Battery charger

[4X4HIGH]

I'm looking to buy a battery charger and wanting to know what brand is recommended? Also i'm wanting one that will charge at 10amp and 2amp i don't need a start boost feature. I don't need one of the larger ones on wheels either. I'm pretty sure that the Schumacher brand is a good one? So what says the brotherhood. I don't want to spend a fortune but i don't want to buy junk either.

 

[ryoken]

i've had my little craftsman 10/2/boost one for like 15 yrs... things been abused and still works great..

 

[LUBA]

VDC Batteryminder.

 

[4X4HIGH]

i've had my little craftsman 10/2/boost one for like 15 yrs... things been abused and still works great..

I looked online at sears and the diehards have a very bad review. I ended up buying a Schumacher 2/10/50 automatic it does maintence free, top post, side post, deep cycle

Here is the one i bought. http://store.schumachermart.com/se-5212a.html

 

[dhcomp]

I need one of these. My ?black and decker? walmart one crapped out and only charges at 2.0amps. Doesn't do much good when you kill your battery running a party, and music back on NOW!

 

[4X4HIGH]

Just remember that if you drain your battery dead you want to only use the 2amp trickle charge otherwise you compromise the life of the battery. FWIW it ended up that i left my dome light on for several days and that's what drained my battery all the way down to .45 volts so i put the battery on a 1amp trickle charge for 12 hours and then checked it with my load tester and the battery was at 12.6 volts and a 10 second load it only dropped .4 volts so it was good to go again.

 

[dhcomp]

Yah, thats a good point to remember. It wasn't that dead though, just dead enough to not start.

I really need to setup a circuit that will auto start the truck when the battery gets low....its so easy with teh remote start alarm already in there.

Then, between that and the dual battery setup that is going in, it will be an unstopable party machine!

Is there any harm in running the stereo with a 2amp trickle constantly going to the battery?

 

[4X4HIGH]

Yah, thats a good point to remember. It wasn't that dead though, just dead enough to not start.

I really need to setup a circuit that will auto start the truck when the battery gets low....its so easy with teh remote start alarm already in there.

Then, between that and the dual battery setup that is going in, it will be an unstopable party machine!

Is there any harm in running the stereo with a 2amp trickle constantly going to the battery?

Ideally you should always disconnect the battery before charging it. In our trucks it's not much of an issue but in later model vehicles you can blow all kinds of electronic equipment by charging the battery with it still connected in the vehicle.

Also keep in mind that an alternator IS NOT made to charge a battery but rather to maintain the charge that is in the battery. With that being said if you have a battery that is dead enough that it won't start the vehicle but a jump start will allow it to start the alternator is now working overtime to "charge" the battery which it was never intended to do in the first place and that causes the alternator to build lots of heat and also could blow the diode trio in the alternator.

 

[dhcomp]

God i'm glad i start these threads and put links in them. I couldn't find that schematic again for the life of me, til i searched here

Its bad when you search CK5 for an answer, and realize you posted about it already....or find an answer to your question in a post you made yourself.

Anyways, got in contact with a circuits guy i know, gonna see if i can get this mocked up. Its easy for me to hookup 3 pr of floor or bookshelf speakers to the amps in the burb, and ran a pretty large party out where there was no power a couple weekends ago . It was all good until i got drunk and forgot to autostart the burb every 30 min or so. It would be epic if it started itself. And with the dual battery setup thats going in next week, i could lower the threshold down, and run a deep cycle for stereo purposes....

 

[NV_K5]

God i'm glad i start these threads and put links in them. I couldn't find that schematic again for the life of me, til i searched here

Its bad when you search CK5 for an answer, and realize you posted about it already....or find an answer to your question in a post you made yourself.

Anyways, got in contact with a circuits guy i know, gonna see if i can get this mocked up. Its easy for me to hookup 3 pr of floor or bookshelf speakers to the amps in the burb, and ran a pretty large party out where there was no power a couple weekends ago . It was all good until i got drunk and forgot to autostart the burb every 30 min or so. It would be epic if it started itself. And with the dual battery setup thats going in next week, i could lower the threshold down, and run a deep cycle for stereo purposes....

Uh Wow Is it 4:10 already?

Also I have a Schumacher that I like a lot and have had it for several years now. Mine has a fan inside that has issues but the charger itself is good.