The modern market presents a large variety of appliances for charging. Every customer has an opportunity to find the best smart battery charger for himself without any problems. The choice is up to you.
Indeed, it´s crucial to keep the vehicle fully charged. For that we should use such appliances as battery charger or maintainer: two tools with the same working principle but different functionality.
Battery Charger
The battery charger is a device which uses the power from an external source to supply electronic batteries with energy. It’s powered from 220–230 VAC network and has special clamps for connection to the battery’s terminals. It’s usually used when the driver hasn’t been driving the vehicle for several months. On average, it requires 10 hours to get a full charge. It’s an inexpensive tool, which breaks down rarely due to its simple and reliable construction.
Nevertheless, the charger demands the permanent control of the user. You should remember that the wrong charging may decrease the battery’s life by 25-30%. To be precise, instead of 4-5 years, it will work for about 3 years.
The overcharge can ruin the battery without any possibility of recovery. It’s obligatory to strictly hold the amperage within 10% of the battery’s capacity. Besides, it’s necessary to define the exact charge level before connecting it to the charger.
Battery Maintainer
The maintainer is a device made to “service” a battery by holding its charge while you’re not using it. The maintainer has many different stabilizers and regulators which help prevent overcharging. It’s supplied with perfect schemes, which accurately determine how much charge does the battery need. The display shows all the info about the charging process to minimize any risks. Some of the advanced models even have a special mode which allows restoring the battery’s capacity.
The only disadvantage of the battery maintainer is its price. It’s really costly and difficult to fix in the case of breakage because of its complex structure.
Battery Maintainer VS Charger: How do They Differ?
- Functionality
- Autonomy
- Protective system
- Structure
- Modes
The maintainer uses an intellectual charging system and has many extra functions, such as maintaining the right storage voltage, adaptation to external temperatures, and battery recovery function. The charger fits only for infrequent battery recharging, as it can’t afford wide functionality.
The maintainer provides a completely automatic work, where everything is controlled by special software. An intellectual system inside determines the battery’s capacity, charge level, and voltage. In the case of charger if the user won’t control the charging process, the battery will be completely broken.
The maintainer is able to completely protect the battery not only from the overcharge or reverse polarity but also from such external factors as extreme cold or abnormal heat. It identifies the condition of the battery, informing about the presence of potential damages. The charger doesn’t have any protection features and in some cases can even cause a damaging effect on the battery.
The most obvious difference between a battery charger and maintainer consists in the fact that the last one has a more complex circuit, being a much more advanced device. In the same time, the charger has got a simple construction, familiar to every experienced driver.
The battery charger has only one obvious mode, while every maintainer is supplied with two main modes: full charge and a floating charge mode, which automatically turns on when the charge is no longer needed.
