midwinter EDR with a 10 amp battery charger

I am fond of electrolytic derusting. I do it a lot. I have collected a bunch of little tricks I use but this one is good enough to write up and share. Like lots of home shop guys, I use an inexpensive car battery charger. Mine is made by Schumacher, and has only one control, a toggle between 6 and 12 volts. It does have an ammeter. It's a 10 amp battery charger with overtemp protection. What happens when I go overcurrent for very long is a relay clicks and then I have to wait a bit for the thing to cool down and start over.

What I have found that in midwinter, outdoors but under the eave of my shop front overhang, in 20-30F temperatures, I can run it at nearly 18 amps for several days in a row now without its overcurrent relay popping and without the charger seeming to even get warm.

Well, now that I've written it this trick seems dead obvious, but believe me it wasn't to me before I learned it! :-)

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington

Reply to
Grant Erwin
Loading thread data ...

If the unit does not have a cooling fan you can obtain one from nearly any junk computer or computer power supply.

Reply to
beecrofter

I do alot of it as well, but I gave up on using a battery charger. Never could get the current out of it that I wanted. One or two amps was the max. I now use a bigger adjustable bench power supply, 40VDC and 25ADC and love it. It's big and heavy, probably 75#. It's mounted on a roll around rack so it's easy to drag out and use. Has storage for my buckets and anodes under the power supply and associated wires. With enough volts/amps, I can almost make the bath boil with bubbles!

Reply to
Gerry

I added a surplus 3 Amp Variac to a similar Schauer charger to make a variable power supply. The transformer will stand the 140V input, giving 18V out which can salvage a lead-acid battery with a high- impedance cell.

Jim Wilkins

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Grant, will EDR remove gun bluing along with the rust?

Reply to
Rex

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.