Winter Maintenance Charger

Author	Message
Pete Locke Senior Member Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New Zealand Posts: 186	Posted: 12:45am 15 Jun 2026       Winter is setting in here in New Zealand, so the ride on mower will be parked up until spring kicks the grass back into action. This normally requires remembering to throw the battery charger on for a bit, and more importantly, remembering to take it off again. There are maintenance 'Automatic' chargers available at prices ranging from not bad to 'I just want a charger, not the whole manufacturing plant' 😳. But what's the fun in buying one when there is a shed full of crap the bits can be extracted from. So I borrowed most of the design of a Ducati switching regulator, and improved the control side to something a little less privative, and lot more reliable. Works a treat. Cheers Pete' N.Z Edited 2026-06-15 10:46 by Pete Locke
KeepIS Guru Joined: 13/10/2014 Location: Australia Posts: 2279	Posted: 02:10am 15 Jun 2026       This is way better then my chalk board reminder to cycle the various batteries for all our power tools every month or so
Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: Australia Posts: 1309	Posted: 07:37am 16 Jun 2026         Quote   But what's the fun in buying one when there is a shed full of crap the bits can be extracted from.   Exactly, the only time to throw anything out (scrap) is when it's good for nothing else.