Would there be any reason not to charge my 24 amp hour 12V lead acid battery belt with a Battery Tender "smart" charger designed to charge lead acid batteries? It is a 1.25 amp charger with a 4-step charging program (Initialization, Bulk Charge, Absorption Mode, Float Mode).

I use it on smaller automotive batteries (motorcycle and scooter) with no issues, and can't think of any reason it wouldn't be okay on a battery belt.

Any thoughts on how this would work out will be welcomed. Thanks for your input.

Your logic seems sound to me. If you try it, I'd suggest keeping it near you and not walking away for extended periods (or leaving it overnight) until you're SURE it's going to be ok. I'd probably give it a shot!

Mark

the main reason is that your belt probably uses gel lead acid and car battery use real lead/acid. this is different chemistry that use different voltages.
read what is writen on your batteries(usually indicated charging voltage and continuous charge maintenance voltage).
it will not cause any dramatic event, but likely drastically shorten the life of you belt.
http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/01.Type/index.html

Do you have a battery professional in your area? Like someone who replaces battery cells in old devices? Where I work we always give our old battery belts to a store who specializes in replacing battery cells /chargers. I'd ask someone like that to be safe.

The only reason I can think of (without knowing specifics of your charger) is it would be very long charging of almost 24 hours. 1.25A charger is not powerful enough for your belt.

Thanks to all for the information. The "smart" charger I have seems to do a great (if somewhat slow) job. I'm just trying to use gear that can multitask these days.