Battery charger question

[Donsail68]

I have a bass pro battery smart charger that I use for charging trolling batteries and the main cranking battery for my bass fishing boat. Can I use this smart charger to charge the smaller 7.5 amp battery that I use for the FF on my kayak?

Sorry I don't have the model numbers or any other specifications with me as I typed this.

[john from md]

Probably not as the amperage is too high. Sealed Lead Acid batteries, like the one you are taking about, generally like a charger that is 10% of the battery rating. A battery tender junior would work perfectly for your application as it puts out 750 ma.

Regards,

John

[DonV]

I used my auto charger on my 5 amp sealed battery for about half a year and had no problems. I did use the the 2 amp slow charge setting. Don't take my word for it though, I may have been doing a big no no and just luckily avoided some catastrophe.
I did switch to a small $21 Black & Decker charger/maintainer just for the ease of hooking it up to my battery and it's small size. Link below if you are interested in it. One of the included charging adapters is just a two wire flat trailer connector that hooks right up to my FF battery box that I had already had attached a two wire flat connector to. The polarity was even right. Been happy with the set up.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-B...decker+charger

[john from md]

That charger is rated at 1 amp so it should serve you well for a small SLA battery.

John

[DonV]

That charger is rated at 1 amp so it should serve you well for a small SLA battery.

John

My Schumacher that I used originally has a fast /slow charge setting. I believe they are 2 and 5 amp. I would always use the 2 setting and the battery is still fine. I guess i only charged it 5-6 times over the course of a few months.

[Goody]

I use a Schumacher SSC-1500A-CA. I use to use it to charge a deep cycle trolling battery but now just use it to charge my FF battery. Works great. Charges it up fast. It test the battery when you first hook it up and shows you it voltage and charge level. You can choose the size of the battery and type to charge. I used to test the car battery last year when I was having problems. Found out the battery was no good. Hope this helps.

[CAGE RATTLER]

I use a Schumacher SSC-1500A-CA. I use to use it to charge a deep cycle trolling battery but now just use it to charge my FF battery. Works great. Charges it up fast. It test the battery when you first hook it up and shows you it voltage and charge level. You can choose the size of the battery and type to charge. I used to test the car battery last year when I was having problems. Found out the battery was no good. Hope this helps.

I really like the digital display on those. Should make it easy to tell how far your discharged.

[john from md]

I really like the digital display on those. Should make it easy to tell how far your discharged.

Before you go spending money on a Schumacher, you should do some googling. In past years, Schmacher made good chargers. Not so much anymore. I have two of their digital chargers and neither is dependable to leave on my expensive batteries. They have a history (searchable) of not shutting off, not keeping the proper float charge and for reading 100% percent when the battery is not completely charged.

While this may not be a big deal for people who only have 5AH SLA's, it is for people who spend big bucks on batteries for their sailboats, solar systems, bassboat trolling systems and classic cars.

Just my .02.

Regards,

John