I wanted to know opinions about a trickle charger for my 7.3L diesel truck. I don't drive it that much so it sits. I'd like to keep the batteries good but don't know if my usual trickle chargers or an alternative is sufficient AND I don't know if I need two, one for each battery.

 

When I am gone from my vehicle for a few months, I put on the same charger I use for my boat Schumacher Marine with a maintainer and I have never had a problem.

 

I like the Noco Genius brand of chargers, shouldn't take one too big.

Shop | Multi-Purpose Chargers | G1100 | Genius Battery Chargers

 

Shoemaker 1.5 Amp On Board Trickle/Float Charger. (SE-1-12S-CA) $40

 

If you are a onboard kind of guy...

Shop | On-Board Chargers | GEN Mini 1 | Genius Battery Chargers

 

this is what i use also. i have it and the block heater in the grill at a power strip with the power strip wire coming out of the grill. the battery charger/maintainer is always plugged into the power strip.
if i know hte truck will be sitting for more than a week it gets plugged in. then when it gets cold, like around the beginning of december i plug the block heater into the power strip and put the truck on a timer. two hours before i go out the timer comes on warming up the engine and charging the batteries.
then when it gets warm around mid april i unplug the block heater and just go with the charger for the warm months.

 

So one trickle charger or two. Which battery to plug it/them up to?

 

One. Best way to hook it up is positive to 1st battery and negative to second battery. Make the positive hookup to the closest battery, less chance of shorting out the wire. No sparks or fire if the negative shorts to the chassis. (this is if you are installing the charger on the truck)


FWIW I use a Battery Tender, been real happy with it. Tucked it away on the pass fender and wired it up to a Marinco power inlet so I can plug in without raising the hood.

 

I use a Schumacher SE50 when needed. You only need one as the batteries are linked. I plug mine into the passenger side but I don't think it makes much difference.

 

i have mine connected to the driver side battery, and the charger is screwed into the old unused air duct to keep it from flopping around. it does not matter which battery it is connected to, the batteries are in parallel. so as long as the connections are good it will charge both batteries no matter how it is connected.

 

Personally I like that cheapo Solar Trickle Charger from harbor freight, you just plug it into the cigarette lighter and it backfeeds to the batteries. I dont personally have one as I dont need it, but a buddy does on his truck which gets parked for a time. He tested it and it does put out about 11.5 volts on a sunny day. Just set it on the dash. You can also hard wire it if you wish. for 15 bucks its worth it. 1.5 Watt Solar Battery Charger

 

i have them in every truck too. but they do not put out enough to charge the battery, they will only keep a battery topped off if everything is disconnected.
there is enough paracitic draw from the computer, clock, and radio memory to overpower the solar charger and kill the battery over a long time.

 

He did something to his that improved it, ill ask him and come back. I think it had sonething to do with eliminating the charge led indicator.

 

This is the one I have as well. I love it and is very well built. But I see that the positive should be on one battery and the negative on the second. The cables on this charger doesnt allow for this. Is it bad to have it hooked to one? I dont want to cut the factory cables with the charger but I can I suppose. I want it to work the best as possible because with snow plowing coming up my batteries take a beating and need them to be topped off the best I can. Would two chargers be too much?

 

it don't make any difference how you hook it up. dual batteries are hooked in parallel. so both batteries will charge the same if they are hooked to either battery, or positive on one and negative on the other as long as the connections are good. i see no sense in cutting the wires of the charger to put one terminal on each battery, all that will do is give another place for corrosion in connections.