On Thursday, 11 July 2019 19:19:26 UTC+1, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at 9:12:53 AM UTC-4, tabby wrote:

the only problem with that approach is that with a battery charger you could use maybe 10% the parts they did. Too many things have junk they don't need nowadays.

Mad Man Muntz had this minimalism down to a science. That being written, please consider:

Any device sold to the great unwashed is a balancing act between first-cost, utility, warranty and longevity. Add into that a significant measure of product safety, and you would have a very basic formula for the design of a consumer item.

What do battery chargers (as discussed) do? They interact with a very large, highly energetic devices called 'lead-acid' batteries in a way that *can* lead to spectacular results. A charger that creates such results on a regular basis will not do its manufacturer any favors.

It is takes no power of imagination whatsoever to figure out that a manufacturer will add nothing more than what is absolutely necessary to any device per the basic formula already described.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA


Consumer devices are a slowly moving target on the various performance points you mentioned. In the 60s you got no charging control & were lucky if you got a fuse. Today most chargers are 'smart', which is to say too dumb to charge a flat battery. Most battery chargers have a lot more features than they need so they can boast & sell more. To the average consumer more crap is better, though it often isn't.

Avoiding fireworks is a low barrier for chargers, except for lithium cells.


NT