Looking for the best battery charger

Originally posted by Hunter74 Originally posted by CharlieM No clue what they're saying. With reason any charger will charge any size battery. A too small charger will take a longer time; a too large charger will take more careful monitoring. The 7.2A charger should work for the dual 6V golfers, but it will take a while if seriously discharged.    Thanks for your reply.         I will probably go with the G7200 as from the math I get online, a 232AH battery / 7.2 amps = 32, so I figure 40 hours or so for a fully charge is discharged a lot,  so if I plug the batteries in on Sunday night/Monday morning when I get home from camping, they should be good to go by the next Thursday night/Friday morning if/when I go camping again.    Or maybe I'll  get a regular 15A charger for the summer so they are ready to go in a day or so, then invest in the G7200  to keep them charged and ready to go over the winter/storage months when I wouldn't go out as much

the charge cycle is not linear. the rate of charge slows down.. way down, the closer you get to 100% SOC. Just so you know. You can't just divide the amps needed by the charging amps.. you can break it down for the first 80%, and then the 20 in 4, 10% increments.. ie: from 80 to 85 % the battery charges at a 10% slower rate, from 85 to 90, 10% slower again.. etc. That last 5% can take as long as the first 80%..

They will be fine. If you get worried.. crack the bottom of the garage door a couple inches.. But millions of car batteries have been charged in garages.. Not that many have exploded.. 

Even 12v batteries need maintenance. Especially when used the way boondockers use them. The only maint. you will need to do is check the water once in a while. I do it about twice a year.

Buy a jug of distilled water and a 50cc syringe.  topping off batteries is way better than maintenance free

Purchased our 2 12V batteries in March and June of 2011.  Both are still holding up real well and are NOT maintenance free.  As furpod stated, and we follow that protocol, check the water level a couple times per year.  I purchased a Sears battery charger at a yard sale about 10 years ago for 15 bucks.  It has all sorts of bells and whistles and charges both 6V and 12 V but I have mainly used the 2amp trickle charger option for my batteries.  Takes about 2 days(per battery) to bring them up to charge after sitting in the garage from October thru most of April.  In the fall before putting them in hibernation mode, it takes about 8 to 10 hours in the 2 amp trickle mode.