deepcell battery

This may sound like a stupid question but…
Do I need to use a “special” battery charger to charge a deepcell battery, or will a standard 12volt battery charger do?

I have never had a problem using my 12 volt charger on my deep cycle battery. I do have an older charger that charges very slowly though. But when I bought the battery at the marine dealer he said there should be no problem with using a standard 12 Volt charger.

No special charger required.

Yes you need an onboard charger, those batteries are heavy and a PITA to haul in and out of the boat, unless you keep the boat in a garage, I don’t like keeping a “normal” battery charger on the boat, water+battery=bad things

OK, OK you don’t need a onboard charger, any charger will work, but onboard ones are waterproof (atleast they all should be) and are so nice to use. I bought a Minnkota 6 amp I think, charger awhile back, it’s one of the best things I’ve bought for the boat, ran something around $70 or so, now it’s always on the boat and can be charged anytime I can run an extension cord to the boat, works great on fishing trips. The 6 amp has been way more than enough for me, I’ve ran the battery dead, and it’s been charged by the next morning. ( 12 volt system anyways) Plus mine’s a float charger, I can leave it plugged in 365/24/7 and not have any problems.

If you have a battery charger now, you can use it just fine, if you areplanning on buying one the onboard ones are worth every penny in my opinion. The only single down side I’ve noticed from myself and others it I forget to check the batteries water level more often with the onboard charger.

You guys are so wrong! You DO need a special charger. It can’t just be a regular starter battery charger. It charges too fast and you will burn it out fast. Boils the battery. You should have at least a 10amp deep cell charger that has an automatic shutoff when it’s done charging. You will get twice the life of a battery by going with the deep cell or marine charger. Minnkota makes a good one. Here is some more info on charging.

http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/owners-guide/understanding/charging.html

Well every “normal” Battery charger I’ve ever used had a 2 amp and a 10/12 amp setting, I’ll agree you can do it too fast, but a regular battery charger if watched properly will do the job with no problems, my regular car battery charger (2amp) did me well for almost 4 years.

As long as you don’t charge it too fast or too long, you’re good. This could be an issue with the “normal” charger, but if you set it at the low setting and take it off once it’s charged, you’re doing nothing different that a charger that automatically charges when it needs to.

This link supports is a good link, http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/nist-icv/battery/battery/BatteryCare2.html It mentions nothing of having to have a special charger.

I run trojan batteries, and this is thier reccomnedations…
http://www.trojan-battery.com/customercare_faqcharging.html
–What type of charger should I buy?
An automatic charger offers the greatest convenience. Just plug the battery into the charger and the charger does the rest. Manual chargers, (the “normal” I’m refering to) although equally effective at charging batteries, require a greater level of attention. Generally speaking, automatic chargers are priced higher than manual chargers.

Either way you can’t really go wrong with an automatic one, follow your battery maker’s reccomendations.

Thanks all.
My charger has a 2 amp setting, and that’s what I’ll use. Either my battery can’t hold a charge or the indicator doesn’t function anymore. It’s telling me that it needs a recharge after I’ve charged it.