Battery Charger

[onesea]

Looking for a battery charger.  One that can charge EVERYTHING 12v.

 

From my bike, car to 110amp leisure batteries.

With ability to deal with lead acid, AGM and ideally lithium.

 

Not something I use very often. 

 

My last one went pop it couldn't do lithium but could do the others, there is no urgent need for lithium at the moment however it is becoming more standard.

 

As always cost is a factor.

 

Any recommendations?

[Ian Frog]

Don't know if that's any help ? Just seen advert inside back page of Bike magazine.

Cheers Ian 

[Bender]

I've got one that covers that list just got to remember where I put it advantage of the lithium bit is it comes with many abilities... Will go dig it out, I've used it for most kinds of batteries and it's been great so far

[Stu]

I have a noco charger that covers all that 

 

It's the noco 5 the 5 being 5 amp 

 

The only thing you have to watch with a do all charger is that on a bike battery the charge rate can be too much for smaller batteries 

[Bender]

Mine is a victron blue 25amp, its got multi stage charging modes and can recover very dead batteries, its supposed detect charging requirements and sort it's self out. I've not had any issues.

 

If your planning on lithium you need a smart charger as they charge different, it has Bluetooth too so you get some data on what it's doing but at the end of the day it's either charged or it's not, I got 25amp as I have big lithium to charge.

 

It's listed as compatible with motorbikes.

 

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/12v-victron-energy-25a-7-stage-smart-battery-charger-with-bluetooth-control-copy/

 

Smaller are available, the amp is just the maximum it can charge upto not necessarily what it's going to put out, that's down to the electronic control, bike can put out 20amps more or less depending on bike and load.

[Bender]

Put it on the bike this morning, detected partially discharged and set about topping it up, now sat at float 

[Bender]

I have no idea if my battery is going to like it btw it does recommend 5amp for quick charge mine has Def been over 5amp I just checked on Bluetooth  

[Bender]

Update  

 

I don't think it has been over 5 amp I did a firmware update mid charge and I think it got confused as it Def didn't need to do float charge at 8amp

 

2.7amps was max charge rate.

 

The interrupted bit was me re starting it

[Stu]

After reading @Benders drivel I thought I would go check the noco website on whether they self adjust to the size of the battery 

 

Surprisingly it just gives the amount of hours to charge a 20amp batter for each specific model of charger! It states 3 hours for the one I have go to fully charge a 20amp battery which is pretty much putting the full 5amps in! 

 

This is off the yuasa website on charging motorcycle batteries 

 

Quote

Because of their smaller size, when compared to automotive types of batteries, powersports batteries are more sensitive to how much current they can safely absorb. When charging a motorcycle or other small battery, the battery charger should not exceed 3 amps. Most automotive types of battery chargers are not suitable due to higher current output. While maintaining a battery at its full state-of charge will ensure optimum life, overcharging may significantly reduce it.

 

https://www.yuasa.co.uk

 

On that basis I will stick to my optimate for the bike 

 

[V650]

23 hours ago, Bender said:

Put it on the bike this morning, detected partially discharged and set about topping it up, now sat at float 

I like that it is IP65 so should cope with rain 

My bike lives outside and the optimate that I bought is not in the least water resistant 

I bought a waterproof box to put it in and will need to disassemble the optimate to run the cables through waterproof glands 

[Bender]

It's pretty waterproof not submersible obvs it still has to be plugged into the mains at one end but it's a sealed unit.

[Bender]

https://nomadicleisure.co.uk/product/victron-blue-smart-ip65s-charger-12-51-230v-bpc120533024r-outlet/?attribute_pa_outlet-rating=grade-b&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyc67BhDSARIsAM95QzuuU58HzkmLxFLNVflT2KOl_g92jbrMh92Lzoh_TMOQCYK1nGzQvGkaAq8lEALw_wcB

 

The 5amp one has same features,will recover or attempt to recover dead batteries will charge lithium it will just take a while to charge big lithium battery.

[RideWithStyles]

Get the correct charger for the use of, for example don’t use a normal car charger for a proper leisure battery etc, they have difference use cases and needs.

 

using a “normal” car charger (design and spec means it’s variable) without it being designed for MBs  using on a small bike battery one is one sure way of damaging/killing it as it might not over charge but apply too much power as it’s trickling it to its own design but to the small mb battery can still over do it.

some chargers can handle all mb, car, leisure, lithium etc but they tend to be quite expensive . now if one says it can do it on all but could be better suited to another battery type is another question, certainly only a few brands id trust if it was a all in one.

[Bender]

2 hours ago, RideWithStyles said:

Get the correct charger for the use of, for example don’t use a normal car charger for a proper leisure battery etc, they have difference use cases and needs.

 

using a “normal” car charger (design and spec means it’s variable) without it being designed for MBs  using on a small bike battery one is one sure way of damaging/killing it as it might not over charge but apply too much power as it’s trickling it to its own design but to the small mb battery can still over do it.

some chargers can handle all mb, car, leisure, lithium etc but they tend to be quite expensive . now if one says it can do it on all but could be better suited to another battery type is another question, certainly only a few brands id trust if it was a all in one.

Errr mine applied 2.7 amps max current, there's a big difference between a normal charger and a modern one filled with electronics,.

 

Like I said they do a 5amp max one for anyone concerned about too much charge and it not detecting the amount required.

 

Mine can be reduced to 30% of it's max rating if you want to fire up the app and change settings, it also has an advanced bit where many things I don't understand can be changed  

[onesea]

Thanks for all the advice, I will be back to this but at the moment I have borrowed one from boat. 

 

It's not going to be used for the winter and life here is changing somewhat.

 

Edited January 12 by onesea