12V Battery Charger

[Two Pump Chump]

I am seeking a recommendation for an automotive battery charger, The vehicle is out of state right now so I cant check exact specific battery group info but it is a 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0 V-6 stored outside at latitude 45 elevation 5,000 feet. The previous cheapy went out as it returned a fault red light with any battery it was hooked up to. I have a 750mH trickle but it will not bring the detached battery up to charge after a week . . .. . My knowledge is limited but I recall some units have multiple charge rates and also a maintenance cycle. The battery will has been brought inside to a heated house and I will re-install when I get a chance to drive locally. Then removed and bring inside for a maintenance cycle, Walmart etc is flooded with inexpensive models, I assume Amazon is also. I fear an electrical short and fire and the loss of the house as it is 16 miles to volunteer fire dept if a neighbor reported smoke. If you have experience with $50-$100 charger or a recommendation I thank you in advance.

 

[chris142]

Sounds like the battery is bad and won't take a charge.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

Sounds like the battery is bad and won't take a charge.

No. Took a 20 day trickle and that unit's charge indicator never changed from red to green. Tossed battery in anyways and FORD fired right up. Battery is fine. Do have a good charger you like ?

 

[CJM8515]

just dump the battery, its either a group 65 or 58 (FYI 65 is bigger and 99% of the time fits). you need a real deal trickle charger like a higher end battery tender brand and it needs to live on the car if the car sees seldom use. or just leave it disconnected if you can. that truck is old enough to not care

those newer smart chargers they have will not charge a heavily discharged battery b/c they are looking for a specific voltage, if the battery doesnt have say 5v charger wont work. if you charge it with an old school charger it dont care.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

Thanks but I a going to delete this post. For the love of FUC###

Answer a simple question.

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

 

[BrandonV]

Thanks but I a going to delete this post. For the love of FUC###

Answer a simple question.

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

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They make battery chargers for automotive and aviation applications. Only brand I use.

Any smart charger (Noco, CTEK, etc.) is usually sufficient for a standard FLA battery. If you're buying an expensive AGM battery you really need to validate the battery charging parameters and ensure that the charger's AGM setting is optimized. I've seen chargers that are too low/too high for certain brands of AGM batteries.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

Thanks Brandon.

 

[micromind]

I have 2 chargers, one of them is a transformer type that I built myself. It can charge a completely dead battery and often it'll hold a charge.

The other is a Stanley 40 amp electronic model. This one will not charge a dead battery but it will charge a 4D (big battery) or an 8D (bigger battery). It takes it a while but it has no problem producing close to 40 amps for over an hour.

I've had this one for more than 5 years, no problems.

It's a safe bet that Stanley didn't actually make it, most likely it was rebranded as Stanley. I don't know who actually made it.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, Smart Chargers are good for most purposes, but there are times when the best charger for the job is a dumb “Brute Force” charger.

Until I find another Microwave Transformer to build one, I will use my DC Stick Welder as my backup.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

Thanks for help. I decided on this - https://no.co/genius10

 

[chris142]

No. Took a 20 day trickle and that unit's charge indicator never changed from red to green. Tossed battery in anyways and FORD fired right up. Battery is fine. Do have a good charger you like ?

I have an older Schumacher with a needle instead of just lights.

 

[BrandonV]

Thanks for help. I decided on this - https://no.co/genius10

The Noco chargers are good.

 

[dcg9381]

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

I've got about a million battery chargers and maintainers. You want one that will do a reasonable float voltage. Really, not much difference between them (minus the HF variety where the wire insulation literally was falling off after 2 years) at least in ones that I've owned.

Most recent "tender" I bought it immediately below, I chose it because I need to LiFe04 batteries in addition to lead acid.



Others I own that have held up for 5-8 years:

 

[Noltz]

Battery tender and Noco are both good, if a little expensive. I like the very simple mechanical chargers with no computers inside. Just select your charging amps and go. They're getting rare as everyone moves to "smart". Last one is similar to this (although mine is a steel body)

https://www.princessauto.com/en/2-6-10a-battery-charger/product/PA0008646119

And I hear ya on your frustration above.

 

[BrandonV]

Battery tender and Noco are both good, if a little expensive. I like the very simple mechanical chargers with no computers inside. Just select your charging amps and go. They're getting rare as everyone moves to "smart". Last one is similar to this (although mine is a steel body)

https://www.princessauto.com/en/2-6-10a-battery-charger/product/PA0008646119

And I hear ya on your frustration above.

Harbor Freight still seems to sell a similar charger for those in the US.

2/10/50 Amp, 12V Analog Charger with Engine Start

Amazing deals on this 2/10/50 Amp 12V Manual Charger W/Engine Start at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[rmanrman]

Battery tender all the way
I have several and the two battery charger Lee my boat batteries charged all winter long
The charger is in a non heated shed works great

 

[like2wheel]

Thanks but I a going to delete this post. For the love of FUC###

Answer a simple question.

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

This fourm needs a Hall of Fame & this post belongs in it.

 

[nadogail]

The Harbor Freight charger met both my needs and price point.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

This fourm needs a Hall of Fame & this post belongs in it.

battery is bad

Dump the battery

Awesome help. Fully founded on science and mechanical wisdom.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

So its been 8 days since my last post. What I think I have found out is that almost all smart charger bench units will not charge a "dead battery" for various reasons. There is no way to tell by looking at an online product description. An enormous waste of time to search this out. I have two chargers narrowed down. The NOCO5 genius

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W3QT226/?tag=atomicindus08-20

and an Amazon DeWalt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DQLR3J6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Anyone with ownership that can comment ? - thanks

edit: my choice is/was the Harbor Freight but I cant tell if it will accept a dead battery without throwing an error code

Noltz I just saw your post on the Princess. Thanks

2/10/50 Amp, 12V Analog Charger with Engine Start

Amazing deals on this 2/10/50 Amp 12V Manual Charger W/Engine Start at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Two Pump Chump]

Battery tender and Noco are both good, if a little expensive. I like the very simple mechanical chargers with no computers inside. Just select your charging amps and go. They're getting rare as everyone moves to "smart". Last one is similar to this (although mine is a steel body)

https://www.princessauto.com/en/2-6-10a-battery-charger/product/PA0008646119

And I hear ya on your frustration above.

That Princess will not ship to any state except North Dakota. I dont get it. We can buy **** from China.

 

[nadogail]

I used a 5 Horse Honda Engine to spin a 100 Amp Internally regulated alternator. I have another battery to provide excitation.

 

[Shiftless]

I used a 5 Horse Honda Engine to spin a 100 Amp Internally regulated alternator. I have another battery to provide excitation.

This a classic GJ approach and a great set up to quick charge a dead battery.

 

[Kpaige]

I have a battery tender, a wall plug Noco smart charger and a Noco dual battery smart charger in my boat. The battery tender is good does a good job of basic maintenance but the Noco chargers are a lot better in my opinion. I had the battery tender on my motorcycle and would get starting issues and radio issues on start up here and there started using the Noco and all the issues are gone.

 

[Kpaige]

Thanks but I a going to delete this post. For the love of FUC###

Answer a simple question.

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

Lol
That’s a common problem around here if you want a simple quick answer you will just get told everything you were not asking

 

[Two Pump Chump]

FWIW I found an manual or analog charger at NAPA. It's a Craftsman and it is not a benchtop. I check back in about it after it goes to Idaho to charge a battery that has been out in the cold since mid September. After the fire LOLZ Some Youtube reviews are of a different NAPA unit and are quite humorous.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBCCMX274

Googled this unit and it's on Amazon for about $15 more. Manufactured by Schumacher . . . . . .

 

[aggie113]

I have several NOCO chargers including the genius. The repair function is supposed to be a bit of extra magic programed in for batteries that need it. It couldn't revive an Optima redtop that was 12 years old, so I call ********

 

[duneslider]

I have a battery tender, battery minder (desulfator), and a schumacher. They all seem to do the same thing and work fine. I have done a fair bit of testing with the "desulfator" and I think it is BS. I can run it on a battery for a month and the internal resistance doesn't change, so I don't think these little things are capable of producing enough of a current pulse to actually do anything. I have tested internal resistance before use and after use on several batteries now and not seen much if any change in the internal resistance. So, at this point, I would NOT pay extra for a charger that claims it does this function. I will say that the BatterMinder does seem like it is a good charger and works well at charging.

 

[dogdog]

I have several NOCO chargers including the genius. The repair function is supposed to be a bit of extra magic programed in for batteries that need it. It couldn't revive an Optima redtop that was 12 years old, so I call ********

most people don't understand what a desulfator is or does... I have very low chance of reviving "automotive" battery with it. sort of scam with desulfator and EDTA additives. same with this thread some people think a manual charger will revive dead batteries... weird things like that.

personally I have the HF manual charger, diehard gold charger, old craftsman manual charger/starter 200AMP... battery tender and 4x or 3x of that SUHU from amazon... that suhu is what I am using now to charger batteries. It does have power supply mode which is equivalent to manual charging. like many NOCO... I was going to recommended it but op doesn't want China stuff so..... I think he is better off paying more for a peace of mind.

 

[Axehandle2]

I have several of the NOCO chargers and have found them to work well.
As for the problem with chargers not working on a dead battery, just give them a boost to get them started. I have just used another battery to jump the dead one and when the charger starts to charge pull the jumper battery off and the charger will continue to charge. I have even used the standard 9 volt energizer to do this.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

I have several of the NOCO chargers and have found them to work well.
As for the problem with chargers not working on a dead battery, just give them a boost to get them started. I have just used another battery to jump the dead one and when the charger starts to charge pull the jumper battery off and the charger will continue to charge. I have even used the standard 9 volt energizer to do this.

That is what a charger is supposed to do. The thread is about chargers, not tenders or ><&^%$. That Noco wont work on a battery below about 8 volts, essentially useless to charge a battery killed by a dome light, audio or similar. From what I can tell, the availability of manual chargers, like the wheeled shop ones is extremely limited due to liability and careless use causing fires, etc.

 

[Buckaroo5]

Recommend Clore Pro-Logix PL2320 which I have owned for about 5 years. Very versatile and does provide the ability to charge a dead battery. It does have the check function that verifies polarity is correct which requires some charge in the battery, but as described in the manual, if you hold the start button down it will override it and provide an initial charge. I have used it on dead batteris and it does work. Costs about $100 on Amazon

20/10/2 Amp 6/12V Intelligent Battery Charger / Maintainer – Clore Automotive

Work smarter, not harder. The PL2320, 20/10/2A 6/12V Intelligent Battery Charger and Maintainer from Clore Automotive, puts a brainy buddy at your side for safe, efficient battery charging, repair and maintenance. This versatile unit can save you space, money and time. Rather than purchasing...

cloreautomotive.com

 

[Axehandle2]

That Noco wont work on a battery below about 8 volts, essentially useless to charge a battery killed by a dome light, audio or similar.

I guess we'll have to disagree on that, I have a NOCO Genius10 that I have used several times to bring back flatlined batteries.

 

[BrandonV]

I guess we'll have to disagree on that, I have a NOCO Genius10 that I have used several times to bring back flatlined batteries.

Yup.

Almost every Noco charger I've ever used has a "repair" mode which basically just ignores the cell voltage.

 

[Sumboodie]

Thanks but I a going to delete this post. For the love of FUC###

Answer a simple question.

Can you recommend a 12V battery charger ?

Sheez. Take a few Midols and have a nap.

 

[dogdog]

brain is a terrible thing to waste. stuck in the manual mode.

Most reputable shop uses Midtronic chargers or a like, including the chaps at Sams Club that test batteries. Just don't complain about the price and kept asking for recommendation that never seems to satisfy your question. or was it really a question at all.

Shop Chargers in Battery Accessories | Global Industrial

Shop for Chargers in Battery Accessories. Global Industrial is a Leading Distributor of Vehicle Maintenance supplies.

www.globalindustrial.com

 

[Two Pump Chump]

I found a manual charger. A simple solution to a very common problem is just beyond some people's grasp or understanding. If you want to make this a chat forum full of useless opinions and misinformation then you have succeeded. I was referred here a few years ago to avoid signal static and qualified information. Most people understand that. Others just cant resist the temptation to bark, talk anecdotal unrelated info, or just gossip bout their unrelated experience. I'll post up the unit I found and it's application when I get it.

Midtronics - LMAO That more than the entire vehicle, or 35 new batteries is worth.

 

[dogdog]

I found a manual charger. A simple solution to a very common problem is just beyond some people's grasp or understanding.

You wanted the best and thinks the rest is junk. So pay up for the best.

Or is this one of those posts that you are looking for a pad in the back for your already decided charger, that every one else response is just not able to grasp your problems. despite that people have numerous times told you that the Noco or other have repair mode and supply mode that can do manual charging.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

You wanted the best and thinks the rest is junk. So pay up for the best.

Or is this one of those posts that you are looking for a pad in the back for your already decided charger, that every one else response is just not able to grasp your problems. despite that people have numerous times told you that the Noco or other have repair mode and supply mode that can do manual charging.

They cannot charge a discharged battery. I never asked about a bank loan for a shop grade investment.

 

[Sumboodie]

They cannot charge a discharged battery. I never asked about a bank loan for a shop grade investment.

The 2 that I have can. Why would you charge a charged battery?