BatteryStuff.com offers a wide range of battery chargers and maintainers for all sorts of applications. Whether you are looking to fully charge a single battery or need a multiple-bank battery charger, we have the stuff!
At BatteryStuff.com, we believe in carrying only the best battery chargers, so we have a wide range of smart battery chargers. Most of our chargers serve as both a battery charger and battery maintainer. This means most of our chargers switch to a float maintenance mode after charge to keep your battery fully charged and ready to go!
What's the Best Battery Charger for My Application?
Selecting the proper charger will depend on what you are trying to accomplish. Deep cycle applications typically have a charger with an amp rating approximately 10-20% of the battery pack's AH rating.
For those trying to keep a starting battery fully charged when not in use, you generally don’t need a high amp battery charger. Instead, you can aim for a charger around 5-10% of the battery’s AH rating. Just remember, going too small can cause excess wear and tear on the charger and may even result in the charger faulting out.
Frequently asked questions about battery chargers and charging batteries:
What is the best battery charger for my motorcycle battery?
Most motorcycle batteries are a small battery, under 20 AH(Amp/Hrs). A small 750 mA or 1-Amp charger like the Battery Tender Jr. is a great option for these type of batteries.
If you have a larger battery, you may want to use a slightly higher amp charger so you don't overwork your charger. These larger batteries typically fall in the 21-30 AH range. The NOCO GENIUS2 is and inexpensive smart charger great for these type of batteries. Our favorite is the Battery Minder 1510 as it works to prolong the battery life by using desulfating pulses.
Does Starting My Motorcycle in the Winter Charge the Battery?
Unfortunately, no, and here is why. The charging system of your motorcycle does not truly ramp up until it gets far above idle, depending on the motorcycle that could be as high as 5000 RPM! So, unless you hold 'er wide open for 10 or 15 minutes, you may not get enough of a charge to replace the energy you used to start the motorcycle, let alone the energy you needed to replace the natural discharge from being placed in storage.
You either need to keep it on a decent motorcycle charger, such as a smart battery tender, or you need to suck it up and go for a 20 mile ride every couple weeks!
Can I Use a Solar Battery Charger to Keep My RV Battery Charged?
The short answer is yes: A solar panel can keep an RV battery charged. Sizing the solar panel will greatly depend on individual needs. A person simply putting their RV in storage and their RV has a battery cutoff switch can easily get by with a 20-watt panel, as it will output roughly 5 to 8 amps a day.
However, if your RV has a parasitic draw or you are actively using your RV, then you need to calculate how many amps you are using a day to figure out the properly sized solar panel. We recommend reading our article Solar Systems the Right Way, which can help you design a properly sized solar system.
How Do I Keep My RV Battery Charged When in Storage?
Solar panels would be your best option if AC power isn’t present. To size a solar panel, you need to know how many amps your batteries are discharging daily. If your battery goes dead in a month and you have a 75 AH battery, you would be losing approximately 2 to 3 amps a day.
You might think a 10-watt panel would be sufficient as it outputs 2 to 4 amps a day, but in solar, you want a panel that can send more energy to the battery pack than needed. If your system uses 2 to 3 amps a day, then you want a panel that outputs at least double that daily draw, and then use a solar charge controller to get rid of excess amperage. Ultimately, this type of setup will be able to make up for bad weather days and still keep up with the daily amp draw.
In this scenario, you would want a panel that outputs at least six amps daily on the low side. So, a 30-watt solar panel and a solar charge controller would be ideal. Since the panel outputs six to 10 amps daily, the solar charge controller will dissipate the excess amperage when not needed. However, having that amperage available is crucial to keeping your battery pack topped off and ready to go.
For RVs with starting and deep cycle batteries, you can use a single solar panel to maintain both batteries by using a two-bank solar charge controller.
Will a Small Charger Maintain a Large Bank of Batteries?
While it might be possible, our answer is no for several reasons. Consider that a large battery in a car is approximately 100 AH, so a large battery pack of five or more batteries could be greater than 500 AH. Most batteries will lose 3 to 5% of their charge a month when brand-new and not hooked up. So, it's fair to assume they may lose double that when hooked up and not being used.
We have seen many people try to use a small charger or maintainer such as the Battery Tender Plus that only outputs 1.25 amps. Considering that 10% of 500 AH is 50 amps, the Battery Tender Plus would have to be in charge mode for 40 hours to make up for the natural discharge. The charger could be on even longer if the battery pack has a parasitic draw.
Ideally, you want a charger that doesn’t have to work that long to maintain a battery pack. We typically recommend selecting a charger with an amp rating that falls between 10% to 20% of the battery pack's AH rating, so for a 500 AH battery, a 50 amp charger would be ideal. While a small charger may work for some time, it could fault out from being in charge mode too long or fail prematurely from overuse.
In our 12v 500 AH battery pack scenario, we recommend the IOTA 55 Amp Converter Charger Power-Supply. A Charger Converter / Power-Supply is perfect for high amperage battery packs. They have demand sensing technology to actively make up for loads applied to the battery pack without taking the charger through another charge cycle. Their ability to supplement the amperage instead of always going into charge mode whenever the battery is in use makes them ideal for large battery packs.
Can I charge a lithium battery with a Battery Tender?
While it might work in a pinch, our answer is no. Most lithium batteries sit at a higher voltage level than lead-acid batteries. This means a standard lead acid charger, such as your Battery Tender Junior, will not effectively maintain the battery correctly as it discharges.
Another significant issue is when trying to recover an excessively discharged lithium battery. Most lithium chargers have a save mode that slowly ramps up the voltage without sending much amperage to the battery. It does this because lithium batteries do not like to see much voltage or amperage while excessively discharged.
A typical Battery Tender meant for lead acid style batteries will send too much voltage and amperage, hurting the lithium battery. For this reason, we recommend getting a lithium charger if you plan on using a lithium battery. At the end of the day, a lithium charger knows how to charge a lithium battery the best!
