I've owned a few Harbor Freight chargers and they seem to fall apart after the first year, and continue to do a basic job for a few more years before they finally just fail. I'm looking to buy my last and only battery charger. What's your favorite?
What battery charger do you love? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MDarius
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I have quite a few but the one I use the most is a Battery Minder Plus little desulfating unit. About 1A or so max. I use it to trickle maintain my FLA sometimes for weeks -even months- at a time. It is more in use than not, overall. Probably had it for 10 years or so. Still going strong. Seems very well made. And my batteries last many years.
[added] I should add that to be perfectly honest, I don't really know for sure if the desulfation feature actually does anything. All I really know is that I use the charger and my batteries last longer than what I think is average from reading and talking to folks. Of course, it may well be that because I'm hoping the desulfation does something, I use the charger more than I would otherwise, and that itself is what keeps the batteries happy.
[added] I should add that to be perfectly honest, I don't really know for sure if the desulfation feature actually does anything. All I really know is that I use the charger and my batteries last longer than what I think is average from reading and talking to folks. Of course, it may well be that because I'm hoping the desulfation does something, I use the charger more than I would otherwise, and that itself is what keeps the batteries happy.
I've got a couple Deltran Battery Tenders for the motorcycle, skidloader, and mini-ex: Deltran - Battery Tender - https://www.batterytender.com/
Earlier this year I picked up a Clore Automotive charger/starter at Napa when they had it on sale: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SORPL2520
A friend bought a similar Mac branded Clore charger off one of the Mac Tool Truck. It doesn't have the start function and weighs less than half what mine does. He paid about double (tool truck, remember?) what I paid for mine.
I'm really pleased with it. It has started my K2500 in cold weather on the start function and I also "reconditioned" a battery that showed as 0 volts when I started.
Earlier this year I picked up a Clore Automotive charger/starter at Napa when they had it on sale: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SORPL2520
A friend bought a similar Mac branded Clore charger off one of the Mac Tool Truck. It doesn't have the start function and weighs less than half what mine does. He paid about double (tool truck, remember?) what I paid for mine.
I'm really pleased with it. It has started my K2500 in cold weather on the start function and I also "reconditioned" a battery that showed as 0 volts when I started.
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- Thread starter
- #5
I wish I had asked a couple months ago! I had a battery that my Harbor Freight charger couldn't do anything with and I couldn't jump it. It shouldn't have been bad as it was only a year or two old. Out of frustration I just took to Interstate and got a new one. I know, money wasted. Warranty, could have use one of these to recondition it, etc. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks. I bought this one off Amazon last week.
Amazon product ASIN B07BLLRM8R
It took my battery from no-jump to fully charged overnight, so I guess it did it's job. It has most of the features that you guys have talked about. $80.
Amazon product ASIN B07BLLRM8R
It took my battery from no-jump to fully charged overnight, so I guess it did it's job. It has most of the features that you guys have talked about. $80.
it's interesting that as chargers become more sophisticated they sometimes get stumped by a battery that an old style dumb charger will do fine with. So I still have several of those. Just a couple of days ago I had some NiMHs that my smart charger would not recognize. I put them for a few minutes on an old one and it brought the voltage up enough that the smarter charger finally could handle it. Done that with a bench power supply before too.
- Thread starter
- #7
I'll add that the same principle applies to power tool batteries. A lot of failed batteries just dipped below the charge point due to disuse or improper storage. I read where a guy has a side hustle to harvest failed power tool batteries from the big box store dumpsters and revives them. A huge portion of them is just fine. Probably illegal? Yes. Fiscally and environmentally more responsible? Also Yes. I saved a couple of my Kobalt batteries this way. (Not from a dumpster, from my garage.)
^ yes, I've also done that simply by connecting a charged battery to a fully discharged one and it did bring the voltage up enough on the discharged one for the charger to recognize it. But again, for that trick but also for regular charging, a variable voltage power supply with current control is a godsend, you can do any battery with that, from AAA to FLA.
I have a NOCO Genius GENM2 2-bank charger mounted behind the grille in the Cruiser (very challenging install), I plug it in every Sunday night to top off the pair of AGM batteries. Seems to work well, been there for 2 years now.
I have a NOCO Genius5 for maintaining the battery in the Miata during the winter.
Would buy again.
I have a NOCO Genius5 for maintaining the battery in the Miata during the winter.
Would buy again.
alia176
SILVER Star
Mine is an older version of this one below. I've had this one over a decade, if I were to guess. It's a smart unit, which can be annoying when it comes to recharging a dead battery.
www.batteryminders.com
BatteryMINDer® Model 244CEC2: 24V 1/2/4 AMP Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator + Lithium Charger Maintainer
BatteryMINDers' desulfating battery charger maintainers fully charge without ever overcharging, no matter how long they are left connected. Visit our website to browse our available products.
www.batteryminders.com
Yes I wanted to make it super easy to plug in so it's not a hassle. It was a pain to get the dual charger behind the grille, but worth it. I also used their surface plug, mounted in the bumper, takes only a second to plug it in. The only problem I have is remembering to do it once a week.
I'm adding a NL fridge to the truck soon so this will also keep the aux battery topped up when the truck is parked and the fridge is running.
alia176
SILVER Star
As a matter of fact, I have couple of Milwaukee M18 battery packs that make the battery charger blink rapidly so I think I have to figure out a way to refresh these batteries. If you have more details on this particular process, please share a link. I really hate to throw these batteries away, so I studied the YouTube video to see how to replace the individual cells.
I don't have a strong desire to deal with that process, don't have a spot welder, don't have a lot of desire but if I can refresh the whole pack using some low-tech method, would love to know what that is all about.
Thx
what I was talking about is just bringing the voltage up enough to the point that the smart charger will now recognize the battery and begin to try to charge it. Just using a dumb charger or a power supply or a good battery. But it does not otherwise "fix" anything wrong with the battery that may have caused it to go that low. If a cell is bad, well that's that, it needs to be replaced, the charger likely won't be able to charge the pack properly even if it tries. But if the voltage was just brought to extremely low level and the cells were not damaged in the process, well then all may be OK. Do note, though, that lithium cells do not like the voltage below some level, that can damage them. Which is why smarter tools prevent that. And likely why the charger does not allow them to be charged.
Having said all that, it's definitely worth trying, nothing much to lose besides a bit of time.
Having said all that, it's definitely worth trying, nothing much to lose besides a bit of time.
