Battery Charger recommendation

-
my5thmopar

my5thmopar

Life Long MOPAR Owner
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
1,474
Reaction score
869
Location
Tennessee
Ya, I know I can read reviews but, any good recommendations from here. This isn’t a want ad. I don’t have room for a floor model and would like to spend under $150. Craig
 
what do you want it for?
got a plow truck that sits for months on end and needs to fire up on the first day of snow?

got a hot rod that only gets driven every other month, but needs to be ready to fire at the twist of a key?

got a trolling motor that gets drained daily and needs to be ready for a full day of fishing the next day?
 
diymirage said:
what do you want it for?
got a plow truck that sits for months on end and needs to fire up on the first day of snow?

got a hot rod that only gets driven every other month, but needs to be ready to fire at the twist of a key?

got a trolling motor that gets drained daily and needs to be ready for a full day of fishing the next day?
Click to expand...

Yes all three. Well not the plow. Just kidding, good question. Dead car or mower so I'll need start function. Charging boat trolling and start battery. Don't need a battery tender.
 
I have a Harbor freight battery maintainer, sort of battery tender with 4 amps, that I have used with great success. It keeps my 3 cars fully charged. If you want something to charge a near dead battery your going to have to get something with some bulk. The charger I use as a tender is item# 63550 and sometimes on sale for about $23, but not right now. Some of their stuff is junk but not this item because I have 4 of them keeping batteries charged all winter.
 
You might want two different items.

We use a C-Tek battery maintainer to keep batteries fully charged on cars that will sit for months at a time.

We also have a separate battery starter that has a lithium battery in it and, can jump start any vehicle - as needed. Between these two items.. we rarely have any problems starting anything (besides the occasional battery that just put right dies/won’t hold a charge anymore). I think ours is a basic Napa store bought one (for around $170).

Definitely check out the CTek battery tenders/maintainers. Worth every penny and oftentimes can extend the battery’s life span.

Before these two items, we used to roll a gigantic battery charger around on a handtruck/dolly (I think it’s a classic Schumacher) but, the battery tenders and lithium jump starter are all we use nowadays and, we’re glad to not have to schlep the huge *** battery charging station around the shop anymore.
 
I got a 10-20 year old Sears (Schmacher) 2-10A battery charger: steel Lunch box sized..has manual/deep cycle/automatic switch on it. Even a dead battery started a car after only about 10 minutes on this charger at 10A on manual (full power) I use it on all my 12V batteries from 700CCA cars down to PowerWheels 4.5Ah batteries. Bought it for $20 slightly used on craigs. HF sells a $12 battery tender as stated. Mine was maybe an older model (no wall wort/alligator clips) but it hard wired onto the battery and sat on the inner fender with a male 120V plug receptacle on it, you just plug an extension cord into it and let it sit all year round. you could start the car with it still installed. I got a smaller Shumacher digital one but I like the older solid state models better.
 
You said you don't have room for a floor model.....I have a floor model so no sense in me chiming in further. lol
 
toolmanmike said:
You won't get much of a boost with $150 budget. Might as well forget about that feature. Get a Schumacher. The model I have has 6 & 12 volt, 2 amp trickle 10 amp charge, and 50 amp boost which is more like a fast charger. It is automatic and works with conventional and maintenance free batteries.

Google Image Result for https://jumpstarter.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/schumacher-se-5212a-21050-amp-automatic-handheld-battery-charger.jpg
Click to expand...
What TMM wrote here is probably your best bet for you're goals.
Arguably better for the battery and your car to charge it a bit rather than jump it and have the alternator charging it.
Just be careful not to cook the battery by letting charge at high rates for too long.
 
I've had the Sears model for a long time now. One day I found out the hard way that the ammeter shunt runs across the back of the gauge. The first time I ever used the engine start (lol) function I got it too hot and deformed the plastic back destroying the cheap gauge. Found a different one on the gold-bay, had to open up the hole to fit, drill the gauge face for the led, and mount the new shunt to the case bottom.

upload_2020-6-22_10-52-33.png
upload_2020-6-22_11-9-16.png
 
I have 2 other battery tenders from harbor freight and they are worthless. 1 is about $5 on sale and the other 1 about $20.The 1 I listed above is the best one.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I have this one.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../1975/dodge/charger?q=battery+chargers&pos=10

And also one similar to this.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...0/1975/dodge/charger?q=battery+chargers&pos=5
Click to expand...

I looked at the floor model today at a local store today. I thought it would be huge but, I have room for it. The manager said it’s on sale. I said give me a price I can’t refuse and I’ll take it. He said how about $99. Score. Then jokingly says get that dusty thing out of the store. Spent my Father’s Day gift card. Thanks for all the recommendations. Craig
 
I tried it out last night and it charged my truck and boat batteries to 100%. I'm trying the trolling battery tonight. I don't think it will recover it since its pretty old but, I'll see. Craig
 
my5thmopar said:
I looked at the floor model today at a local store today. I thought it would be huge but, I have room for it. The manager said it’s on sale. I said give me a price I can’t refuse and I’ll take it. He said how about $99. Score. Then jokingly says get that dusty thing out of the store. Spent my Father’s Day gift card. Thanks for all the recommendations. Craig
Click to expand...

I've liked mine so far. It has a disulfate mode that can actually save a battery from the brink. It's worked twice for me now.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I've liked mine so far. It has a disulfate mode that can actually save a battery from the brink. It's worked twice for me now.
Click to expand...
I read about it but, it’s automatic correct, you can’t select that mode?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top