Battery charger suggestiona

[dprimm]

The snowflake mode is the top feature IMO Best charger I have ever owned and you can carry it in one hand

Is the snowflake mode where it goes out and hooks itself up?

 

[jkaetz]

ctek makes good stuff. That said, battery charging technology is relatively strait forward and most of the Amazon maintainers will do the job. Provide enough voltage and current to get the battery to full charge, then backoff the voltage and current to keep the SOC constant without overcharging. The real question is how fast do you want to charge the battery. Many of the smart chargers only provide 1 - 3 amps of charge current (overnight usually). If you want to charge a battery quickly you want something that can push 10 - 20 amps. Final thought, none of the "smart" chargers will charge a truly dead (0 volt) battery as they need to sense a minimum voltage before they will start charging. You can sometimes trick them into charging a dead battery by connecting a second one in parallel.

There is also no charger magic that will restore lost capacity in older batteries. That can be done with high voltage/current but carries its own risks. Youtube can show you how to do that if you're interested.

 

[ditcherman]

The old ones are at the big farm. The really good one got squished by a tractor. Does not work now.

BTDT.

 

[Flingarrows]

I bought this off of Amazon. I’m on my 3rd season on the battery in the garden tractor. $20

Foval Automatic Trickle Battery Charger 12V 1000mA Smart Battery Charger

 

[Leo]

A really good dependable charger will weigh a lot. Real transformers, with real copper and iron. These new solid state chargers with microprocessor smart tech and no transformers work ok, until they don't. I would rather pay $75 for an old Silver Beauty, Mercury Magnetics or an old Schumacker than pay $50 for a new one. Garage sales in older parts of town will get better quality stuff than new from the auto parts stores, even if you have to replace all the dry rotted cords.

 

[jkaetz]

A really good dependable charger will weigh a lot. Real transformers, with real copper and iron. These new solid state chargers with microprocessor smart tech and no transformers work ok, until they don't. I would rather pay $75 for an old Silver Beauty, Mercury Magnetics or an old Schumacker than pay $50 for a new one. Garage sales in older parts of town will get better quality stuff than new from the auto parts stores, even if you have to replace all the dry rotted cords.

Be careful finding one of these that does not overcharge the battery. Older battery chargers simply target a voltage and never reduce it once the battery is fully charged.

 

[cosermann]

Have 2 Schumacher chargers that have been working faithfully for 20+ years.