Thread: Will your battery go flat if you don't start car for a few weeks?

We've found that the cheapish ones work well for a few years, then at some point will die. Dunno why? Overheat or something, quality just not up to it .. no idea.
This has been my experience with brothers gear tho. He's had 3 now, in about 5-10 years or so.

Can't remember specific brand names he's got over those years but always worked(for motorbikes, go cart start battery, his battery box device .. etc).
He finally relented and got a C-Tek ~1 amp model about 6 months ago(less than $100). Will see how it goes in terms of durability.

Note that he's always had them on(trickle charging) too.

There are so many of these things to choose from, and I don't mind spending a couple of hundred on a good charger that isn't just for trickle charging but also has a couple of other features (if they even matter??).

Repco has a whole lot of these things, it's very confusing. How about this one:

Repco Battery Charger 9 Stage 6V/12V - 16 Amp - RBC16SS3 - Repco | Repco Australia

Looks like it does a faster charge and is good for AGM batteries and then goes to trickle mode and can be left on indefinitely. This definitely isn't the only one of these though there are stacks more, this kind of thing looks like a good one though in my less than educated opinion. What do you think of one of these?

Projecta Battery Charger 12V 10A - IC1000 - PROJECTA | Repco Australia

Or one of these look a little better, can choose the battery type, sounds fancy!

I've had a good run with Projectas.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I've had a good run with Projectas.

Me too .. kind'a.
Good run in that it my 10 amp model, like Bens' link) lasted about 10 years or so, but died last year. I pulled it apart and can't find anything obvious wrong .. just won't turn on.

A few months back I got a NOCO 7 amp model(about $170).. works nice, charged up a couple of 200A/h truck batteries nicely in a couple of days, charged up brothers Optimas in the TD5 fine for a couple of weeks too.
But the NOCO had to go to it's actual owner .. my dad. So I no longer have it. I like their plug'n'play leads setup to start off, the fly leads are nicer quality than I've seen on many other brands(Ctek included). I got it for the old boy for his mobility scooter as it's 24v, and the NOCO is one of very few that can do 24v too .. hence why I got it.
Also, mobility scooters use an XLR(like an audio plug!) plug point for charging, and NOCO have this connector type that connects to the charger lead. Very high quality plugs and connections, that even my old man can't break! .. simple for him to set it up for charging.

So, for Ben .. I'm recommending the NOCO G7200 at about $170 seems to be very good value. Do a search on ebay, there is a mob up in Wangaratta that sells them, can't recall their company name. But I actually drove up to get mine .. (any excuse for a drive) before lockdowns in Vic. Nice people, helpful etc.
Alternatively, and what I'm going to order for myself, is the G15000 version, this version has a quick charge/jump start feature, which could be important at some point in life. It charges at 20amp for a few mins(10 or 15 I think) which should help start a dead battery.
This ebay Wang mob have these 15 amp versions for about $270(delivered).

Back on the original topic, our camper had been parked for nearly three weeks, when today I plugged it in and the twin AGMs read 12.7, which is basically fully charged, so that's good.

I think I'll try the Repco one, it's on sale and is less than half the price of the Projecta and looks like it does all the same stuff. Seriously, how bad can it really be surely they don't make complete garbage...?

Originally Posted by Young Angus

I think I'll try the Repco one, it's on sale and is less than half the price of the Projecta and looks like it does all the same stuff. Seriously, how bad can it really be surely they don't make complete garbage...?

Sounds good. I doubt you'd go wrong with it. If it lasts you between 5-10 years, it's fair value for money .