, and maybe even replacing all kinds of parts trying to fix the problem. It's added a whole dimension to testing when it comes to todays cars. Things like diode suppression when solenoids are operated can be really important to prevent voltage spikes on the system voltage. Getting used to looking closely at voltage waveforms has been really important when it comes to sensors like a wheel speed sensor. Litterally the difference between a sensor that is working, and one that the computer thinks is not can be 1/100th of a volt. With an AC voltmeter, it's impossible to interpret this change in the signal, heck it's hard with a scope by eye. I end up relying on trapping the waveform and using cursers to provide the voltage measurement. (Ahh the luxury of a digital storage ocilliscope) With an alternator I do exactly the same thing. I trigger my scope off of an injector current, or secondary lead if available, and then set the scope to 100mv/div and position the voltage line on the display and look at it between 2ms and 5ms/div. (Sometimes faster, sometimes slower depending on the needs) Here is a link that might be useful: A tutorial on alternator ripple, not just my rough interpretation

true, some things don't like the 1.2v rechargables and need the 1.5v alkalines. there are true 1.5v rechargables out there, you just have to look. as far as what charger, depends on teh battery. you cannot recharge a Li-Ion in some Ni-Cad/NiMH chargers. but most all abtts will charge in one rated for Li-ION.