Charging battery ... what do you use

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by willk

Do you think he means with a feather? I believe that's called "erotic". If the whole chicken is used it's called "perverted". HTH.

Soz, TRICKLE, my bad. Trickle, it's like drivel dribble. No worries there, men with oval balls are allowed to hold them while running...

Crumbs Mate you Ok!??

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by beerbelly

I use a 6w solar panel from Halfords £39.99 always plenty of battery power

You need to be careful with solar panels too, these also have varying degrees of “parasitic back current” I.e when the voltage at the battery side is higher than the charge side (at night) the panel will be draining the battery, admittedly only to a small degree. But if the boat was put in the shade or a building the panel would eventually discharge the battery.
Nowt is ever as straightforward as it seems [emoji849]

[Jeff]

+ for the Ctek MX5 . Permanently connected to the battery & installed in the console with an external Bulgin connector for ease of connection to the mains.
I leave it permanently 'on' at home and it seems to be keeping the battery in top notch order

...... also, in a moment of budget madness some while ago, I splashed out on one of these -

https://www.antigravitybatteries-uk....art-xp-10.html

.... gladly, I have never needed to use it on the RIB but it did start a totally dead 7.5T truck visiting a neighbour

[HDAV]

Blimey you lot must be loaded.... £12.99 Lidl or Aldi smart changer

https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-b...97043233607400

Just keep an eye out for when they are on offer....

Ctek are great my dad has one but £50+ .......

[Bobg]

Beware of the cheap 'Non Smart' battery chargers. They are Ok to get a flat battery up to a decent charge level overnight. However, as they are not voltage regulated or temperature compensated it is possible to overcharge tge battery and cause it to 'Gas' if the charger is left on permanent float charge. This will ruin an AGM battery, the most common type in Marine use. Smart Chargers will refuse to charge a faulty battery. Non Smart chargers will pump charge in and continue to destroy tge battery, which will gas. The gas produced is hydrogen, which is highly explosive in a confined space. I have seen the devastating effects.
To summarise, get a Smart Charger

[beerbelly]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

You need to be careful with solar panels too, these also have varying degrees of “parasitic back current” I.e when the voltage at the battery side is higher than the charge side (at night) the panel will be draining the battery, admittedly only to a small degree. But if the boat was put in the shade or a building the panel would eventually discharge the battery.
Nowt is ever as straightforward as it seems [emoji849]

ah thanks didn't know this I do have a noco booster pack that's quite small and stores under the console I usualy take it on any outing just for emergency use
https://www.halfords.com/workshop-to...o-jump-starter

[Bobg]

The solar panel mention by beerbelly and Pikey Dave is only problematical if it does not have a Blocking Diode' fitted. All modern ones should have the diode fitted to the panel. It is usually in that little box on one side of the panel, which usually makes the panel awkward to fit on a coachroof.
Otherwise a cheap Schotcky Diode should be soldered in series with the positive lead of the solar panel. Which diode to use will depend on the size of your panel PM me for details but incude the size and power output of the panel

[gpsguru]

Another vote for CTEK, which is my 'goto' charger ...........

I also have a Ring RSC612 Smart Charger which is very good, but can be temperamental in very cold weather (below 0c)

[9D280]

FWIW I got a Ring Smart charger. So far it seems to have kept the battery alive over 2 winters....

I now need to find the equivalent for the steering cable....

I also fitted a Bulgin Buccaneer 2 pin chassis socket to my console - I have a lead that connects that to the Regulated split charge pin on the towbar... (The one you are supposed to use for your caravan battery). That gives it a "guaranteed top up" en route to the slip.

[GuyC]

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/mot...RoCKh0QAvD_BwE

I have my motorbike battery's running off Optimate smart chargers but they also do a solar smart charger which I'm considering using if I ever get to the point of moving my boat out of the garage!

[Maximus]

Nearly 1000 thread views and ongoing....Blimey!...what a Nation we've become.
It's hardly Rocket Science Chaps....

[xpertski]

Originally Posted by Maximus

Nearly 1000 thread views and ongoing....Blimey!...what a Nation we've become.

It's hardly Rocket Science Chaps....

Interesting all the same and definitely giving me food for thought when I buy something next month (spending limit reached this month argh).

Just an interesting point given there are recommendations for smart charging and yet many of us use standard chargers.

[9D280]

if it wasn't rocket science I guess I wouldn't have killed 3 batteries with 1 Standard & 1 allegedly "smart" charger over the past decade or so....