Battery Charger recommendation

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timtune

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A buddy has borrowed my charger long enough I've decided it's his.

The one I loaned was a 12/6V charger with a 10 amp engine boost mode for 12V. That engine boost mode was great for anything cranky (no pun intended).

Any one recommend a unit with 12/6V trickle charge and an engine boost mode?
 
I saw some on clearance at Parts Source a while ago. They looked good with a heavily reduced price.
 
I have a new smarter charger, it does 2/4/6A.

I find the smart chargers have some nice features - like switching to maintain cycle when the battery is fully charged. Many new chargers won’t charge a dead battery - kinda stupid, I also find they are not as reliable, I’ve had a few fail.

I giot a combo kit of 2 analog motomaster chargers in high school. A small 2/6a and a shop model on wheels with 2/6/30/50a and a timer. They are battered from years of use, but they still work like a charm and they’ll charge a dead battery.

If I could only have one, it would be the shop model on wheels. Marketplace has them periodically for $50 or less.
 
I generally just use an SAE compatible battery tender and leave the lead on the bike permanently. Don't let the battery go dead and you wont have to 10a charge it!

However, for jump start, the red, yellow and green tool brands have a jump starter now. Still, the Noco work better. Project farm did a test
 
Mad Mike said:
I have a new smarter charger, it does 2/4/6A.

I find the smart chargers have some nice features - like switching to maintain cycle when the battery is fully charged. Many new chargers won’t charge a dead battery - kinda stupid, I also find they are not as reliable, I’ve had a few fail.
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Had this problem, definitely frustrating. Have to assume it's a safety 'feature' to prevent connecting to non-battery things or arcing bare leads. I ended up connecting another battery in parallel long enough to get the dead battery to show enough voltage to allow the charger to work. I'm sure there's a good reason why that was a bad idea, but it worked...

Biggest advantage I can see with newer 'smart' chargers is they supposedly recognize lithium batteries and can fully charge to the higher voltage a lithium battery can take over AGM or LA. The NOCO one I installed on a boat had a selector for the battery type, which seemed more reliable than the charger figuring it out on its own. Considering the proliferation of lithium everywhere these days, it's handy to have...
 
If I have a dead battery I'll start with a dumb charger on 10 amps for a while, then later switch to smart charger with hopes of the smart technology revitalizing the battery.
 
Priller said:
Had this problem, definitely frustrating. Have to assume it's a safety 'feature' to prevent connecting to non-battery things or arcing bare leads. I ended up connecting another battery in parallel long enough to get the dead battery to show enough voltage to allow the charger to work. I'm sure there's a good reason why that was a bad idea, but it worked...

Biggest advantage I can see with newer 'smart' chargers is they supposedly recognize lithium batteries and can fully charge to the higher voltage a lithium battery can take over AGM or LA. The NOCO one I installed on a boat had a selector for the battery type, which seemed more reliable than the charger figuring it out on its own. Considering the proliferation of lithium everywhere these days, it's handy to have...
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Agree, you should have a decent smart charger that works with lithium batteries (if you have lithium batteries).

Not sure @timtune is there yet, probably be a few years before he accepts motorized stuff built this century.
 
What about splitting the functions. Have one of those small booster packs that keeps a charge for a long time and can boost a car/motorbike many times before charging.
Then get a smart charger for regular, and trickle charging?

Last week at work a guy needed a boost and I had mine in the trunk but not charged it for at least 2 years, maybe longer. It had 3 LEDs lit instead of 5 but it got the job done.
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