What is the best electrical charger?

[talltigeguy]

I find myself listening to the boat when it is in the garage sometimes while tinkering, or when she kicks me out .

This has resulted in my batteries draining themselves. I have a Perko switch that I keep set to two Optima blue tops. There is a third that is on the other side of the Perko switch for a total of 3 batteries. So I think that the boat will start next time I pull it out, but it would be nice to know that it will start for sure and to turn up the boat whenever I feel like it, even when in the garage.

The question is: What is the best charger for this situation? I did a search and heard some positive feedback on the Xantrex (?sp). Ideally, I would like something that can switch between 6 and 12 Volts so that I can charge my wife's motorcycle battery as well, if needed. I would plan to only plug it in periodically, but might leave it there for several days...so it needs to have the ability to switch to trickle mode once the batts are full.

[Razzman]

Tall, get the Deltran Battery Tender Jr for the motorcycle battery. Nothing works better than these for that situation. It will charge it up and then go to float mode and you'll not have to remove it. It comes with a quick connect harness that you attach permanantly to the battery so it's quick and easy to connect and diaconnect. I've used them for years on mine and naver had an issue. In fact Harley markets an H-D labeled Deltran it's that good.

Check their site and i'm sure you'll find a solution for the boat as well. http://batterytender.com/

[chpthril]

If you want something other then an onboard charger, then you cant go wrong with a Schumacher. I have one of thier inexpensive roll-around shop chargers.


http://www.schumacherproducts.com/

[billspin]

This is what I use on the boat, truck, motorcycle, snowblower, anything with a battery that does not run daily. Never had any issues using these.
http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-.../CT-500-1.html

[chadster2]

I know this is off subject, sorry. The deal with batteries is the permanently change after sitting with some % left uncharged. (they loose that %). This can happen in 30 – 60 days. Once the change happens they can never get back to full charge. I saw some people that charge 2 times a year, I agree with talltigeguy, a great charger is worth the money.

[chpthril]

I know this is off subject, sorry. The deal with batteries is the permanently change after sitting with some % left uncharged. (they loose that %). This can happen in 30 – 60 days. Once the change happens they can never get back to full charge. I saw some people that charge 2 times a year, I agree with talltigeguy, a great charger is worth the money.

A typical lead acid can loose 8-12% of it's charge a month if left unused. Keep in mind that 12.6v is 100% and 11v is 0% so we are only talking 1/10th's of a volt a month. Also, cycling from charged to discharged shortens the life span of a battery and keeping it on a tender/smart charger, is far LESS stressful on a battery then running it dead and charging it up.

[Razzman]

A typical lead acid can loose 8-12% of it's charge a month if left unused. Keep in mind that 12.6v is 100% and 11v is 0% so we are only talking 1/10th's of a volt a month. Also, cycling from charged to discharged shortens the life span of a battery and keeping it on a tender/smart charger, is far LESS stressful on a battery then running it dead and charging it up.

Exactly right. I kept my bikes on Battery Tender Jr's when not in use and averaged 5 years per battery. That's not bad when you consider thay sat more than they got used.

[talltigeguy]

This is what I use on the boat, truck, motorcycle, snowblower, anything with a battery that does not run daily. Never had any issues using these.
http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-.../CT-500-1.html

My motorcycle battery is only 6V right? Does that matter with that charger?

A typical lead acid can loose 8-12% of it's charge a month if left unused. Keep in mind that 12.6v is 100% and 11v is 0% so we are only talking 1/10th's of a volt a month. Also, cycling from charged to discharged shortens the life span of a battery and keeping it on a tender/smart charger, is far LESS stressful on a battery then running it dead and charging it up.

Optima's are a gel cell type battery and are supposed to be better. At least the website says they can be fully drawn down and not suffer from it in the long run.

[Razzman]

My motorcycle battery is only 6V right? Does that matter with that charger?

Sure does as you can see Deltran makes a Jr just for 6V. http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=5

[chpthril]

My motorcycle battery is only 6V right? Does that matter with that charger?



Optima's are a gel cell type battery and are supposed to be better. At least the website says they can be fully drawn down and not suffer from it in the long run.

Like Razz said, you will need a charger that has a 6v/12v function or a dedicated charger just for the 6v's and 1 for the 12v's.

The Gel's loose about 2-8% and do handle the recovery better, much like a deep-cycle does over a starting battery.

[Jason B]

The 6v battery tender jr is only around 40$. Get one of those (they are excellent) for your wife's bike. For that little money why bother with a system you'd have to monkey with switching it back and forth. Two seperate applications and solutions (IMO)

[anhaney]

OK my opinion when it comes to this is that you need to have a charger that has a tender built into it. Tall go down to CARQUEST on main street. Ask then to let you look at the battery charger catalog. There it will describe the uses and application for each charger. They sell Midtronics which in my opinion is a very good charger. I am going on the 6th year with my batteries in my wave runners. The battery tender is always on those batteries unless they are in the water or between the house and the lake. I have also bought one for the boat. I am on the third year for the boat batteries now. That is the easiest way for you to choose what you need. If you are draining your batteries listening to the radio you may need something that does regular 2/10/50 or 75W charging and it switches to tender mode when it reaches a certain level.

Just my two cents worth.

[Razzman]

Here ya go Tall, a couple of good eBay deals on the 6v tender.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Deltr...spagenameZWD1V

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Batte...spagenameZWD1V

[Razzman]

Btw, when i sold the bikes i took the quick harnesses and attached them to the boat bats and use the tender jr's on the boat now. Works great and i don't have to worry about them at all.

[talltigeguy]

Btw, when i sold the bikes i took the quick harnesses and attached them to the boat bats and use the tender jr's on the boat now. Works great and i don't have to worry about them at all.

So you use the 6V charger on the 12V boat batteries?