Comments on: Which battery CHARGER should I purchase in my situation described below?

By: Longy

Longy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:47:36 +0000

Another thing to check in your search is if the charger can recharge “calcium” batteries. These are getting more common in the market and most battery chargers are unable to put the correct charge into them.
I recommend C-Tek battery chargers as they have circuitry in them that will charge ANY battery without having to disconnect the battery terminals. Some models even come with a plug you hook up to the battery to make connecting the charger as simple as pluggin the plugs together. I don’t know if they are available where you are though, but there are others on the market that do a similar job, look for 3 stage chargers.
It sounds like a low amperage charger will do the job, no need to go above 10amps.

By: Country Boy

Country Boy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:48:54 +0000

Depending if or not you bought an Optima battery makes a difference which type of mattery charger you should buy. The above mentioned battery should only be charged with a *maximum of a 2 amp-automatic self leveling charger. It’s far better to boost any battery at a lower amp setting for a longer periood of time.

Something’s amis with your alternator charging output if the battery won’t stay charged up properly. Check the battery’s voltage after it’s been sitting 12 hours. A fully charged battery is 12.85 volts. With a volt meter hooked to the battery with the car running you should see between 13.5 – 14.0 volts. The latter voltage tell you the alternator *is charging properly.

You must know which is biting you in the butt, the alternator, battery, or a sour starter which can be checked with an amp-draw test.

By: Mr. KnowItAll

Mr. KnowItAll — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:40:50 +0000

Yours is a unique situation indeed.

If this is a car that is parked outside, I’d recommend a 12 volt solar charger/battery maintainer that plugs into the cigarette lighter.

If this car is parked in a garage, and you intend to leave the car for periods of time (a week or more) then a trickle charger would work best as you never have to worry about overcharging the battery.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:17:23 +0000

The digital or smart chargers are really your best choice, analog chargers do not have a huge market share anymore where I am. Digital charges faster and more fully, the vector charger will do you fine, it has a range of settings that are pretty good, it will not be the fastest charger with only a 10A limit (2A trickle and 6A slow), but for 5 days it will be charged fully for sure.