well for once harbor freight screwed me. the charger/jumper lasted 2 years. pulled it apart and it seems the big riveted-in fuse pack is shot. seems to be a common problem. i really don't want to fix the POS and hope the next time it doesn't catch fire so i need to get me a charger.

any reco's for a charger for under 100 bucks? thinking autozone grade or something. probably all made in the same chinese factory anymore though.

I'm following this. My trusty Schumacher finally gave out, and I have no idea which standalone chargers are worth a crap anymore. I found a K-Mart 3 amp at a garage sale last year that is getting it done in the meantime.

they still sell schumachers. that was one of the contenders. don't know if they come out of the HF factory though. kick myself in the ass for letting my old kmart charger get caught in a rainstorm. thing worked for 25+ years.

I sprung for a Noco Genius 10 amp smart charger for $79 on sale at Amazon...Great little charger with lithium and agm settings...


Jayco👍

got a craftsman I've had for 40-some years, and a bright red one (lincoln? ) looks like the same color as the welders, that I have had for 25 or so years..

It helps to keep them dry.

This is the one I’ve got:

Schumacher Fully Automatic Battery Charger, Maintainer, and Auto Desulfator with Battery Detection – 15 Amp/3 Amp, 6V/12V - For Cars, Trucks, SUVs, Marine, RVs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0789697JT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1F3GZQPK7VZXH40P5MR7

This is about the best charger I've ever owned.

Xantrex True Charge 10.

Here it is in a 20 amp version.

lolol

Just bought a Schumacher 30Amp charger 6V and 12V with 100 Amp boost about 2 months ago. Charged about 5 cars so far and it works very well.

now you tell me. pop up summer rain storm caught me slacking.

i couldn't wait for amazon so i went to walworld and bought a 50 dolla shumacher. charged the farmall battery so i know it works. i have the HF cheapo on the bench and considering whether i want to f-uck with it or not. dremel the rivets, try to find the rating for the chink fuse and then hope the POS doesn't catch on fire when i ain't looking. on second thought, it might go in the garbage.

I'm still using a Shumacher that dad bought in the early '80's. It quit working once a long time ago, but came back to life. I think it might have been rained on...

I have a couple chargers; one is a Craftsman that's been fine for 30 years but five years ago picked up a CTEK 3300US that has been great too.

I have been watching noco rather than use amazon but they are out of stock.
I am hoping to recondition and charge the deepcell bats for the toyhauler, plus use it for everything else.
Hoping fathersday sale.

K

+1

I have them several of them on all of my boat batteries, etc. to keep them in good shape. Work equally as well with lead acid and AGM, deep cycle and starting batteries.

Set it and forget it.

The CTEK Multi 25000 is the best one I've used. It's now called the MXS25EC, but there looks to be a few vendors who still have the 25000 in stock, which might save you some bucks.

From Amazon: Tower Top 2/8/15A Smart Charger, just about fool proof and shuts itself off when you get to full charge. Less than $70.

I've gone through three NOCO G26000 chargers. They would last a couple years and then just die. I also have a NOCO four bank which has been good and several of their smaller chargers which have been hit or miss, two are still working eight years later and two died after a couple years each. NOCO's spotty quality is what drove me to CTEK. My two CTEK units (I also have a Polar) have been completely reliable and the 25000 does a better job recovering abused batteries. I don't see myself go back to NOCO.

I have a CTEK MXS 15 that has been reliable for a number of years, I am very pleased with it.

CTEK MXS 15

i bought the same charger a year ago. great little charger,very light weight and compact. i went to the local fleamarket on sunday and a guy had a schumacher
charger called a ship to shore schumacher that looks just like that one. he said it was 6 months old and he used it once. i bought it for 10.00.

I use a CTEK Multi 25000 on a 225amp, golf cart battery pack. It works very well. I can equalize the batteries in about 12 -16 hours.

Good info. My NOCO's are getting to be about two years old, so maybe EOL for them. I'll look at CTEK if they die.

Big fan of Schumacher's and picked up a couple more at a farm sale this spring.

I've got the big ones too, but the only time I've used those is with the quick start option on a completely drained battery and that can't be good for a battery. The handiest one that I have is the Stanley One Touch charger that has the 2 amp trickle, 6 amp automatic and the 8 amp battery boost with a QST quick start timer with led read out that counts down when the vehicle is ready to start. The charger comes with a split cord with the standard alligator clamps and a really handy cigarette lighter DC plug that lets you charge or boost up your battery through the cigarette lighter plug if they still have those in cars. That DC plug connection also fits the cord on the .2 amp trickle $30.00 charger at Walmart. Trickle charging is the best for the battery they tell me if you have the time.

rem141r;
Good morning to you sir, I hope the weekend was a good one for you and all who matter to you are well.

At one point in my working life I managed a storage business where we stored boats, RV's, motorcycles, classic and exotic autos, so dealing with dead batteries was a common, for sure weekly and sometimes daily activity.

Thus it was we had multiple battery chargers and here's what I now know.

Some of the new "smart" chargers do not "recognize" a completely dead battery and will not begin to charge it without one either jumping the battery with a vehicle and booster cables or another battery. That was not always handy to say the least.

Some of the clients had "battery tenders" or "battery maintainers" which would charge, then discharge the battery a wee bit in order to maintain it at peak cranking amps. I was so impressed I bought one for my little diesel tractor which used to eat a battery every few years and never seemed to have enough juice in winter - stored inside but unheated. Since installing the battery tender - maybe $50 CDN unit?

Anyways, I'd make sure that the charger you're about to spend your money on does all you want it to, as the boss bought us two huge charger/booster units that had the "smart" capability and wouldn't do anything with a completely dead battery.

Hope that was useful to someone out there, good luck with your batteries one and all and all the best.

Dwayne

I've got a 2/5/10/50 Schumacher that's given me great service for 25 years, so when I decided to get one of those jump starter/power pack things & after comparing a bit, I decided Schumacher would be a good choice as well.

I am pleased with it as well. And, amp per amp, it cost little more than a Harbor Freight unit.

WM ain't always a bad place to find stuff.