is there such a thing?

[Jim]

Hello... I am storing a few rechargable whipper snipper batteries in my garden shed along with other assorted batteries. I want to time my charger to give them a charge say 1 day every two months or maybe one day a month. I know if I go out to the shed and just plug the battery charger in I'll freaking forget about them and they'll charge for a freaking week before I remember. (I'm 51 and my mind is toast...70"s were real good to me lol) Anyways...I googled "monthly timer" etc and found nothing that would help... is there a 110 volt timer that will do something like this? If you run across this would you mind posting a link? Thanks folks.. Jim

[hrhofmann]

Why not use a day timer and set it for the minimum on time? That should be fine.

[Jeff The Drunk]

So leaving the batteries hooked up to the charger will harm them? Do you have some documentation saying this? This isn't the case for my Hitachi drill or my Black and decker Weed Hog trimmer. Most NiMH/NiCAD chargers are somewhat more smart than just a wall wart. If you haven't read about charging these I suggest you do so. I'm in my mid 50's and the 70's were REAL good to me also :) but evidently I didn't fry enough brain cells to affect my short term memory.

[keith]

Decent chargers won't overcharge batteries but if this is cheap crap, you could just put them on a timer and charge them an hour a day. Your bigger worry is storing the batteries outside in the shed. Depending on where you live, that'll cook 'em just as sure as overcharging will.

[Jim]

I didn't say leaving batteries on a charger will harm them nor would I want to look for any documentation on that...I just don't want to leave the charger on is the reason why I am asking ......Jim

[Jeff The Drunk]

I see. Are you trying to save a few watts of electricity, afraid the chargers will catch fire, trying to extend the life of the charges, all of the above or have some other logical reason that you want the charges off immediately after use? You have a computer obviously. There are free programs that can remind you of certain events that you could set up to remind you to turn the chargers off. Can you have a neighbor remind you? A relative? Friend? Hell gimme your phone number and I'll call you and remind you.

[gfretwell]

There are plenty of 7 day timers, why not just do them an hour or two, once a week?

[Bob F]

Just get a mechanical twist timer. As you walk by once in a while, give it a twist. The chargers will run for an hour or whatever you set it to, then turn off. You can probably get one that will go up to 24 hours if you need.

You could use a sprinkler timer switching a relay to the power.

[HeyBub]

Ooh! Good idea!

[mm]

There are wall switches with a weekly timer. You can have it turn on an outlet for 10 minutes a week.

You can also use standard mechanical timers. Have it turn on for one hour every 24 hours and when it is on have it power another such timer that will turn on for one hour of every 24 hours of elapsed time, and run the charger off of that.

So the first timer will run all the time, and the second timer will take 24 days to cover 24 hours. So the charger will be on one hour every 24 days.

[Jim]

Why in hell are you so curious as to WHY I want to do what I want to do?... It was a simple question that obviously you have no answer to and have contributed NOTHING!....so why not just shut the hell up?.. Are you truly drunk when you drivel on like this? Jim

[Dean Hoffman]

That sounds like a sensible (and cheap) solution.

[Dean Hoffman]

A bunch of timers here:

I didn't try to sort through them. The link is to Allied Electronics. I don't think they sell retail but at least you'll get an idea if what you want is available.

[WW]

I have bought from Allied. Called them and person found what I wanted so I could order. WW

[Jim]

WOW!...now THAT was VERY helpfull Thank you very much Dean!...totally makes sense....problem SOLVED!....right on!... Jim

[Ed Pawlowski]

There are plenty of timers that you can schedule for a week, choosing the days you want it to go on. Use one of those and have it come on for a half hour a week instead of 2 hours a month.

[The Daring Dufas]

7 day timers are quite common and I'm very fond of the Diehl timers. I like their synchronous motor drive timers rather than the standard electromechanical timers that you may see everywhere. The mechanical timers will wear out but I haven't had a Diehl timer quit yet. You can setup a 7 day timer to charge the batteries for a short time once a week and I think you'll have no problems with the batteries. The Diehl timers have a motor drive but the power switching is handled by a relay rather than the standard type electromechanical timer in which the timer motor actuates spring loaded mechanical contacts. That's the part that wears out on the old style timers.

It's funny that distributer is named "Borg".

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

Something like this:

to be on one hour a day. Won't kill the battery as fast as leaving it on 24/7.

[ransley]

What is the point, just charge before use. To determine if your charger overcharges or is a smart peak charger a use a volt meter to measure voltage and check the temperature of the pack. A Nicad 1.2v cell should stop charging at about 1.3-1.38 v per cell, then the charger should shut off if its voltage peak, Temp peak charging would be several degrees above room temp, if pack stays hot or continues to receive charge then its not a very good charger. My old B&D chargers were not good. Best is just charge before use there is not need to maintain 100% charge all the time, those that say leave in the charger like B&D just cook batteries slowly to death without very good peaking monitoring. My way of thinking is if the pack is hot its not good for the batteries.

[Thomas]

One word...

Solartricklecharger