Need a good battery charger

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
battery tender is good

Battery Tender destroyed a $200 RV battery. Never again.

Had good luck with Battery Minder, though. Their cheapest model brought a 6-year-old car battery back from the dead. Couldn't save the one the tender killed, though.
 
Last edited:
I really like the optimate brand. We have to charge and maintain hundreds of batteries that roll through our shop every year and optimate 6 is a bit out of your price range but will work on everything from a motorcycle battery to an 8D. Closest thing to an affordable " universal" charger maintainer.

I have a dozen of them now between the house and the shop and have only had great luck with them.

Ctek is another brand that worked well for me I have 3 of these now. Noco seems solid- although I have one of this brand

Hear good things about prologix.



UD
 
Forgot about the schumacher SP3 -I have these sitting on quad batteries and they work well especially for the money.

They don't have a large top end - I think 60 amp is where they claim its capability to maintain stops, but for small batts they have worked well for years.



UD
 
Originally Posted By: Anduril
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
battery tender is good

Battery Tender destroyed a $200 RV battery. Never again.

Had good luck with Battery Minder, though. Their cheapest model brought a 6-year-old car battery back from the dead. Couldn't save the one the tender killed, though.

many votes here! ^^^
 
Originally Posted By: UncleDave
Forgot about the schumacher SP3 -I have these sitting on quad batteries and they work well especially for the money.

They don't have a large top end - I think 60 amp is where they claim its capability to maintain stops, but for small batts they have worked well for years.



UD


Can you help me understand your 60 amp max statement? If a charger, let's say, recharges at a 2A, 6A, and 10A rate (what is the benefit of having 3 different charge rates?), how does the 60A max capability come into play. I truly don't know. Thanks.
 
If you're just maintaining, I don't know - just about anything should be able to keep up with self-discharge and the small draw of always-on accessories in a vehicle. As to why you have different charge rates, you don't want to charge a battery at more than about 10% of its rated capacity (for instance, 10 amps for a 100 amp hour battery) to avoid damage. The 2 and 6 amp modes on your charger are for smaller batteries. You should be able to use the 10 amp mode safely on most car batteries.
 
all the chargers mentioned are going to be fine if they work right. the problem for cont maintenance, is what happens if the charger flips out or misread a signal and how they approach the end of charge state.

most switch to a trickle charge approach or throw in thr desulfation. issue is that can kill some batteries id its misreading. ive had a batteryminder kill 1 battery.

i think ctek has the more safe approach and cuts off and waits for readings to drop until rather than continuous trickle charge. also ctek has more big names behind it than other chargers.

one morw thing, if the whole point is you want to make sure you are safely charging, you also need to buy genuine too otherwise if you get a greymarket or knockoff item all bets are off
 
Last edited:
You can try a Noco genius.

I really like my Schumacher inc-700a from aeswave, but it is outside of your price range.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top