What Battery Charger Should I Buy

[Du-Rron]

I believe my Circa 1983 2/10/50 Battery Charger (wheeled) has seen its last battery.

 

What Battery Charger should I buy to charge motorcycle and car/truck batteries?

 

I'm looking at Deltran Battery Tender Plus and Noco Genius G3500 right now. What's your choice of these or any others

 

I'd like to stay smaller physical size in a non-wheeled unit.

[slowrollwv]

I use a small 2 - 10 - 50 for my auto but not on the bike. I use a battery tender for that. When the bike is parked for a few days I will plug it into the tender.

[BlueSky]

I saw a Jay Leno's garage show recently. It may have been linked on this forum. I forget. Anyhow, they were saying that AGM batteries needed a special charger, not the normal one everyone sells. Had to do with the charging voltage or something. That's about all I remember about it.

[djh3]

Here are a couple thoughts my co-hart instructor at class (automotive technology) and I have had. Anyone notice there are no more 5 year auto batteries? Remember the "Die Hard" battery commercials about how long they lasted? Even a 3yr battery is hard to find, most are 2yr now. Reason? With what info he came back with from a conference this last summer, lead acid type batteries are on their way out. AGM type are the way of the future, or gel types. So I would see if maybe there is a "dual charge" type available if you plan on keeping it forever like I do. Or the other option is, just get one to carry you thru for say 5yr or so and not invest a bunch of cash.

I still have my tried and true 2/8 amp "Die Hard" little battery charger my wife got me some 40 yr ago now probably. Here is one I just looked up that will cover you for a very long time. About $84. Way above my allowance, but I don't know what your budgetary commissioner will allow. Or if you have a Horrible Freight close by this one is $30

[bongobobny]

The issue with AGM batteries is some modern chargers, especially with the "float" chargers, is that the electronic monitoring and the AGM don't play well together, and they can actually "kill" an AGM battery. For AGM you need either an old fashioned simple charger, or one that is specifically designed for AGM's...

[Du-Rron]

Here is one I just looked up that will cover you for a very long time. About $84. Way above my allowance, but I don't know what your budgetary commissioner will allow. Or if you have a Horrible Freight close by this one is $30

 

Thanks! Interestingly enough, the Battery Charger that konked out was a Solar Brand. Lasted 33 years under all kind of conditions and all kinds of batteries. I liked it. The Solar you recommended is a "smart"' charger and that is what I am looking for.

[Du-Rron]

The issue with AGM batteries is some modern chargers, especially with the "float" chargers, is that the electronic monitoring and the AGM don't play well together, and they can actually "kill" an AGM battery. For AGM you need either an old fashioned simple charger, or one that is specifically designed for AGM's...

 

Exactly, that is why I was looking at the Deltran and the Noco as they are smart chargers designed for AGM batteries and other batteries too. Hope my new charger lasts me over 30 years like my old one did.

[Du-Rron]

I use a small 2 - 10 - 50 for my auto but not on the bike. I use a battery tender for that. When the bike is parked for a few days I will plug it into the tender.

 

As in "Deltran Battery Tender Plus" ?

[slowrollwv]

Yes that is the one.

[Midrsv]

For the bike this is the tender that I am using.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUA1201000-Automatic-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B00HZTDKZG

 

Dennis

[Flyinfool]

You still want to keep a good old fashioned battery charger around. If you ever run the battery dead, these newfangled smart chargers will look at the battery voltage and decide that maybe you have it hooked to something smaller than a 12V battery and will not turn on. This makes it difficult to get the battery back going after you left the head lights on over night or something else drains the battery bad. The good old dumb charger that will try to charge anything up to 12V is what you need to get that dead battery started.

 

I don't use tenders on anything, My RV battery is 10 years old and only gets used 3-4 times a year, and still handling things fine and I get 6 years out of a flooded MC battery and in Wisconsin means it sits for 6 months at a time.

[BlueSky]

My boat is used infrequently so I disconnect the battery when I park it in the back yard. I hook up a charger just before using it to make sure it's charged. I also disconnect my riding lawn mower battery. Previous mowers would discharge the battery quickly just sitting so I don't want to take the chance. I will hook up a charger on the motorcycles if they sit for a while but usually not.

[Du-Rron]

My RV battery is 10 years old and only gets used 3-4 times a year, and still handling things fine and I get 6 years out of a flooded MC battery and in Wisconsin means it sits for 6 months at a time.

 

I think heat here is the problem. I am lucky to get 3 years out of a battery. When my old battery charger decided to die, the only reason I noticed it was that it was boiling the acid out of the battery. 32volts DC and a whopping 90 volts AC were going to the battery. It was a transformer charger. It killed a 1 year old battery.