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When they list everything is that just marketing - because if so then I could just get a regular charger?
What battery charger do I need?
- Thread starter SC Maintenance
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The fancy maintainers I’ve had all end up shutting off with an error in the middle of the winter and then dead battery come spring.
Both motorcycle and lawn tractor had this happen with different maintainers , my guess was the phantom power draw was more than the device was programmed to accept.
Disconnected the hot leads the next winter and got a different error and a dead battery.
Best luck I had was using a dumb battery maintainer on a 24 hour timer set to run an hour a day, any more and the battery would be fried the next season.
Not sure why but I have had very little luck with maintainers, they just end up being a slow desulphator/ charger.
No, lithium and agm are different - those require distinct, separate charging modes.
If you don’t own anything that uses lithium, don’t worry about it.
AGM is a different story - that is becoming more common.
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2024
I have used many brands and all seem satisfactory (Battery Tender, Griots Garage, Battery Minder, Battery Saver, etc).
The two I have gravitated towards is the Battery Saver (50 watt, which includes a voltage display) and the Battery Minder (128CEC2)
, which has temperature compensation. But to be honest, they all seem to do the job fine. BTW, shop around...don't buy from the manufacturer's website, I found both Battery Saver and Battery Minder sold online from retailers for significantly less, and avoided sales tax and shipping fees.
The two I have gravitated towards is the Battery Saver (50 watt, which includes a voltage display) and the Battery Minder (128CEC2)
, which has temperature compensation. But to be honest, they all seem to do the job fine. BTW, shop around...don't buy from the manufacturer's website, I found both Battery Saver and Battery Minder sold online from retailers for significantly less, and avoided sales tax and shipping fees.
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I understand that - but they claim to have that managed. Its a different voltage and charge curve - is my limited understanding. Easy enough to do with a IC controlled device?
I don't anticipate Lio, but AGM might be in the future?
Short answer - yes.
I had my share of problems before settling on my now known trusted brands.
My CTEK doesn't, it gets barely warm. If yours gets hot it's not working properly. Is it out of warranty?
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2024
I have found similar issues with trying to maintain small motorcycle batteries. I have had the best luck when using a very small .8 to 1amp "wall wart" maintainer. The larger ones, no matter how fancy or expensive, seem to have trouble not boiling the electrolyte on a small 12 to 14 ah battery, even though they claim compatibility and have a low amp setting.
Deltran and Battery Saver (save a battery) all make smaller 750 ma to 800 ma chargers (aka 10 watt) suitable for motorcycle batteries.
Examples: https://www.batterysaver.com/store/p102/1000.html
Battery Tender® 12V, 800mA Lead Acid/Lithium Selectable Battery Charger
www.batterytender.com
I have a lithium battery on my motorcycle now and use a deltran wall wart lithium charger.
Got tired of changing flooded batteries every three years.
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- Jul 24, 2023
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I have this one as well... it's the only charger/maintainer I own that I would leave on overnight. I've tried multiple other maintainers, including several HF, several Schumachers, a rebranded Everstart/Die-hard/whatever else 2/10/50 charger & engine start with automatic shutoff... and none of them can be trusted to not destroy your battery if left unattended.
It's best to pay for a quality unit, whether it be a Battery Tender, CTEK, Optimate, Noco etc vs burning your house down in the middle of the night with you and the family in it to save a few bucks on a cheap Amazon Chinese charger.
I've been highly disappointed in the new breed of cheap smart chargers to say the least
There website says 6A @ 12V, but it probably drops when you get to 14+ V which is needed to charge. The ratings on all these consumer things are always a little suspect for every company however - assume its under laboratory conditions.
OptiMate 6 12V/24V - OptiMate
The 12V 24V battery charger is the versatile battery charger for 12V or 24V lead-acid batteries. Read more on our website about this product!optimate1.com
I see that. This model is newer than what Ive got.
There have been additions and changes since my last buy. This gold model looks sweet.
Their naming convention are little weird vis-as vis their feature set sometimes. The original 6 was 5amps and and the 7 - 10 amps.
i had problems with a few 7's and got superb fast service, but my dealer is excellent, and some crappy.
Ive yet to have a single problem with my dozen or so 6's. Most about a decade old now - some sit outside year round.
My list of trustworthy 24x7 365 units is slim.
Just notice my driver side rear jack is a little wonky....
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I have found similar issues with trying to maintain small motorcycle batteries. I have had the best luck when using a very small .8 to 1amp "wall wart" maintainer. The larger ones, no matter how fancy or expensive, seem to have trouble not boiling the electrolyte on a small 12 to 14 ah battery, even though they claim compatibility and have a low amp setting.
Deltran and Battery Saver (save a battery) all make smaller 750 ma to 800 ma chargers (aka 10 watt) suitable for motorcycle batteries.
Examples: https://www.batterysaver.com/store/p102/1000.html
Battery Tender® 12V, 800mA Lead Acid/Lithium Selectable Battery Charger
I have a lithium battery on my motorcycle now and use a deltran wall wart lithium charger.
Got tired of changing flooded batteries every three years.
From what I can glean the optimate can put out a pulsed .1 of an amp.
I've had one on a genset battery for three years now.
Let me put some more context on the optimate 6.
I go down to a yuasa yzt7 6.3 AH for my 3K genset - this is a common motorcycle battery.
Motohome starter bank 1 is 2x110AH 8D's
Motorhome Inverter bank is 4 group 27's about 60AH each
The 6 has one of the widest charging ranges Ive ever owned in a throw down sized smart charger.
Most of mine are about 10 years old and go between being inside and fully outdoors.
I like my Schumacher product
I like my black and decker/ Victron product.
I love my Cteks
I Looove my Optimates.
Next one to try for me is the pro logix.
I have had deltran battery tender product vouched for algorithmically, but notes between friends show shorter life than opimates.
I go down to a yuasa yzt7 6.3 AH for my 3K genset - this is a common motorcycle battery.
Motohome starter bank 1 is 2x110AH 8D's
Motorhome Inverter bank is 4 group 27's about 60AH each
The 6 has one of the widest charging ranges Ive ever owned in a throw down sized smart charger.
Most of mine are about 10 years old and go between being inside and fully outdoors.
I like my Schumacher product
I like my black and decker/ Victron product.
I love my Cteks
I Looove my Optimates.
Next one to try for me is the pro logix.
I have had deltran battery tender product vouched for algorithmically, but notes between friends show shorter life than opimates.
Technically there is no problem to charge 500 Ah battery with 2A charger, it would just take one or two weeks. The 120 Ah or 240 is just a software setpoint - the difference between those two chargers is what voltage rise rate is willing to tolerate in the full current mode before the charger declares the battery faulty.
(Happy ctek user here.)
Good points are made regarding the amp ratings of chargers. The Harbor Freight unit that I have takes at least 8 hours to top off a battery at the 2 amp setting. The 10 amp setting is for a quick charge and the 50 amp setting is for when you actually want to use it as a jump starter.
I have a CTEK unit and I have noticed that when it senses the need to bring a low battery up to full charge that it does get quite warm. But that isn't for long, maybe a couple of hours ? Under the normal "maintain" mode it is barely warm to the touch.
I have a CTEK unit and I have noticed that when it senses the need to bring a low battery up to full charge that it does get quite warm. But that isn't for long, maybe a couple of hours ? Under the normal "maintain" mode it is barely warm to the touch.
The charger gets warm only when it is supplying maximum current. Once the battery voltage approaches the final voltage the charger has to reduce the current not to damage the battery. I.e. once the battery is charged to approx. 80% the battery is unable to accept the energy from the charger quickly enough and the charger has to slow down. It slows down by reducing the current. (Switches from full current mode to a voltage control mode). In the voltage mode, the charging current is reduced to make sure the appropriate voltage is not exceeded. Once the charging current needed to keep the maximum voltage reaches a small value the charging is finished.
In very hot or very cold climate you may want a charger that is temperature compensated to extend the life of the battery. Slower charging (smaller current) is more gentle than fast charging therefore if you do not need to charge quickly then it makes sense to get for the same price a charger that is "weaker" but smarter.
Some manufacturers provide "recommended charging current" information for their batteries.
For example Yuasa YBX7027, which is quite normal 65Ah battery for passenger cars with start-stop systems, recommends 4A charging.
www.yuasa.co.uk
Rule of thumb for lead acid is to aim for a charger supporting C/20h or C/10h charging currents and for the battery above this gives 3.25A (65Ah/20h) to 6.5A (65Ah/10h).
Therefore bigger charger is not necessarily better. While any quality smart charger is unlikely to damage the battery with too high currents one has to have a good reason for using currents much higher than the ones recommended by the manufacturer.
Some manufacturers provide "recommended charging current" information for their batteries.
For example Yuasa YBX7027, which is quite normal 65Ah battery for passenger cars with start-stop systems, recommends 4A charging.
YBX7027
<ul> <li>Up to 270,000 engine starts</li> <li>Designed & engineered for vehicles with advanced technology such as Start – Stop</li> <li>Lithium carbon additive for improved charge acceptance & performance</li> <li>Reduced fuel consumptio
www.yuasa.co.uk
Rule of thumb for lead acid is to aim for a charger supporting C/20h or C/10h charging currents and for the battery above this gives 3.25A (65Ah/20h) to 6.5A (65Ah/10h).
Therefore bigger charger is not necessarily better. While any quality smart charger is unlikely to damage the battery with too high currents one has to have a good reason for using currents much higher than the ones recommended by the manufacturer.
For flooded lead acid batteries, C/13 is a number I've seen in several product sheets as the optional charge rate.
