What is the best battary charger?

[djn]

My boat has two deep cycle battaries. It has an Atomic 4. I don't do any anchoring in coves, maybe out in the bay for the night but otherwise, I will have shore power. I will run a GPS, radio, lights at night, stereo, and fridge from time to time. What are you recommendations?

[paladin]

a controlled current charger that pulses it up to full shuts down and every three minutes to look it the current has settled......the Heart Interface units have a good charger built in....

[Thorne]

Fixed or portable? Batteries in one bank or separate? Budget?

Fixed -
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/58447/377%20710/0/battery%20charger/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/10/0?N=377%20710&Ne=0&Ntt=battery%20charger&Ntk=Primary%20Search&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nao=10&Ns=0&keyword=battery%20charger&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=9&subdeptNum=572&classNum=0
http://images.westmarine.com/full/1903467.jpg
You may really want more of a maintainer than a charger -
http://images.westmarine.com/full/009_271_001_505.jpg

[RodB]

Although not cheap, it is hard to beat one of the Truecharges..

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/29823?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=29823

The Charles are top notch... read up on them you will see...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/143234/10001/683/544/9

Good luck,

RB

[BETTY-B]

Although not cheap, it is hard to beat one of the Truecharges..

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/29823?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=29823

The Charles are top notch... read up on them you will see...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/143234/10001/683/544/9

Good luck,

RB

Umm... That is cheap. Cheap in price and cheap as in "garbage". I had nothing but problems with those exact units in both my boats that had them. I bought the 2500 watt Freedom Marine seven years ago(Heart Interface mentioned by Paladin). Still going strong. Zero problems. You can find them rebuilt for way less than half price too. Which I would not hessitate to do. I would not buy used though.
Again, if you want to constantly replace something then get the cheap couple hundred dollar garbage. If you want it to last, spend the extra couple bucks for a proper inverter charger...

Sorry about putting those things down RodB. They just caused me an awful lot of grief. And going through it, I found I was not the only one who had been down that long, winding road of misery....

DAN

[RodB]

I did some homework on the Charles units and talked to a couple electrical engineers (from battery mfgs) that recommended both of these companies. I do not have any first hand knowledge on the True charge units, but have read some good stuff about them.

Thanks for the input... I'll remember it.

RB

[Gary E]

Constavolt has always been the best I know of..
http://www.lamarchemfg.com/

[kc8pql]

I have a Heart Freedom 2000 that's been great. However, given the smallish size of your battery bank and you say you rarely anchor out, it would probably be overkill.

[Bob Adams]

Here's one, I don't know who that Eggharborbob guy is, honest! ;)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300190887590&rd=1

Seriously nice charger, only does one bank though.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Try Promariner.... check their website.. nice stuff. For two batteries 20 amps should be enough. Most people have trouble with chargers because they flatten their batteries regularly, and have an undersized unit. Get Nigel Calders book.

[paladin]

everyone should have a copy of Ed Beyn's 12 volt doctor book...I think he did an update 2-3 years ago...

[Fritz Koschmann]

This IOTA isn't the best battery charger in terms of fancy electronics and options but it certainly is the most reasonably priced in terms of charging amps for the buck. I have one that I got from Ample Power. They sell the same unit with their (Ample Power) brain attached but it is much more expensive. This charger is available with a "smart charging" attachment and seems to be very well made, simple and rugged.

http://tinyurl.com/2fyduc