Smart charger for lead acid battery

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Can you folks recommend a good smart charger for charging automotive 12V lead acid batteries? I'll be charging starting and deep cycle batteries with it. Perhaps AGM batteries down the road, but right now I don't own any AGM.

I don't need some giant behemoth that can jump start a car, but output up to 20 amps or more would nice- needs to be a smart charger, one that is microprocessor controlled for setting the charging characteristics automatically. Any suggestions / info would be appreciated.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Solar ProLogix PL2320.


+1

Love these chargers, they are excellent.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Solar ProLogix PL2320.


+1

Love these chargers, they are excellent.

Yes they are excellent, I have one as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Solar ProLogix PL2320.
+1

I’ve got the PL2310 based on recommendations here. Works awesome. I didn’t need 20 amps so I got the 10 amp model.
 
https://smile.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-1...umacher+charger

Ive had this one for over 2 years now at my shop, using it at least once a week, usually more, just for while working on the cars, or while scanning to give them a little boost. Its actually trickling an X5 all night tonight. The model before this one lasted me about 4 years, it had 3 stage charging while this only has 12 or 3amps. It does AGM or standard batteries as well. Not the fastest, but not that expensive. I also know Harbor freight just released a new line of charging and jumper packs, its only 15 amps. I can't comment on its quality though.
https://www.harborfreight.com/2815-amp-a...rger-63299.html
 
I bought a Schumacher SC - 3 at Walmart recently. Works OK so far. I have a NOCO 3500 smart charger but it quit after a few years. I may have it repaired to have a backup charger.
 
Just received an email from Clore and they said the Following:

The PL is a high end and the Charge It is more on the lower end of charger/maintainer

So, this pretty much answers my question that I would be better off with the PL series. Now just need to decide if I want the PL230 or the PL2320.

Originally Posted By: Richie
I see on the Clore Automotive website that they offer a PL2310, PL2320, Charge-It 4512 and 4520.

http://www.cloreautomotive.com/

I wonder if the Charge-It series would be as good as the PL series?
 
The PL also comes with nicer/beefier clamps, which I like.

As far as PL2310 vs PL2320... I have the 2320, but I never use the 20A rate for charging up my car battery. I would have been OK with the 2310, but I got the 2320 on sale for nearly the same price as 2310 at the time.
 
I ordered the PL2320 since was only about $15 more than the PL2310. I too most likely will never use the 20A charge rate unless the battery is completely dead.

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
The PL also comes with nicer/beefier clamps, which I like.

As far as PL2310 vs PL2320... I have the 2320, but I never use the 20A rate for charging up my car battery. I would have been OK with the 2310, but I got the 2320 on sale for nearly the same price as 2310 at the time.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010
Why no 20? It looks like that charger automatically adjusts itself to the battery

To be honest, the few times I tried to charge my car battery (only partially depleted) using the 20A setting on the PL2320, the lights would start blinking and it would not charge. I hope it does not mean it's broken. When I asked this question to Clore Automotive, they stated that it's normal behavior and that the charger is telling me it's too high of a charge current for this particular battery.
 
I've always read that you want to charge a battery at roughly 10% of its capacity in amp-hours. Most car batteries, if it's stated, are somewhere between 60-80 amp hours so 6-8 amps (10 is probably a good enough approximation) is ideal. For the big 200 ah battery on my trailer, it can handle 20. For small motorcycle/power equipment batteries, a "maintainer" will charge them just fine.
 
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