Battery Chargers

[wilko76 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wilko76]

Hi All

I am looking to buy myself a smart charger. Not overly interested in brand as long as it has some of the main features the Cteks do. I am not sure what amps to get. Is is safe to assume the higher the amps the quick it charges?
I noticed Ebay has Ctek 25A for about $250. i would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks Again

[RobA Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RobA]

Re: Battery Chargers

We've been using the RedArc smart charger for several years now.Handles all battery types from gel alarm battery used to power our fluro to our MRV 70 Supercharge All rounders and calcium batteries as well. It's a four stage charger and has proven totally reliable and using it has certainly extended the life of the MRV70's well beyond what we would expect

Regards

Roba

[wilko76 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wilko76]

Re: Battery Chargers

thanks Rob

Can anyone tell me if you really need all the stages in a bettery charger? Does a 4 stage do as well as an 8 stage for example?

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

Re: Battery Chargers

Wilko76,

The use of CTEK charger will help to maximize the performance and life of your battery. Though there are many other factors that will also affect the life/performance of the battery (temperature, depth of discharge, cycle rate..etc). A quality 3 stage charger will do fine job of keeping a battery in good condition but if the battery is abused (eg over discharged) it but does not have the desulphation capabilities of the CTEK.

The CTEK are units are great and I would suggest that you would need to be saving a substantial amount to buy something else. Though I guess substantial amount is different for each of us.

As for size, a good rule of thumb is that the max current rating of the charger should be no greater than 20% of the AmpHour capacity of the battery.
So for a 25Amp Charger you would want at least a 125AH battery, and for a 15A charger you would want at least a 75A battery.

Leachy