Battery Charger questions

Ok all I have ever had as far as battery charger is the old Car style that I have to clamp onto one battery at a time and let it charge. I have been asked for xmas gift ideas and I have always wanted a better battery charger. The number one reason why I would like a different charger is I have heard some type chargers will "maintain" a charge on a battery without ever having to touch it once you have it connect it. With mine it will chrage to full charge and shut off. if I don't go restart it then the charge will drain off. I HATE that!

so here are my questions

first let me tell you I have just two batteries and my boat is a Tracker Pro-17

1. do you HAVE to go onboard? what is the advantage other then just unplug and go

2. What type of charger should I look for? what are "must have" type features?

3. Can you please explain the Transfer on demand or Distributed on Demand feature to me? why do you need this?

4. Do they make a charger that will offer "maintain" and other features in a portable style? if so can you tell me the best one to look for?


I don't mind putting in an onboard charger and probable should but if a portable style is cheaper then ANY doller saved right now is a huge plus.. Thanks everyone!!!

I got a Vector Smart Battery Charger. It allows you to chose wet, gel or amg battery type, charge rate (2/10/15), automatic operation, maintainer mode, battery recondition (desulfating), float charge and equalize. It is fully automatic and charges at the corrct rate until the battery is full (digital screen reads full) then goes into maintainer mode. I paid around $50.00 for it online. I cut off the alligator clamps and instead went with a hard wired set up to allow me to simply plug/unplug the charger to the battery. The only problem is a fan runs continuously even on float. That is a waste of electricity in my opinion, so I use a BatteryPal battery maintainer for long term storage. I check the batteries every 30 days or so to be sure they are doing ok.

Something I should add: Vector was bought out by Black and Decker, and the prices went up. There are still some of the 15/10/2 old company chargers available, They have more features for the money. I don't know about the warranty, but I would guess Black and Decker will honor them.

I'm not sure I need to get real crazy with a bunch of features. I just want a simple charger that I can plug in and leave. it will maintain a full charge on both my battiers even if I have to leave it in storage form 3 hours to 3 months.... If I have to get an onboard to do this I will. "battery recondition (desulfating), float charge and equalize" I don't even know what that is and why I would need it.

I have a charger that I bought from Walmart it's a 2/10/50 that has an auto cycle you could use on the 2 or 10. The 50 is for a jump start. That would be portable for other uses. I have an on-board 2 bank in the boat that has an auto cycle as well. Also I have a friend that bought a battery tender that he keeps on his hotrod while in storage. I think it's like this one.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DTN-022-0150DLWH/

1. No you don't have to go with an onboard charger but if you stay overnight anywhere then all you have to do is plug it in. Also when you get home all you have to do is plug it in.

2. You want one that will maintain your battery once it is charged.

I don't know about the rest of your answers but here is a link for the charger I bought. I did not want to spend a ton of money either
http://www.dualpro.com/products/recreation/

The "Transfer on Demand" or "Distribute on Demand" is a microprossesor that will give the extra amperage to a battery that needs it. For example: if you have a charger that doesn't have this feature and it's a three bank charger (will charge three batteries) and is a say 10/10/10 (10 amps per bank) that is all that will be provided to each battery. If you have 2 trollers and a starting batrtery and your start battery is dead it will only give 10 amps to that battery and say your trollers are completly charged they will not be getting any amps but, if you had an on demand charger of the same 10/10/10 it would throw all 30 amps to that dead battery. I've heard good things about the Minnkota chargers. My brother has one, when my Gueast chrgers fails that is what I'm going to get. I've had 2 Pro Mariners and they both went south on me.

I really like my new Minn Kota on board charger. Need a little room to install though.