Battery Chargers

[Golferdude21]

I will be buying 2-6 volt golf cart batteries and wiring in series. For Standalone chargers what do you recommend? There’s 750 MA and one, two, three, four, five amp chargers....etc Noco, Battery Tender, Minder...etc. I don’t care how fast they recharge the batteries because this will be more for winter storage to have them sit on the charger 24/7 throughout many months to keep them topped off. Otherwise during the camping season if you’re using your camper every few weeks I’ve heard the regular on board converter is enough to keep fully charged Without the need of a standalone charger. Aslong as u have a battery shutoff switch. Is this correct? Or do some of you guys use a standalone charger connected to ur batteries on camper 24 seven 365 to keep the batteries topped off?? As I’ve heard that some onboard converters plugged in All the time will fry your batteries

[ncrowley]

I used this one to keep all 4 house batteries charged and it also is a Desulfator:

BatteryMinder 128CEC1: 12V 2/4/8 AMP

I also use one to keep the 2 engine batteries maintained:

BatteryMINDer Model 2012: 12Volt-2 Amp Battery Charger

When I get home, I just clip them on and forget it. They work well.

[wa8yxm]

Golferdude21 wrote:
Smart battery tender maintainers is what i was getting at. For long winter storage to keep on 24/7 and in between camping trips to keep batteries topped off

Like I said go with the big Deltran..

It will maintain the six volt pair (NOTE it is a 12 volt charger so keep the batteries connected in series so they present as a single 12) and if your car is sluggish in the AM.. Jump start it too.

[time2roll]

Virtually all of these smart chargers work well. If you need to actually recharge I would go 5 amp minimum, 10+ amps is better. For fast recharge on the road camping 40 to 60 amps will serve you well. For float service of a fully charged battery you can go a little less like 1.5 to 5 amps.
JMHO.

Mine get the solar treatment.

[wa8yxm]

I like my big Deltran Battery Tender P/N 022-0221-WH

Got it at Autozone. Deltran makes several not much different.

If the car needs it 75 amps to BOOST with
if the batteries are hungry 20 amps charge
And once full 2 or so for maintenance as needed.

WI-FI and a Smart phone app complete the package
about 100 bucks

[olfarmer]

I use the small 1 or 2 amp battery maintainers. I have about 3 different brands and all seem to work good. I have 6 of them running most of the time and have had very good luck with long battery life. I like the ones that go on "float mode" when the batteries are fully charged the best.

[Sandia_Man]

Lots of aftermarket battery tender type chargers available which work well for many. I like to just keep it simple and rely on our onboard Iota IQ4 smart converter, with 4 stages it really knows how to keep our batteries very healthy. Our rig is always plugged into shore power while stored in our sideyard, of course I routinely check water levels although they only require watering once a year. Last set of GC2 batteries went 8 years and still had plenty of life in them when we traded them in for another pair that had 30 more amphours.

[Matt_Colie]

Golfer,

What has not been said here is that the Progressive Dynamics 92XX line were designed to be left powered on and on your bank for as long as you have power available. Though they call it a Three Stage, if you read their documentation, they are actually Four Stage. That fourth stage is a resting maintenance stage that regularly "Burps" the battery to promote electrolyte circulation and prevent sulphation.

This system will not just keep the bank as close to 100% SOC, but will extend the usable life of the bank. After 10 seasons, the house bank (2ae-GC2) were still about 80~90% of original capacity (as determined by my bank monitior). The only reason I replaced them was that I was offered a deal on a pair of new big name jars.

Matt

[theoldwizard1]

Lynnmor wrote:
I use the Battery Tender Plus 1.25 amp charger on eight seasonal batteries. I am too frugal to buy one for each, so I rotate the one about every three days.

Despite what everyone says, batteries really don't like to be plugged in to a maintainer 24/7 for weeks on end. Your rotation helps extend battery life.

[theoldwizard1]

Duplicate

[Lynnmor]

I use the Battery Tender Plus 1.25 amp charger on eight seasonal batteries. I am too frugal to buy one for each, so I rotate the one about every three days. I have had exceptional life from those batteries so I'll stay the course. I use the connectors that mates with the Battery Tender on each battery making the change quick and easy.

I don't like to keep an RV plugged in all the time due to possible power problems and lightening strikes.

[Latner]

If you have a modern 3 stage converter, you can leave it plugged in year round and not worry about destroying your batteries. Just keep an eye on your water level.

[Golferdude21]

Smart battery tender maintainers is what i was getting at. For long winter storage to keep on 24/7 and in between camping trips to keep batteries topped off

[wa8yxm]

Are you talking about maintenance chargers or Camping rechargers or both?

For "Every day recharging" a Progressive Dynamics 9260 is fantastic That is a 3 stage converter and a good size for the GC-2 Pairs. Stage 3 is maintenance

For a slower recharge. (one shot manual restart) and maintenance

I have a big (And I mean BIG) Deltran Battery Tender.

This is not the one I have but... Looks like similar specs

Auto Zone

[Lwiddis]

Does the regular onboard converter you are considering charge at the battery manufacturer’s recommended voltage for bulk, absorption and float charging? Does it have equalization capacity?

I suggest you don’t guess at how many battery amp hours you need. Do an energy survey. Easiest way to keep your batteries charged is a solar system.