Does anyone make a good 12V auto/tractor battery charger anymore?

[Shenandoah MF1760]

How old are your batteries?.....nothing last forever and AGM batteries are no different. In fact over time AGM batteries are noted for having "reduced capacity"

August 2021.

 

[rScotty]

I must have a half a dozen traditional not smart chargers.... and one smart BatteryMinder that puts them all to shame. Batteries of all kinds - both wet cell and AGM - last noticibly longer if I occasionally put them on the BatteryMinder for a few days.

As batteries eventually wear out or go bad here, they get replaced with AGMs. Just changing to AGMs has reduced the time we used to put into battery mainenance.
rScotty

 

[crashz]

I have a roller Schumacher that is not very old that hasn't failed me yet. And its been a life line for may dead batteries. But this past year I got sick of pulling it out and decided a couple of smart maintainers is a better idea. So the dump truck and pick-up are on them (NOCO 1) all the time. So far they have worked great. All winter long they keep the truck batteries topped off and each started with ease anytime.

As mentioned above, the smart maintainers will not charge a deep cycle battery that is significantly discharged. I tried that and it took a boost from the old charger to get the batteries above the minimum voltage for the maintainers to operate properly.

 

[rScotty]

Snip

As mentioned above, the smart maintainers will not charge a deep cycle battery that is significantly discharged. I tried that and it took a boost from the old charger to get the batteries above the minimum voltage for the maintainers to operate properly.

I've noticed the same thing. I have several large yellow Optima batteries in the Cat & one had discharged enough so that the smart charger would not charge it at all. It would try and then give a fault reading.

So I charged that battery overnight with a standard non-smart charger set on low amps and that got it good enough that the smart charger would take over and finished the charge. I left it on the smart charger for a month ocassionally just as a precaution. It seemed to be doing fine, so I didn't charge it for a month and it was DEAD AGAIN!
So that battery was really no good & the smart charger knew it.

 

[JWR]

At one point, Shumacher was a leading brand in the battery charger business. Sadly, that does not still seem to be the case. They may still make some high end models (if so, I have not used them), but they also make some junk.

I'm going to have to disagree with that blanket statement about smart chargers. A QUALITY smart charger will do much more to extend the life of your battery and protect it from overcharging (something that is often a problem with the dumb chargers). ...

If you are convinced that all smart chargers are junk, I doubt I'll convince you otherwise. I'm just relating my experience with these two brands, and the extensive research I did on charging profiles, quality, and reliability of various chargers before settling on these two brands. None of my smart chargers are high amperage (the largest maxes out at 10 amps). I use them more as maintainers, ...

I understand your points John and discussions are not always about convincing people.

I think the thing to realize in this discussion is that there is a pretty wide range of users of batt chargers. I am an electrical engineer who could go design a battery charger from scratch but know very little about commercial examples of them, certainly have not researched them to the extent you have. (A) Some users (like you) are using them primarily as "maintainers" and have many of them around. (B) Some use chargers primarily when they have a sluggish starting vehicle or when they anticipate very cold or hard starts. (C) Others (my case) have several vehicles in multiple locations and only one GOOD charger that I use mostly when a vehicle sat all winter or some long period and either won't start or I want to prep it to start. My GOOD charger stays in the pickup and goes to the farm or the vacation place, etc. more for contingency than anything else.

I never said all smart chargers are junk. I warned people (who may be in circumstances like my own) to avoid fancy microprocessor based chargers that are very likely to refuse to work exactly when they need it (e.g. when the batt voltage is low.) Others in this thread (maybe you) pointed out that newer automated chargers refuse to work below some threshold voltage of the target battery. That makes it a useless charger for me and my purposes. I gave the last one away that exhibited that disease. In my applications the primary time I use the charger is when a battery is down, not when it is just a little low. If it won't hold the charge after using the vehicle a while I buy a new battery.

The automated or sophisticated protection of batteries from overcharging which matters to those in category (A) above is of no use whatever to me in category (C). I'm never leaving the charger on the battery very long anyway. I do have a couple of smaller/simple/cheap/low current chargers that I use if I keep them running overnight or for many hours. They are 2A or at most 10A variety.

 

[grsthegreat]

my own experience from a few years back. customer called with dead generator. turns out T1 fuse had blown (that charges controller which inturn charges battery). battery was frozen solid. had 0 volts on my meter. battery was 2 months old. temps in the negative this time of year.

a fully charged battery is good to -80F...not so a dead battery.

i fixed T1 wire problem (wire shorting out) and replaced fuse. put new fuse in. then replaced battery with new stock.

i took old battery home and thawed it in heated garden shed. next day i put it on the NOCO 10 charger and let it charge for a few days. didnt think it would work, but charged to 585 CCA according to my tester. i went and reinstalled it in guys generator, so i didnt have to charge him for new battery. still working great. last time i serviced unit it was still showing 100% charge.

 

[droptop]

I bought a Corvette that came with a "battery protection package" which was just a CTEK battery charger that was private labeled with a Corvette logo. It worked so well on the car I bought another to use on my ATV, tractor, lawn mower, etc to keep everything charged. Only charges at 4 amps but it won't overcharge and goes into a low voltage float mode once the battery is full. Unfortunately if the battery is dead it wont start charging, I had to use my old "dumb" charger to get the battery to charge when I left my dome light on, once it got up to 6V the CTEK would charge. By the next morning all was good.

I like that it has settings for small ATV batteries and settings to shift the charge profile if the temperatures are real cold.

 

[priberc]

August 2021.

Recalls?.....warranty?

 

[Hay Dude]

The last couple of battery chargers I've had seem to be sub-standard. They charge to maybe 12V and then drop out. Most cars batteries are normally at around 13.5V and my pickup charges it's 2 batteries at 14.1V. What I'm looking for a something that will bring my 5th wheel RV AGM batteries back to where they belong when needed. Please lets not talk about Grandads tube powered 3 minute lightning charger, I'm looking for something that can be obtained today without taking out a mortgage.

I need a big heavy duty charger & jump starter for big displacement diesels and the best jump starter I have owned is my John Deere. Its got wheels and pulls around the shop easily. It can jump double and triple batteries.

 

[newbury]

For some reviews check out project farm on youtube.