# Any battery experts out there? HELP !



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Dear Abbey, 

Can anyone on the board recommend a good quality smart battery charger? It will be used on a two-battery bank of 12 volt AGM (90-110 amp hour each) marine deep charge batteries.

I have been researching chargers, and even the name brand, multi-hundred dollar ones are getting bad reviews on Amazon.

Signed,
Confused in Pennsylvania


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## Knotacare (Sep 21, 2016)

I think what you want is a battery tender, different than a charger. A tender maintains your battery & does not over charge it. If you keep your boat in the water a built in one is best , but if you trailer it something like this is fine
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...qid=1489842292&sr=8-7&keywords=battery+tender
I keep tenders on my classic cars all the time & the batteries last 2 to 3 times as long & are always at 100%. When I had a boat with dual batteries I did the same...never had battery problems.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

sideKahr said:


> ............. are getting bad reviews on Amazon............


Never rely on Amazon reviews. They're all written by people who have _no freakin' clue_ what is good and what is crap. They'd say a Kenworth or Peterbuilt or Mack is "Sluggish and slow," and "Poor acceleration," and "No get up and go" when it has a fully loaded trailer behind it. Then turn around and say Porsches and Ferraris have no tow capabilities.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

The battery tender Knotacare suggested looks to be a high quality tender with a very good charge cycle but expensive. 
A cheaper choice for basically maintaining a battery may be this https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...id=1489843658&sr=1-15&keywords=battery+tender
I have several of them and assuming the battery won't need to be charged up for a few days it's capable of charging a flat battery but not nearly as fast as the tender Knotacare suggested. But these tenders are really designed to be left attached while the battery is not being used much to maintain the charge.

Shumacker makes a decent charger and it can also act as a trickle charger. https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-S...id=1489843983&sr=1-7&keywords=battery+charger


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

sideKahr said:


> I have been researching chargers, and even the name brand, multi-hundred dollar ones are getting bad reviews on Amazon.


I do read the reviews but I also take into account that some of those are idiots. It's easy to tell by what they write. Some couldn't find their ass with both hands and a road map. Read the reviews and you can tell who knows what they are talking about and who is a moron.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Okay, a battery tender runs at what - an amp or two? Not sufficient for charging a bank that is 50% discharged in a reasonable amount of time.

Maybe I should get a 30 amp charger for the bulk charge, disconnect it after a few hours and then put on a maintainer (tender)? I know some companies combine the two, but reports are complaining of boiling the batteries dry because they're running too high.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

My plan is to rig up a stationary cycle to an alternator and hire the last two remaining ******* to charge my batteries. I figure on paying them in burritos or some such nonsense. I just hope Trump doesn't run all the ******** outta country! :vs_lol:


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

Check out IOTA battery chargers. Not cheap but mine works real well.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I had a Zantrex 3 stage charger in my RV for 13 years on my golf cart 12 volt battery bank (2 x 6 volt, 210 AH battery). Never had a speck of trouble I replaced the original charger after I had to replace the batteries after 1 1/2 years. I also installed their inverter and had no problems. Obviously it's been a long time and I don't know what they are like today.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Thanks, guys. Very good advice. After some more research, I went with an Iota 30 amp smart charger with IQ4 controller and a Xantrex 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

@sideKhar. Great picks!


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