ATV Battery Trickle Charger

[Gilbey]

These are a little pricey but I like what I have read about charging AGM batteries. This one has the adapters so I can screw on terminals of ATV and leave on and plug in w/o taking seat off every time to maintain charge. Look for the coupon for 25 % off it will help.

[chuckufarlie]

I just started using a noco g7200 as it has an AGM setting. So far so good.

[mikeexplorer]

On 4/25/2019 at 12:18 PM, Gilbey said:

These are a little pricey but I like what I have read about charging AGM batteries. This one has the adapters so I can screw on terminals of ATV and leave on and plug in w/o taking seat off every time to maintain charge. Look for the coupon for 25 % off it will help.

 

I purchased this one and it seems to work better then what I had for maintaining the battery on the Jumping Jack trailer. I also found that this charger will work off the inverter that is built into my Tahoe. This gives me a means to charge the battery on the trailer if I run it down. My old charger would not work off the inverter.

 

Mike

 

 

[Ryan Reese]

I have a cable hooked permanently to the battery terminals and ran out the back of the bike to a trickle charge plugin- so when I'm done for the weekend I can just plug it right into the wall. Is this a pretty common thing? Is it safe to do this? I ask because I recently found my battery emptied of fluid and a nice puddle of acid on the shop floor.  I think it was an old battery, but I don't want to break another one.

[mikeexplorer]

Some of the maintainers come with that connector so you have a quick way to attach the charger. No harm in attaching it. The only way it could have damaged the battery is if it overcharged it for a long time. (as in the charger is defective) you can check that by measuring the voltage on the battery with the charger attached. It should not exceed 14.5 volts.

For a charger to "boil" out your battery, you would see over 17 volts.

Mike

 

[Salty Sea]

Sounds like I need to get one of these.  If I don't start my Yamaha every week or so it will go dead...

[mikeexplorer]

9 hours ago, Salty Sea said:

Sounds like I need to get one of these.  If I don't start my Yamaha every week or so it will go dead...

I would check the battery to make sure it is good, should last longer then a week without running it. You could also have a parasitic draw on the battery.

 

[bodon]

Between my son and I we have 14 of the Harbor Freight chargers in use. They have worked great. 

Edited December 6, 2020 by bodon

[JacobSlabach]

On 5/19/2019 at 12:03 PM, Ryan Reese said:

I have a cable hooked permanently to the battery terminals and ran out the back of the bike to a trickle charge plugin- so when I'm done for the weekend I can just plug it right into the wall. Is this a pretty common thing? Is it safe to do this? I ask because I recently found my battery emptied of fluid and a nice puddle of acid on the shop floor.  I think it was an old battery, but I don't want to break another one.

also wanted to say if it leaks acid from your battery make sure to clean any that might have gotten on your atv.  acid will take the finish off plastic, can melt/burn paint off of metal and then cause the metal to rust really bad.  i have a 4runner i bought that had an old battery explode under the hood that the owner didnt bother to clean the acid off and now the front passenger suspension is super rusty on the otherwise rust free frame.

had a question about trickle chargers.  so i found that i could hook up a good battery to a drained one and "trick" the trickle charger into charging both when it otherwise wouldnt have charged the drained battery.  now i have three batteries off some farm equipment that have sat for a while and drained and hooking up a good battery isnt enough to trick the trickle charger into charging them.  what battery charger (not maintaner like what you get for $10 online of $5 at harbor freight) would yall recommend?

[davefrombc]

If the batteries have been discharged to that point  they are scrap.

Even  if you could trick them into taking a charge ( the old ferro/mechanical  chargers would charge those batteries)  they will  never have any decent capacity , and in fact  are very likely to develop  shorted cells  due to the  plates shedding  sulphates.

[JacobSlabach]

1 minute ago, davefrombc said:

If the batteries have been discharged to that point  they are scrap.

Even  if you could trick them into taking a charge ( the old ferro/mechanical  chargers would charge those batteries)  they will  never have any decent capacity , and in fact  are very likely to develop  shorted cells  due to the  plates shedding  sulphates.

gotcha yea i was afraid of that tho i have heard that some nicer batteries will come back from the dead so i wanted to give it a shot and maybe save some $$$ (these are like the big diesel batteries two are for a tractor the other is for a bulldozer.  not sure what new batteries will run but im sure it wont be cheap.

do yall think the viking charger listed preveously will handle a bigger battery for a diesel motor with high cca or should i get something beafier? and yes i agree with @davefrombcthat once batteries drain and sit drained for a while they go to crap but i still wnated to give them a shot and if not that at least have something to use later on for big or small batteries

[davefrombc]

Huge batteries like those ones should be charged with a 10  amp or larger charger. Trickle chargers are only good for keeping one already fully charged topped up, and even then some require the larger trickle chargers because of internal leakage not  noticeable on smaller batteries. 

You can "shock"  those big batteries into  taking a charge sometimes by  hitting them  with 24  or more volts DC. Connect two  12v batteries  in series and then connecting to the  terminals on the big dead one for a few seconds. It  may knock a little sulphate off the cells and allow them to show enough voltage  your trickle  charger or bigger electronic charger will start up  on it . Only  hit the dead battery for a few seconds at a time and be sure to  be where any acid  that might boil  out won't hurt anything..especially you. The best way to try to  get  them to  take a charge though is with one of the old chargers that were basically  just a transformer and rectifier. They don't sense the battery voltage,  They just supply a constant voltage  that at first will show nearly  no  charge rate until  the battery  has gained a little voltage back. As battery voltage rises the charge increases but when it is near the  charge output voltage the rate drops again.  Those old  chargers don't shut off when the battery reaches full  charged voltage . They will keep  pumping current into the battery  until  it boils out or shorts.

It's worth a try if you have the batteries there .. You  may get lucky.  Otherwise hopefully  you have a recycler there that will  pay you for their lead content. I took  about a half dozen  dead batteries of various sizes to a recycler here  and walked out with  over  $100 in  my pocket

[Brent]

No issues with the Harbor Freight float charger.  Been using it several years.

[jung4g]

I use an older (2015) Noco battery charger that works on 6 or 12v, and has modes for different setups, including a maintain mode. To make it more likely that I'll plug the quad or whatever else in, I have these installed these quick connects on leads to the front grill guard, I have them on other vehicles as well is in the bed of my truck so I could actually charge/jump the quad when it's in the truck: https://www.amazon.com/OrionMotorTech-Battery-Connect-Disconnect-Recovery/dp/B014FEV6EU/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=battery+fast+connect&qid=1610029637&s=automotive&sr=1-8

More expensive, but more uses and I don't need it there 100% of the time. 

[Nonampleasenoiwont]

Personally have 3x hft maintainers on atv and motorcycles cheap peace of mind.

[Superk]

My vote goes to the Genius charger brand. Prior to these I preferred the CTEK chargers however they are more expensive. The genius chargers have the ability to run a desulfurization cycle and they can force feed the battery to attempt to get a charge into a overly depleted battery. If you want full adjustability the the best I know of is a Junsi X8 however this requires buying a separate power supply and is more effort then most will likely want to put forward, once acquired however you can charge at any rate you prefer and set cut off voltages as well as monitoring and tracking charge cycles and charging most all types of batteries including lithium. 

[Pat1991]

I plan on using my plow this winter should I leave the trickle charger plugged in 24/7 will that hurt my battery 

[Ajmboy]

1 hour ago, Pat1991 said:

I plan on using my plow this winter should I leave the trickle charger plugged in 24/7 will that hurt my battery 

Should be fine as long as the trickle charger has a fully charged stop feature, so you don't overcharge the battery. The chargers in the first post are all designed to be plugged in and to "maintain" your battery.

 

[Hunter19]

I highly recommend them I have six of them and they’re constantly on trickle charge for three ATVs my car and my two generator

[Mwozjr87]

I have that exact black and decker model. Works well for me

[Levi]

I use the battery tender jr.  I have a bunch of them.  Quad, dirt bike, generator, tractor, lawn mower.  They are really great, especially when you have a quad w/o pull start.  Many times I have wished my quad had pull start as a backup.

[lazypengu1n]

I have a two bank battery Tender for the last ten years and it works great.

[Herring]

I only use CTEK chargers (used to work there.,..). But NOCO and Iceman has some nice chargers.. Beware of the cheapest China knock offs, some of these units are not safe to operate...

[Phil_Shifley]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:54 AM, Herring said:

I only use CTEK chargers (used to work there.,..). But NOCO and Iceman has some nice chargers.. Beware of the cheapest China knock offs, some of these units are not safe to operate...

A buddy of mine has several of the HF maintainers/trickle chargers and seems to have good luck with them, My experience however not as good. I picked one up for the wheeling jeep two or three years ago, wife walked into the building a couple months after I bought it and heard the battery "hissing at her".  I unhooked it and havent used it since. I'd been running battery Tender's up to that point and thought I'd give the HF a try because of the low cost. I did pick up a schumacher at local farm supply place a couple months ago and it seems to be doing well.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Phil_Shifley

[Grizz700]

I have to give a nod to the NOCO brand as I have a Genius 10. 

It seems as battery technology has increased so has the need to own a "Smart Charger" with all the different battery types in use. 

I like that the Genius 10 has the ability to disulfate a battery and it also has temperature compensation and its reasonably priced at around $100 for all its capabilities.   

[Herring]

On 5/19/2022 at 10:48 PM, Grizz700 said:

I have to give a nod to the NOCO brand as I have a Genius 10. 

It seems as battery technology has increased so has the need to own a "Smart Charger" with all the different battery types in use. 

I like that the Genius 10 has the ability to disulfate a battery and it also has temperature compensation and its reasonably priced at around $100 for all its capabilities.   

Well, as for the different programs (like AGM etc.) it makes no practical difference Litium ion batterys are significantly different in chemistry but as for lead acid most of the stuff is sales related... As usual...

I have looked at some Noco chargers and they are no better than anything else as long as you dont purchase the cheapest ones shipped directly from China.

[WillrogersII]

Same thing I use as well, jus let now learning that I can take a little time now (to prep and plan and what not) to save a lot of time later. It sure is nice to go to the garage and when I want to ride or cut grass they just start right up. 

[Herring]

Anyone that has experience of battery monitoring systems that is wifi connected and that can be monitored online?

CTEK has a bluetooth one but that just makes no sense (and its a piece of junk...), if Im within range I can just as well measure directly on the battery.......

 

[SupraRage08]

i have been using the battery tender for years on cars and my toys.  never had an issue!

[MSUGeoman]

Vote here for the battery Tender jr, I use one for the vette in the winter and have another one for miscellaneous battery related stuff (mower, etc) to charge when parked for extended periods. Like the ease of use for multiple battery connection types with the quick connect adapters they offer. They've always worked perfectly on anything I've needed them for.