mark lewis wrote in a message to all:

 ml> i've several 12volt, 11Ah batteries here that i'm wanting to charge
 ml> and load test...

I assume that we're talking about lead-acid batteries here?  Gel cells?

 ml> can i charge them with a standard car battery charger? what
 ml> settings should i use?

You don't want to push something like that too hard.  I'd go with a 1A
charger,  or maybe a 3A charger,  max.  If what you have on hand is more
than that,  maybe some form of current limiting in line with it would be a
good plan.

 ml> what's the best way to load test them to see if they are still
 ml> good?

Charge them fully,  then discharge them,  see how long it takes.

 ml> what does the 11Ah (Amp hours) really signify?

That's typically at a 10-hour rate,  meaning that you can pull 1.1A out of
it for 10 hours.  Usually that's at a specified temperature,  like 20
degrees C.  You pull less,  it gets longer,  higher currents and you get
less time,  but it's not directly proportional.

 ml> how can i tell how much load time i should get on the batteries?

See above.

 ml> if i connect these batteries in parallel, the voltage stays the
 ml> same and the amperage capability of the set is increased... are the
 ml> Ahs just added together? ie: three of these would give me 33Ahs

Yep.  The only problem with this is if one of them goes bad,  like getting
a shorted cell or something.  That'll continue to pull the other ones down.
 I ran across this in a big rig,  one time,  the voltage was sitting at
11.8v across four group 31 batteries,  right after the truck was shut off. 
When I disconnected the ground connections from all of them the meter
showed me the problem right off.

 ml> i've also two "speciality" packs... they are 6 2volt 25Ah all tied
 ml> in series to give a single 12volt unit but i don't remember (as
 ml> above) which way the Ahs go...

For series-connected the AH stays the same as for a single unit.

 ml> i'm wanting to charge these as well and ensure that they are all 
 ml> up to snuff...

The big question with regard to these is what kind of condition they're in,
 which is going to be determined by how they were used previously and how
long they've sat and allowed to self-discharge.  The latter causes a
process called sulfation,  the formation of lead sulfate crystals on the
plates,  which doesn't tend to easily go away when you try and charge them
up again,  and which loses you some capacity.  Sometimes you can get past
this by a process of long slow charging.

 ml> when it all comes down to the end, i'm wanting to tie these all
 ml> together in parallel to go for 12volt, ??Ah 

33+25=58AH?

 ml> so as to boost my uptime on my UPS' when commercial power is off...

 ml> lastly, what guage wire should i use to connect these? the last
 ml> time i did this, several months ago, i was using some (supposedly)
 ml> "heavy duty" two wise extension cord (like the brown ones we use in
 ml> the house but heavier, definitely not the outside orange ones) and
 ml> melted the insulation on the wire between the battery pack and the
 ml> UPS due to the load... i'm just now looking at it and it appears to
 ml> be 18ga stranded ;-( 

That's typical for zip cord.

 ml> i'm thinking that i need something more substantial... like 12ga 
 ml> or 10ga... the problem is being able to connect "stay-cons" to the 
 ml> wire to connect to the battery terminals...

Radio shack offers small spools (25'?) of #12 staranded wire,  in red and
black if I'm remembering right.  They _should_ have the appropriate
connectors for it.  One thing I like to consider is some kind of a fuse
holder in line with these.  Those "kid cars" that run off
batteries (Power Wheels,  etc.) take a pair of these,  typically 6v/12AH
units,  and they put a 25A or 30A blade-type fuse in line with the battery,
 though the early ones had it built into the top of the battery itself. 
That may sound like a lot,  but these things are capable of some fairly
hefty surge current.

 ml> somewhere, i've got my electronics book that should have the
 ml> answers to some of the above questions, however, locating them is
 ml> worse than finding a needle in a haystack ;-(

Heh.  Sounds like here...  :-)

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