Tips for Choosing the Right Truck Battery Charger

It’s important to keep your truck batteries consistently charged and in excellent condition so you can make your cross-country hauls without having to worry about losing power and getting stranded. But how do you know which type of battery charger is right for your purposes?

Here’s some information about the factors you should consider when selecting truck battery chargers in Jefferson, WI.

Consider the type of battery

One of the first and most important factors you should take into account when choosing a charger for your battery is the kind of battery you’re working with. Is it a wet cell (flooded) battery, an absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery, a gel cell battery or a valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) battery? If so, you can actually use a single charger to cover all these battery types except for gel cell. However, there are some gel cell chargers that will work with some of these other battery types.

In general, if you know you have other batteries to charge, it’s ideal to get a charger that will work with as many of your batteries as possible, just for the sake of efficiency and affordability.

Consider the size of your battery

When we talk about the size of your battery for the purpose of your charger, we’re not talking about its physical dimensions (although those may be important to consider as well), but rather its output and amp hours. A full-size auto battery is generally rated for approximately 50 amp hours, which means you’d want a 10-amp charger, which would take approximately six hours to recharge a fully dead 50-amp battery.

There are other, “larger” batteries that might be rated for, say, 100-amp hours, which would take a 10-amp charger almost 11 hours to fully charge a battery that had been totally dead. To calculate the time it’ll take to charge, divide the hour rating by the charger rating (amps) and then add another 10 percent for extra charging time. If you want a faster recharge, then you want a charger with more amps, but if you don’t think you’ll be in a hurry you can get away with smaller, less powerful chargers. What’s more important is that you give yourself enough power with your charger to complete the charge in enough time for your purposes.

Consider your battery usage

You may have different goals with your battery charging, depending on the usage of your truck. If you let it sit for long periods of time but like to keep it charged, a low-current charger could be a good idea. If you need to recharge your batteries quickly and powerfully, you might need a more powerful charger. There are other people who specifically search for waterproof chargers to work in case they’re stuck out in the elements, or chargers that can also double as power supplies for long road trips.

For more information about selecting truck battery chargers in Jefferson, WI, we encourage you to contact the team at Remis Power Systems Inc. and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Categorised in: Truck Battery Charger

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