Best battery charger?

J-Pipes

J-Pipes

Active member
With Jory's battery thread, I'm thinking I should take better care of my batteries in everything. Currently have a old 6v/12v 6a charger that's been on the farm as long as i can remember, and a little 12v 1.5a charger. Have to put an ear to both of them to see if they're working or not! With my old tractor hobby, something 6v capable would be nice, as well as something that can function as a jump box, all the way to a trickle charger.

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Not much response on this, but the best one we have had in a while on the farm is an analog one, I like it because there is no electronics to fail, and some times the microprocessor controlled ones will not charge if the battery is low enough it cant read the voltage.
 
SmokinCAT said:
Not much response on this, but the best one we have had in a while on the farm is an analog one, I like it because there is no electronics to fail, and some times the microprocessor controlled ones will not charge if the battery is low enough it cant read the voltage.
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I won't say the best one is an analog, however sometimes the smarts ones aren't very smart, and the analog one will charge a really dead battery that a smart one wont. So hard to go without the good old analog ones.



I have multiple ones from harbor freight that I use as a maintainer, I have a couple battery tender juniors and then a few off brands that I have picked up from northern, amazaon, ebay etc.
 
Most "Smart Chargers" won't charge a battery that's at less than 9V. All you have to do is hook the dead battery up, then connect a good battery to the dead one with jumper cables just long enough to make the charger kick on, then disconnect it.

I've had a Battery Tender Plus for over 20 years that still works great. Only puts out 1.25amp so if you want more you'll need something else. I'm with Jory on the slow charging. I've seen MANY powersport batteries that have been cooked on a 10amp charger. My father's been through more Schumacher's than I can count on both hands over the past 50 years.
 
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I've got a Schumacher from TSC as well, but it's an older analog type. Seems to work great, only has one amp setting for 6v though. I have a Deltran battery tender also for slow stuff
 
J-Pipes said:
With Jory's battery thread, I'm thinking I should take better care of my batteries in everything. Currently have a old 6v/12v 6a charger that's been on the farm as long as i can remember, and a little 12v 1.5a charger. Have to put an ear to both of them to see if they're working or not! With my old tractor hobby, something 6v capable would be nice, as well as something that can function as a jump box, all the way to a trickle charger.

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It's not any help for fast charging or jump starting, but for keeping batteries fresh you can't beat a good desulphator. The good ones send a digital signal to the battery to keep the sulphur where it belongs and the charge correct. I use a dual bank desulphator from Pulsetech. It's paid for itself many times over.
 
Ok, the link biggy posted looks really nice. I'll look into the Sulphur thing more. Realistically, my car and the wife's should be fine, both get driven a lot. My truck sits more than I'd prefer, weeks at a time on occasion. It's the 4 tractors and mower that I'd rather not have to continually replace batteries in. I'll try to get pictures of what I've got now for comparison.

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mhuggler said:
It's not any help for fast charging or jump starting, but for keeping batteries fresh you can't beat a good desulphator. The good ones send a digital signal to the battery to keep the sulphur where it belongs and the charge correct. I use a dual bank desulphator from Pulsetech. It's paid for itself many times over.
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This isn't a fast charger, but it kicks butt for jump starting. I have used it with no battery in the vehicle on cars and light equipment, I haven't had any issues with it and hasn't let me down.

NOCO - 3000A Lithium Jump Starter - GB150
 
Here's what I've got. Really like to have one of the bigger ones on wheels that can be used to jump start with as well. Considering just trying to get a few more little ones along the lines of the one amp one to use on the tractors. Not real crazy about leaving a big one out where it could be walked off.
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I need to buy a charger with at least 4 ports or so. I have too many batteries to maintain over the winter now and just moving one around doesn't keep up.

I here for multi-battery maintainer info. ;D


This is a great single battery charger/maintainer. I think it even recovered both of my Optima Redtops; however, it will not charge a really low one. I have to put the old roll around on them to get them up to 10-11 volts then swap to the smart charger.

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JWhite said:
I've got a Schumacher from TSC as well, but it's an older analog type. Seems to work great, only has one amp setting for 6v though. I have a Deltran battery tender also for slow stuff
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I went out to look, mines model #SE 4022. I'm assuming they don't make it anymore
 
4x4dually said:
However, it will not charge a really low one. I have to put the old roll around on them to get them up to 10-11 volts then swap to the smart charger.
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Didn't read my post, huh?

BigPapa said:
Most "Smart Chargers" won't charge a battery that's at less than 9V. All you have to do is hook the dead battery up, then connect a good battery to the dead one with jumper cables just long enough to make the charger kick on, then disconnect it.
Click to expand...
 
J-Pipes said:
Here's what I've got. Really like to have one of the bigger ones on wheels that can be used to jump start with as well. Considering just trying to get a few more little ones along the lines of the one amp one to use on the tractors. Not real crazy about leaving a big one out where it could be walked off.
1af273c28f0a73b8d8ebc8d1ad1f7130.jpg
d45f83b4bb71e47f3136b909f713437a.jpg


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We had a older Matco charger on wheels at the shop.
One of the guys accidentally backed his truck over it and crushed it.

The charger itself inside the big metal box was maybe 4" by 4"'s. Then a small fan and the rest was empty space.
 
jasonc said:
We had a older Matco charger on wheels at the shop.
One of the guys accidentally backed his truck over it and crushed it.

The charger itself inside the big metal box was maybe 4" by 4"'s. Then a small fan and the rest was empty space.
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Lol I watched a farmer jump his tractor with a charger/starter, roll it behind the tractor and immediately back over it with the same tractor.

Ahh the things that make your day interesting
 
jfaulkner said:
Lol I watched a farmer jump his tractor with a charger/starter, roll it behind the tractor and immediately back over it with the same tractor.

Ahh the things that make your day interesting
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I ended up with mine because someone left it on the tracks of a bulldozer.

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