Hawkins

· Establish the capacity of your battery(s) in Amp Hours (Ah) from its label or markings.

· Select a battery charger capable of delivering a MINIMUM current in Amps equal to 10% of the battery capacity. E.g. for a 50 Ah battery, choose a charger capable of delivering at least 5 Amps.

· Look at the charger current rating data on the back of the charger. Use the lowest current rating when selecting your charger.

· Is your battery sealed or refillable with distilled water through vent caps? If there is no caps then it is a maintenance free or sealed battey.

· If you have a sealed battery, you MUST choose an automatic charger. If refillable, (you can add water) then you can choose an automatic, a manually controlled charger, or a trickle charger.

· Do not choose an trickle charger and think you can leave it on the battery permanently without danger.

· So-called "trickle" chargers are usually nothing more than a small, cheap uncontrolled charger. Any uncontrolled charger will continue to deliver (trickle) current into a battery if the battery voltage will allow it to do so.

· Over time, this trickle is quite capable of taking the battery into the gassing stage where it will lose water and may suffer permanent damage.

· Remember that all battery chargers except the automatic chargers have to be monitored to prevent overcharging.

· If your vehicle battery is not used very often, you may leave an automatic charger connected to it indefinitely.

· An automatic charger will sit quietly charging away and switch itself off when the battery has reached the optimum voltage setting.

· Generally an automatic charger will maintain the battery voltage for weeks, months or years if need be, so that the battery is ready to go at a moment's notice.