There are at least three types of battery chargers commonly used for cars. They are the common Quick Battery Chargers, the Battery Maintainers, and the Trickle Battery Chargers. The reason why these three types of battery chargers are dominating the market is that each of them has different characteristics in their application. In this blog, we will introduce these 3 common types of car battery chargers in the following.
Quick Battery Chargers
The most common quick battery chargers can provide sufficient charging current to charge a battery. These chargers usually adopt a constant current and voltage to charge the battery. Typically, it only takes a few hours to charge a typical 12V car battery. Some quick chargers use a charging current up to 40 amps, which can fully charge a battery in a matter of minutes.
But quick charging can lead to overheating and off-gassing in batteries if there is sulfuration problem in the battery. Therefore, in order to avoid such problems, it is recommended to use this charging method for batteries in good condition. When a quick battery charger is used, it is necessary to disconnect the battery immediately after it is fully charged to avoid being overcharged. Moreover, a period of trickle charging is also recommended after the battery is fully charged to promise the battery performance. Most quick battery chargers feature an indicator light so that when the battery is fully charged, it will make a notice.
Battery Maintainers
Unlike a regular quick battery charger, a battery maintainer can be used to keep a battery fully charged when it is not in use. They can be attached to the battery for long period of time without concern of damaging the battery. When the battery power drops below a certain level, it will automatically start to charge the battery. They can effectively prevent the battery from dying, decrease in power capacity and battery sulfuration caused by idling for long time.
Trickle Battery Chargers
Trickle Battery Chargers are different from the above two types of chargers. Trickle charging is also known as float charging. It will help improve battery performance by better restoring the active material on the battery plates. They charge batteries slowly with low current. So, they can also be called slow chargers. They can charge a battery for hours without overheating it, so there is no concern that the current will be too high to damage the battery. Trickle charging is the best way to charge a sulfurated battery and improve its performance. It is therefore recommended that trickle charging be used after quick charging of a dead battery to maintain its performance.
Conclusion
The above three types of battery chargers have their own differentiated applications due to their own features. The selection of battery chargers should consider not only the basic charging needs but also the condition of the battery. Nowadays, more and more smart battery chargers appear on the market. These intelligent chargers can constantly monitor battery state and adjust the charging current and voltage during the charging process. They can also automatically turn off the charging current when the battery is fully charged. These features ensure that the battery can be charged in the optimal charging mode. In addition, more charging protection measures such as over voltage protection, overcurrent protection, over-temperature protection, short circuit protection, and reverse protection have been widely used to ensure the charging safety.
