Best 12 volt Battery Charger?

[Koshaw]

I would like to know the best ones you have used. I will have my boat soon. I have two trolling motors.

I have seen good ones (so I suppose) range from 50-140+... I do not want to skimp especially since 75-100 amp batteries cost 1-300/each. Any assistance would be highly appreciated.

I use the batteries for the trolling motor as well as for a fish finder.

Thanks and tight lines all!

Koshaw

[Tail Chaser]

You should post this in the boat section.
My issue of powerboat reports. All they do is test marine product.

The top two picks they came up with were Newmar PT-25 that has a temp prob for safe charging AGM battery's Great all around charger.

They also like the Charles 2000 SP. You Can mount that on a bulkhead.
Its rock solid unit and extremely well built. Has a switch for any type of battery AGM,GEL,lead The testers did not like not having a temp prob for the AGM battery's though.
They love it for lead battery's.
I have that unit in my boat charging 3 group 27 battery's (lead) 24/7
These units are designed to be hard wired in (shore power) And left on 24/7
The Charles 2000 SP has a 5 yr warranty.
Both these units are called smart chargers. Auto adjusting the charge amps for battery longevity

[lurk 182]

are you talking about an on board charger that runs off your outboard or are you talking about something to charge your batteries in the garage between trips? if that's what you mean i've got a vector charger from kragen that works good (has a switch for AGM batteries like the optima/exide orbital brands-which are what i'd recommend) although out of those two i'd recommend the optima (got one at costco for $160 or so) i've had two optimas die on me in less than 3 years. i had to rig a separate battery for my graph b/c the troll motor was interfering with it. i got a electric wheelchair battery for it that's a deep cycle and only the size of a motorcycle starter battery. got it from action battery in hawthorne on rosecrans, only like $30 too and it lasts multiple days.

[Koshaw]

Thanks guys!

Maybe the moderator can move this to boats =)

Anyway I will get my little boat...I will be using the batteries alone to power it. I need the charger(s) to power up the batteries and keep em charged between uses. I will not have a gas one.

[Tail Chaser]

Thats what them smart chargers are for.
They read what the battery voltage is.
If the batterys are dead. They push the chargers max amp into the batterys for only for a brief period. Overcharging overheats a battery, then the water in battery evaporates killing the battery. Thats why the testers at Power Boat Reports likes the temp probes for the really charge sensitive highend Gel/AGM type batterys.

The smart chargers then automatically back the charge rate to a trickle charge as the batterys near a full charge. They keep up to 3 batterys charged and maintained at the same time.

Basically, you come home from a trip. Plug in the shore power from your house. Then forget about it. The charger does everthing else.
You leave it plugged in 24/7. When your ready for your next trip. Unplug the boat/shore power from your house. Batterys are good to go.

Shore power would be easy to install. Its AC like your house. Black is hot. White Common. Green is ground. Just the three wires. The scary part is drilling the hole for the plug for your extension cord to go into. The 3 wires go from the plug to the charger. Then you have you red and black DC wires going directly to each battery.

You did ask for a REALLY GOOD charger.
You could always save money by......
Just runing some jumper cables off your car. Run your car maybe an hour before heading out. Dang... That would be cheaper then a El Cheapo Wally World charger :ROFL:

What I found out that really sucks is..... Even deep cycle batterys are not suppose to be discharged over 50%.
Power boat reports did a test on Batterys too. Im not currently looking at that issue right now though.

[Koshaw]

Thanks a lot guys for the info

:D:D::D

Tight lines all!