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yup assuming the voltage and charging rate the pulsed nature of charging is not an issue, at worst it may reduce the battery life slightly but then again i think "battery desulfaters" work by pulsing at high frequency so maybe it will be good for the battery.
regarding your diode current, now that i think about it more, if you have 110 or 240v mains supply then the most you will get at 80v will be 3 times the current rating of the circuit breaker or fuse on the mains side. So a 30A diode should work perfectly for you, they aren't that expensive. If you routinely plan to charge at voltages down at 12v that current rating may need to be somewhat higher. Also take note of the power rating of the diode, if your dropping 0.7v at 30A that is 21W which will need to get out of the diode somehow otherwise it will heat up and stop working.
unfortunately no there isn't an easy non destructive way to tell if you need a diode or not, if i was in your position i would chance it and try it out with the diode or just buy a cheap 30A diode and not worry about it.
The worst that will happen is you will blow up your power supply so you will be no worse off.
In a pinch a while ago when my car battery had discharged i charged it up with a laptop power supply so if you are after a battery charger that will only need to charge a 12v battery a laptop power supply or even rip out a desktop power supply and you might get what you want as well.
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