15 Best Car Battery Chargers Reviews and Buying Guide In 2020

Armed with a reliable car battery charger, you wouldn’t have to bother much about changing the battery of your car when it is running low. And in those ugly scenarios where your car battery dies off, a good charger can keep you out of the mess with its jump start function.

Our best overall pick is the Clore Automotive Jump-N-Carry JNC660 1700 Peak Amp 12 Volt Jump Starter. We fell in love with its automatic charging capacity. This battery charger is durable with good cranking power. Also, it has a high resilience to corrosion.

The car battery chargers we will point out in this guide stand out for their size, charging power, voltage, safety, and active monitoring. We will give you an unbiased analysis of these battery chargers from our practical use of them. You can trust us to touch on their best strengths while candidly unraveling their respective weaknesses.

14 Best Car Battery Chargers Reviews

1. Clore Automotive Jump-N-Carry JNC660 1700 Peak Amp 12 Volt Jump Starter

This battery charger true to its name stands out for its jump-start capacity. It boasts an incredible cranking power. No argument, this would prove invaluable in those stranded scenarios when your battery dies.

With just one full charge, the Clore JN660 gives you numerous jump-starts. You may be curious about how it manages to achieve this. Well, we will tell you.

Regardless of corrosion, the hot jaw clamps of this charger boasting industrial grades of strength give you a robust connection. This charger is also equipped with 46-inch heavy-duty cable leads almost sure to get around your car.

You will love the automated recharging process of this charger. This gives you the luxury of plugging the unit, abandoning it, and getting a quick jump start.

The Clore JN660 also counts on the CloreProformer battery technology. This helps it achieve an incredible blend of durability and density in its power delivery. The endpoint is longevity and extended substantial cranking power.

Pros

It has terrific cranking power

It is long-lasting

It charges automatically

It has a strong connection regardless of corrosion

Cons

It lacks light

The quality of the air compressor needs to be improved

2. Ampeak 2/8/15A 12V Smart Battery Charger/Maintainer Automatic with Winter Mode

We all know the pain of struggling with a charger with a miserable charging rate. This Ampeak battery charger gives you your deserved relief. Within minutes, your car battery should be duly charged and sweetly back on the road.

This is one of the leading smart battery chargers in the market at present equipped with intelligent cues that save you a lot of manual duties. We are convinced you will be impressed with the 150-minute timer which shuts the charger automatically.

This charger gives you cues as to when your battery is prepared for repair procedures. It also automatically prevents overheating of the battery. In situations where the charger doesn’t have enough power, there is a capacity meter to tell the magnitude of lag of the voltage inflow.

It is flexible despite its fast charging. You can go with a lower charging rate if the temperature conditions would make it not ideal for fast charging. This charger also boasts a long life span. It is supplied with a cooling fan, and a case made fully from steel.

However, we were not comfortable with the bulky weight of this charger. It is admittedly not the most portable on the list. It is heavy-duty. This won’t be much of a problem if you are comfortable moving it about all the time in the trunk of your car.

Pros

It is quickly charges

It is durable and strong

It is equipped with many intelligent cues making charger easier

Cons

It may be too heavy for you

3. DBPOWER 600A 18000mAh Portable Car Jump Starter (up to 6.5L Gas, 5.2L Diesel Engine) Battery Booster and Phone Charger with Smart Charging Port (Black/Red)

This charger is stocked with power! You can jump-start your car up to 20 times. Yet, it has such a compact design, even sitting comfortably in a glovebox. Come on, isn’t that unbelievable?

We also love the build of this DBPOWER Portable Car Jump Starter. It was amazing! This charger can give you as much as 600 amps. This makes it capable of jumpstarting your or 6.5l petrol engine (on just one charge) about 20 times!

The DBPOWER Portable Car Jump Starter has sizable heavy-duty clamps. This gives it a great connection allowing for substantial delivery of voltage to your car all at no stress. This makes it suitable for bigger cars.

Its versatility of application is even more exciting. It is equipped with USD ports, which can even charge your tablet, laptop, or your smartphone.

This charger is ridiculously easy to use. No technical experience? No problem. Just anyone can charge their battery with this charger.

Pros

It is powerful yet very compact

It is versatile and can power your other electronics

It has inherent design against short-circuiting

Cons

It could struggle to perform reasonably on a low charge

Its charge maintenance needs to be improved

4. Schumacher SC1305 12V Fully Automatic Battery Charger and 10/50A Engine Starter

This car battery charger has an impressive fast charging capacity. It has an ampere working range of 6/2A (charging as well as maintaining), 10A (boost mode), and 50A (engine start). This multi-stage charging is aimed at improving the lifespan of the battery, as well as for safety and enhanced precision.

This charger will typically take an average of 4 hours to charge a standard 12V battery fully. When the charger is working, you can tell from the lighted LED indicators.

When your battery is fully charged, this charger automatically turns off. The Float mode monitoring ensures that an ideal battery charge is sustained.

The Schumacher SC1305 features reverse hook-up protection, which protects the battery from damage. You would also be excited to learn that this charger automatically moderates the charging rate to suit charging and maintaining functions. This automatic feature is microprocessor controlled.

Pros

It operates automatically

Fast charging rate

Features LED lights

Cons

It is quite too sturdy

5. TACKLIFE T8 MAX Jump Starter – 1000A Peak 20000mAh, 12V Car Jumper (All Gas, up to 6.5L Diesel Engine), Auto Battery Booster, Portable Power Pack with Smart Jumper Cables, Storage Case

The TACKLIFE car jump starter is one charger we will not dare to ignore. It boasts a peak current of 1000A. On a full charge, this charger can jump start your typical 12V car battery (even as far as vans and trucks) about 40 times. Now tell me, isn’t that amazing?

This charger has an average charging time of 4 hours 30 minutes to fully charge your battery without overcharging. Here is something that distinguishes this charger from others: you can turn this charger off manually. There is also the digital LCD screen that indicates the battery life left.

This feature allows you to reduce the rate of the self-discharge of your battery. This feature helps the charger – when unused – to retain charge for more than 10 months. Coming with a 20000Mah capacity, this charger boasts dual USB ports.

There is one 12V 10A DC port that can take care of your car accessories and another 5v/9v quick charge that can power your smartphone.

This charger also comes with emergency LED flashlights. The red light can perfectly serve as a warning signal on the road in case of a traffic mishap.

Is that all? Nope.

The charger package also comes with smart jumper cables, cigarettes, and USB cable. It also features an inbuilt compass and an SOS signal.

Pros

It has lots of accessories

Powerful with many jump starts

Cons

It seems the charger gets stuck in the range of 68-71% no matter how long you plug it in

6. GOOLOO Upgraded 2000A Peak SuperSafe Car Jump Starter with USB Quick Charge 3.0 (Up to 10L Gas or 7L Diesel Engine) 12V Auto Battery Booster Power Pack Type-C Portable Phone Charger

The GOOLOO supersafe car jump starter is so small that it is easy to look down on its capacity. It can fit into your glove box comfortably. But at 19800 mAH, this charger is a wonder to behold.

It comes with a wealth of safety features that protect against overvoltage, short circuits, overcharge, and overload. It is also worth mentioning the SOS signal flash that comes with this charger. On a single charge, this signal flash can light up for 120 hours, at least.

The beauty of this charger doesn’t end there. It is also supplied with a remarkably bright LED flight coming in 3 unique illumination modes. Despite all the glamor, you have to be wary of the temperature when using this charger.

This charger has a temperature range of 60 degrees Celsius to -20 degrees Celsius. If you are keen on speed, you may be worried that this charger can only give 4 jump starts in 120 seconds.

Pros

It is very portable

It is safe to use

Comes with many vital accessories

LED lights have 3 illumination modes

Cons

The jump starts may not be fast enough for you

7. Schumacher SC1325 6/12V Wheeled Fully Automatic Battery Charger and 40/250A Engine Starter

If you are a lover of powerful chargers, Schumacher doesn’t let you down you with the SC1325. This charger boasts 250A jump start and 40A quick boost. This gives it sufficient power to start even bigger engines like trucks and your SUV.

This multi-stage charging process is automatic and controlled by a microprocessor facility. This extends the lifespan of your battery.

This charger is also outfitted with safety features like reverse hook-up protection. Such features go a long way in preventing the charger doesn’t work in the event of a reversal of clamps.

Indeed many chargers lack the voltage detection mechanism, but not this charger. The Schumacher SC1325 can detect voltage for your standard 12V battery or even 6V batteries.

Pros

It is significantly powerful

It has a voltage detection feature

It boasts safety features like reverse hook-up protection

Cons

The quality control should be improved as this charger can arrive without a rear axle

8. BLACK+DECKER BC15BD Fully Automatic 15 Amp 12V Bench Battery Charger/Maintainer with 40A Engine Start, Alternator Check, Cable Clamps

This car battery charger is spectacular for its capacity to enhance the longevity and efficiency of your battery. It has a battery reconditioning capacity.

This charger has a unique charge distribution that enables cells that were already dying off to be revitalized, shaking off the contaminants damaging them.

Compared to the average battery charger, the BLACK+DECKER Bench Battery Charger charges as fast as 4 times. This charger saves you the stress of manually inputting the settings. Of course, this charger has a jump-start feature to get your dead batteries back.

Also, this charger is equipped with an alternator checking feature. This way, you can tell the source of the interruption beforehand – if actually, it is the battery is the issue.

More than this, this charge features 3 unique charge settings giving you ample flexibility.

You would also fall in love with its safety facilities like reverse polarity protection. There is also an LCD to inform you of the state of the battery.

You would be impressed with the battery clamps that come with this charger. This way, you don’t have to take off the battery from your car. Its compact size also makes it incredibly portable and suitable for easy use on the go.

Pros

It is portable, thanks to its compactness

It comes with vital safety features

It reconditions your battery

Cons

It is not suited to batteries other than the 12V capacity

9. Optima Digital 400 12V Performance Maintainer and Battery Charger – 150-40000

The battery revival capacity of this battery is top-notch. The Optima Digital Performance Maintainer and Battery Charge is even perfect for batteries drained past 1.25 volts. This charger is sure to shoot it back alive.

Can you guess the other distinguishing feature that got us gushing about this charger? The intuitive design! This charger is so easy to use.

It is also armed with an LCD battery gauge that informs you about the health and performance of the battery. You can enjoy one-touch usage, thanks to the LCD screen and quick set options.

This charger takes excellence further by presenting a dual purpose hook design. There is the organizer bracket that helps you to hang your charger on the wall readily.

Pros

It comes with battery health mode

It features hybrid LED charging gauge

It comes with wall organizer bracket

Cons

The case breaks too readily

It lacks spares for accessory parts

10. Battery Tender Plus 12V, 1.25A Battery Charger

The design of the Battery Tender Plus battery Charger is an exciting deviation from the norm. It comes with 1.25 amperage. This charger was the pioneer of float mode design.

This mode enabled you to maintain-charge your battery. As you would guess, many brands have jumped on this groundbreaking feature as of today.

This charger is pretty versatile, being compatible with just any lead-acid battery. This includes the sealed maintenance-free batteries and the flooded ones.

The Tender Plus battery charger comes with a spark-proof safety facility. It has a multi-stage charging process, spanning spans four phases. This cuts across the initialization stage, followed by the bulk-charge and absorption stage, concluding with the float-charge stage.

No doubt, this is an exciting process. The bulk-charge rate is initiated (which takes the battery to 80% of the full charge) after the initialization of the charger. The absorption stage automatically follows this.

After this, the whole charging process is rounded up with the float-charge phase. This phase keeps the battery sustainably fully charged. Note that this doesn’t cause overheating problems.

The light display tells you all you need to know about what stage your charger is at any given time. This charger is remarkably automated, eliminating the bulk of manual procedures as seen with more traditional battery chargers. You may not need to do more than connecting it.

The battery tender alligator clips and the battery tender ring terminals (which comes with the charger package) make the connection seamless.

Pros

It has fast charging

Amazing intuitive design

Lesser frequency of drainage issues

Cons

You would struggle to use this charger on a flat battery

The sizes of the clamps should be upgraded

11. NOCO Genius G3500 6V/12V 3.5 Amp Battery Charger and Maintainer

With a genius in the name of this charger, you would be right to expect something extraordinary about this charger. Well, the NOCO Genius G3500 battery charger and maintainer doesn’t disappoint.

Would you be intrigued to learn that this charger comes with as many as seven charging modes? This charger is a perfect solution for jump-starting that your dead battery.

It is compatible with 6V and 12 lead-acid batteries, as well as your 12V lithium-ion battery.

It is also worth noting that the deep-cycle charge is great at maintaining your car battery. The jump-starting process is also safer thanks to safety features like spark-proof protection that come with this charger.

We fell deeper in love with this charger as we saw its relative abundance of features and accessories. It comes with the diagnostic capacity, which helps you pick out battery malfunctions.

The recovery capacity is too significant to neglect. This charger saves your battery from infamous battery killers like sulfation by supplying it with a pulse charge of low voltage.

You would be gladdened by the ability of this charger to keep your car battery healthier for longer. It boasts internal chemistry stabilization technology, which enhances the durability and overall performance of your battery.

A lot of this can be attributed to this charger’s Maintenance Plus mode that sustains your fully charged battery without you worrying about temperature issues.

Pros

It charges very fast

It is versatile, working with an extensive spectrum of battery types

It is safe to use

It has impressive resilience to UV exposure

It can survive sustained exposure to wetness pretty well

Cons

It struggles to replicate its excellence in very cold conditions

It struggles to charge a flat battery

12. BatteryMINDer 2012: 12 Volt-2 Amp Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator – Designed for Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, ATV, Boats, RV

The BatteryMINDer 2012 battery charger features an innovative SmarTECHnology plug. A 1.5Amp engine powers this charger. It boasts a thorough pulse desulfation process that is automatic.

It props up the performance of your battery, enabling it to live as long as four times of its original lifespan. This charger comes with a lengthy cable, spanning more than 12 feet.

This charger is supplied with an impressive ambient temperature sensor. This helps the charger to modulate fluctuations all by itself. This ensures that despite the prevailing weather conditions, your battery is appropriately charged.

What if we told you this charger could maintain 4 batteries concurrently? Yes, it hell does! It is also outfitted with safety features that prevent ugly scenarios like short circuits and reverse polarity.

Pros

It has impressive safety features

It can correct temperature fluctuations automatically

It can maintain four batteries simultaneously

Cons

It is not the cheapest charger you can get

13. NOCO Genius GENM1 4 Amp 1-Bank On-Board Battery Charger

Compared to the standard linear charger, this charger boasts a superior charging rate – practically twice the former. This versatility of this charger is also heartwarming.

It works well with several types of batteries, thanks to its quality build and compatibility. This compatibility cuts across several lead acid battery types, including the MF model, wet ones, AGM, and MF types.

The interactive diagnostics capacity of this charger ensures that this charger troubleshoots your battery to know what faults exist before it starts the charging process.

Its waterproof design ensures this NOCO Genius GENM1 Battery Charger can get the job well done regardless of wet conditions. We were also excited about the automatic de-sulfation. This is lovely.

So long your batteries are not beyond repair, you can trust this charge to bring them back to life. It boasts an automatic recovery process. You can just choose to stand by and watch the charger do its thing if you don’t mind.

Despite being stocked with all these exciting technologies, this charger is yet portable with a commendable portable build. This makes moving very less challenging.

Pros

Automatic recovery of battery

It is waterproof

It is versatile working with a wide array of battery types

It boasts fast charging

Cons

While this charger comes with a 5-year warranty, the conditions attached are quite impossible and discomfiting

14. CTEK (56-353) MULTI US 7002 12-Volt Battery Charger

This car battery charger has 8 power modes. Being one of the cleanest energy sources in the market, this charger is supplied with multiple fail-safes to ensure the health of the energy it produces.

This charger excels at maintaining your battery life. Once it identifies an accumulation of sulfur, it eradicates it, keeping your battery healthier sustainably. You will love the monitoring capacity of this charger.

It diligently checks on your battery, promptly notifying you when mild issues come up needing maintenance. No doubt, this will prevent a devastating malfunction from the supposed build-up of minor issues.

No denial, we were enthused with the low ripple advantage of this charger, which honorably typifies it from the rest in the market today. At any interval a threshold 5% ripple current is produced, the battery is hurt as its positive electrodes can be damaged. The good news is that with this charger, the electric current produced never exceeds 5% ripples.

This charger is equipped with several safety features like spark-proof protection,anti short-circuits systems, and even reverse polarity protection. This CTEK Multi US 7002 12-Volt Battery Charger is also weatherproof and dustproof.

Of course, this charger boasts impressive temperature versatility and can be used in temperature conditions ranging from -4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pros

It extends the lifespan of your battery by actively monitoring and reporting to you

It works in a wide range of temperature condition

Ripple current produced always stay below 5%

It is portable

Cons

It is not the cheapest out there

The plastic clips are significantly brittle and are prone to breaking

Thing To Consider Before Buy

A number of considerations should guide your choice of a car battery charger. Factoring in these parameters would ensure you get the best suitable car battery charger for your situation. How about we learn about them?

Size

Over time, we have been lavished with game-changing technologies that have significantly shrunk the size of the car battery charger – making them much more compact. This was without limiting the capacity. There are now potent chargers that can fit comfortably into your palm.

While you should aim for portability when choosing battery sizes, don’t neglect their functionality. Some very portable chargers struggle to jump-start your battery if it is thoroughly dead. Some are quite bulky but have very powerful jump-start capacity.

Here is the catch: aim for a balance of portability and functionality when choosing the size of your car battery charger.

Charging Power

The charging power (which mirrors the ampere capacity) is a crucial consideration when buying car battery chargers. The charging power determines how fast it would charge your battery. Several charger brands have differing ampere range.

The ideal charger power for you depends on what you intend using the charger for. We agree that chargers with high charger power (lesser time to charge) tend to be costlier than those that take more time.

Chargers with high ampere have enhanced facilities which prevent your battery from completely dying. Of course, dead batteries are a menace when on the road.

With a charger with a higher ampere rating, you can readily jump start your battery and get you moving again without having to spend sizable time waiting for the charge up.

If the charger (with higher ampere) lacks the jump start capacity, its fast-charging power will ensure the dead battery charges up in no time.

Battery chargers with lower charging powers are still fantastic if you don’t frequently use the car but want to prevent scenarios where your battery completely dies from extensive disuse.

This is thanks to their trickle charging capacity. This reduces the weight of maintenance on your neck.

Ideally, you can get a charger with an ampere capacity of anywhere from 20 amps to 750 milliamps.

Voltage

The compatibility of your car with the prospective charger depends on a lot on the voltage of the charger. Take note that car battery chargers are versatile and not necessarily dedicated to just charging car batteries. Some chargers go as far as charging marine crafts and trucks.

While 12V is the general benchmark for car batteries, chargers in the market come in a voltage range. Some would charge batteries well above 40V while others could charge as low as 6V.

This gives chargers the flexibility to work on your small car and as huge as an industrial vehicle.

Automatic vs. Manual

Every car owner will admit that it is quite unnerving to check on the charge capacity perpetually. Thus, many are now resorting to automatic car battery chargers. This relieves you of the role of always having to check the charger to prevent situations like overcharging.

Most automatic chargers are designed to automatically switch modes once your battery gets fully charged. This means you wouldn’t have to worry about still piling charges on a full battery.

Agreeably, such a feature would increase the lifespan of your battery. However, we will admit that automatic chargers are significantly more expensive than manual ones.

It now depends on your budget and if you can shoulder the burden of a manual charger.

Maintain Charging or Fast Charging

The purpose or intended use of the charger will determine if you would go for fast charging or maintenance charge. If you will most times use the charger to maintain charge, then you most likely will not be keen about charging power (or charging speed). In that case, it is fine to go with chargers of lower ampere capacity.

However, if you will be using the charger for fast charging, then you have to prioritize the charging power. Should you be frequently using your car battery charge, it makes more sense to go for one with sufficient ampere capacity to charge your battery fast.

It would even be more beneficial (in such circumstances of regular use) to go for one with jump-start capacity.

Wall Socket Connector

You have to be mindful of the wall socket connector when buying a car battery charger. You have to get it right, especially for the country you are staying. Thus, you should factor in that socket wall connectors differ across different countries.

Make sure to confirm the wall socket connector used in where the manufacturer is located aligns with that used in your residence country. Otherwise, the manufacturer should make special provision for your country.

Charging Monitoring

It is not advised to buy a car battery charger that lacks an active monitoring facility. Charging monitoring gives you valuable information about your battery as it charges.

Most chargers with lower ampere capacity come with the active monitoring feature.

This tells you when your battery begins to lose charge, being not in use. This enables it to trigger the battery, activating it for charging. When the battery fully charges, it switches the battery off so that it doesn’t overcharge.

More advanced charger models go as far as telling how healthy your car battery is. They would inform you beforehand if your battery is dying permanently as well the charge capacity left in it.

Safety

Safety is one of the most important considerations when buying your car battery charger. You want a charger that keeps you and your battery protected. There are several safety functions to watch out for.

Reverse- polarity connection safety is one of the most important safety features your charger should have. This protects the electric system of your car in the event of a mistaken connection of the negative terminal to the positive or the positive to the negative.

It would be great if the charger is equipped with spark-proof functionality. This prevents unfortunate battery explosions when plugging your charger to a car battery leaking battery acid.

Your charger should have overheating protection. This prevents the charger from an explosion or fire outburst in events of rapid charging.

Another helpful safety feature is over-discharging protection. This prevents the wiring from frying in event of rapid charging.

It would be fantastic if your charger also has other safety features like float mode, battery tester, and clamp amps.

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Mike Zhang. Founder of FamilyLifeShare