Industrial Forklift

A simple charger works by connecting a constant DC power source to the battery being charged. The simple charger does not alter its output based on time or the charge on the battery. This simplicity means that a simple charger is inexpensive, but there is a tradeoff in quality. Typically, a simple charger takes longer to charge a battery to prevent severe over-charging. Even so, a battery left in a simple charger for too long will be weakened or destroyed due to over-charging.

The output of a timer charger is terminated after a pre-determined time. Timer chargers were the most common type for Ni-Cd cells in the late 1990s for example.
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Often a timer charger and set of batteries could be bought as a bundle and the charger time was set to suit those batteries. If batteries of lower capacity were charged then they would be overcharged, and if batteries of higher capacity were charged they would be only partly charged. With the trend for battery technology to increase capacity year on year, an old timer charger would only partly charge the newer batteries.

Lead-acid battery - commonly used in vehicles, alarm systems and uninterruptible power supplies. Used to be used as an "A" or "wet" battery in valve/vacuum tube radio sets. The major advantage of this chemistry is its low cost - a large battery (e.g. 70Ah) is relatively cheap when compared to other chemistries. However, this battery chemistry has lower energy density than other battery chemistries available today.