Good automotive battery charger?

[ManCave]

I'm looking to buy a new automotive battery charger. I've been researching online for a couple of hours and not finding anything that looks decent.

I have a schumacher now and I am not a fan. It sometimes will be charging for what I think is too long and it might say, for example, the battery is 80% charged - then I disconnect and reconnect the charger and it says 100% charged. So I'm concerned it over charges the battery. I also don't like that you can't see the percentage charge when you first connect the charger - it only tells you the percentage when it's done. This charger is only about 2 years old.

I want a charger that will also charge AGM batteries and which has an engine start boost feature.

Does anyone have a good charger you would recommend? A link is appreciated!

 

[IndyGarage]

i have one of those Shumachers that is similar to what you describe. I would never leave it on for a long time. One time I left it on a boat battery and came back two weeks later to a smoking pile on the floor - luckily it was in the middle of the garage floor with nothing to catch on fire nearby.

I use a combination of chargers - I have a couple big rollarounds that have boost and charging - one of them is a Craftsman that I bought a couple years ago - it's real nice. I also have an older one - I think something like Atec is the brand.

To maintain batteries, I have a bunch of either Battery Minder brand or Battery Tender brand chargers. The Minders are supposed to "desulphate" your battery, but I haven't seen any improvement on a battery. They also work on AGM's and I can confirm they won't overcharge an AGM battery.

 

[cad70]

Clore Automotive. The company is located in Kansas. Ive been using one for the garage and between rounds at the races.

https://cloreautomotive.com/product/pl2320/

Clark

 

[cad70]

I wouldn't take a Schumacher for free anymore. I wasted money too many times with them.

 

[TuxThePenguin]

These threads generate a multiple of exactly 3 types of posts:

1) CTek! So great! Desulfation mode! But doesn't want to charge batteries unless they already have at least a bit of charge in them.

2) I don't trust any electronics. Old tech all the way! Dumb chargers for me!

3) Clore is the best of both worlds! Smart charging but has an override button that lets you still charge a dead battery! Also has a desulfation mode!

I have a Ctek and I do love it aside from the dead battery problem. To get around it I do sometimes have to use a dumb charger for say half an hour, then switch to the Ctek. Though this isn't a situation I encounter super frequently, it's still one that I need to be able to solve when it does happen.

A Clore is on my Christmas list thanks to other people praising them on this site

 

[bushmechanic]

I like my Noco charger. Out of every modern charger I've tried, this one is so far my favorite. It's the only one that works every time.

The others think they're smarter than I am... And they're NOT!

I hate that with a passion.

 

[M6erfan]

I have a Ctek, Noco, and my newest is a Clore. I bought the Clore because it has a power supply mode which is handy when doing battery changes.

My Ctek is about 10 years old and the Noco is 7 years old, both 1st gen. All of them are fine, but the Clore is only a few moths old, I haven't used it much.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007P7ABE6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[bushmechanic]

I have a Ctek, Noco, and my newest is a Clore. I bought the Clore because it has a power supply mode which is handy when doing battery changes.

My Ctek is about 10 years old and the Noco is 7 years old, both 1st gen. All of them are fine, but the Clore is only a few moths old, I haven't used it much.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007P7ABE6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well, it looks like that Clore will actually allow me to kick a dead battery in the nuts, which is what I want to be able to do, because quite often they'll actually come back if they haven't suffered a cell or mechanical failure.

 

[bob15]

Associated

https://associatedequip.com/

 

[ManCave]

Thanks everyone. I looked at the brands mentioned and I ended up ordering a CLORE PL2320. It doesn't have the jump start but it seems to do everything well and I can use my old charger if I need the jumpstart feature. CLORE had another model that does have the jumpstart feature but it sounded like it might not do some of what the PL2320 does.

 

[ManCave]

If you look into them, the PL2520 has the jumpstart but won't charge a battery that has less than 1.5 volts. The PL2320 that I ordered will charge a 0 volt battery.

I really like the feature of charging a 0 volt battery. Far too often I have to connect two batteries to get a "smart" charger to recognize the dead battery, etc. Might have to check that model out, I bought a couple Noco chargers and have been very happy with them so far, gave away the Schumachers to neighbors.

 

[Larwyn]

I gave up on smart chargers, they are supposed to take all the thinking out of charging a battery but I like having more control and knowledge of what a charger is actually doing.

I like my Century K-3150 manual charger. It is a simple transformer with rectifier and a timer, as well as both a volt meter and ammeter built in so you can see what it is doing. It does the charging, I'll do the thinking.

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