On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 07:55:52 -0500, Ignoramus7945
wrote:

I have a lot of things, most of which have batteries, and therefore I
have a lot of battery chargers.

My experience with them has been generally negative. The worst are the
so called "smart" chargers.

The problem is that they are often the opposite of "smart". They go
crazy and stop charging for no reason, or worse, drain the batteries.
Additionally, they fail due to things such as cold weather or
whatever, things any decently made item should handle.

The chargers, at least for lead acid batteries, would really be better
off, if they simply tried to maintain 13.3 volts or some such.

My question is, is my experience unique and atypical, or have you also
had bad experience with battery chargers.

Thanks

i
Cheap battery chargers are universally troublesome.
Smart chargers will not charge a defective battery and are often
optimized for, say, an automotive starting battery- and will balk at
charging an 8Ah "gell cell"

Different horses for different courses - and no such thing as
"universal"

Lead Acid batteries may never start to charge with a charger limitted
to 13.3 volts - and would NEVER reach a full charge.