What's the latest in battery chargers these days?

Kevin B.

Big hippy
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
I've had a simple little auto-parts brand dumb charger for several years, but I finally burned it up. Think I'd like to invest in something with some bells and whistles, what's new and hot in the world of battery chargers anymore?
 

Kevin B.

Big hippy
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
Some possibilities. I'm sure the Optima would do the job well. I've heard good things about about the Genius too.



That's a lot of money for me to spend right now, so I'm looking at cheaper options too. This one seems to say all the right things.

 

moab_cj5

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Wanting to charge and maintain multiple batteries as the same time (i have dual batteries in my cruiser), I bought this several months ago:

So far I have been pleased, but don't have long term data on batteries failing/not failing with this in use. I like that it will condition an AGM and will also charge Lithium if I ever go that route. The reviews are positive enough for me. The ones that charge 1 battery are significantly less money.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
I picked one of these last week and it's been great, puts out varying amperage depending on the need and the digital readout will show you a percentage of the battery charge as it progresses. It also has an option to charge AGM batteries.

 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
If you are looking for a "maintenance charger" not a " the car wont start" charger, these are hard to beat.
They claim to pulse and remove sulfur scaling on the plates. I have two co-workers that are tight asses and have both brought batteries back from the dead using these. One of them plugged it into his rust bucket weekly and the battery lasted 10 years. Anecdotal but I used his charger just like this to stretch a 4 wheeler battery another summer.
 

TurboMinivan

Still plays with cars
Location
Lehi, UT
I have this older Black & Decker branded smart charger:

2144855.jpg


I bought it at Wally World many years ago, and I recall it being pretty cheap. However, it has been a great little charger. It will alert you if you connect the cables backwards, for example, and it will also only charge a battery to full. You can choose between three charge settings--10, 6, or 2 amps--and it will automatically step down as the battery nears full. Overall, I've really liked it for being such a cheap model. Having said that, I have finally decided that this model has two significant drawbacks:

#1: it cannot charge AGM batteries (I have one in the Jeep).
#2: it cannot charge a completely dead battery. There needs to be a minimum voltage amount for this charger to see, and if I'm below that threshold then this charger is completely worthless.

Based on those two drawbacks, if I were shopping for a charger today I would seriously consider the NOCO Genius10 that @lhracing posted above.
 
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