timmay Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it before but I put an extension cord on an ApplianceLinc and put all my battery recharge devices on that (power tool batteries, a Neato, a toy car for kids to drive, etc...). These devices usually are powered and have their AC adapters sucking power 24 hours a day, but I'm just going to program them to be on for a fraction of that while keeping the batteries fully charged when the time arises to use them! I figure I'll start at 30 minutes a day and I don't expect that to have any impact on the lifetime of the battery, but if you know something I don't please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian H Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Some AC Adapters can be noise makers or signal absorbers. If you find the ApplianceLInc will turn On but not Off. One or more of the AC Adapters maybe making noise or absorbing the Insteon power line signals and it would not go Off. One other point is the latest ApplianceLincs revert to Off after a power loss even if they where On at the time of loss. Just somethings to consider in your setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apostolakisl Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Depends on the details. But, battery charges are generally designed to do what is best for the battery. Especially the more expensive ones. If you do as you are stating, you may shorten the battery life. Lead acid batteries do best with a continuous float charge. Better nicad chargers (like the one for my DeWalt tools) have an algorithm for a proper maintenance charge that you would be interrupting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmay Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 What I did program the ApplianceLinc to turn on at 5:30am and turn off at 6am. Then tied the ApplianceLinc to a keypad button so that after I actually use a battery I can turn it on and it will stay on until 6am the next day. The 30 mins a day is just for keeping the batteries topped without having them on the entire day. It sounds like the better solution is to charge them longer, less frequently. Maybe I turn the charger on for 4 hours every week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyt Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 I was doing exactly this but running it for 4 hrs a week. One of the batteries was a deep cycle lead acid battery on a regular (cheap) car battery charger. The battery was useless after about 18 months. The charger would actually discharge it when it was off. I didn't see that with the rechargeable flashlights I also had on it. I ended buying a quality (CTEK) charger and my new deep cycle battery seems fine after ~3 years although I've only done some quick tests (no deep discharges). The charger does boast of a very low leakage rate, which I think a good battery can live with, but there is still one so I wouldn't do this to keep a marginal car lead acid battery going. Note that I could be wrong and may find my battery unusable by next year... Am learning about this largely through trial and error. If someone knows better I'd be interested to hear it. Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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