Keeping the charge in a 12Volt Deep Cycle battery is now much easier thanks to smarter technology at reasonable prices.

I recently purchased a new 100Ah Deep Cycle battery for the Jayco camper. The onboard electrical system allows power to be switched between 240v (AC) and 12v (DC). The fridge and stove will also run very efficiently on gas, so I decided to make the camper more self sufficient rather than hooking up to a powered campsite when we went on trips.

Really, the battery would only need to provide power for the lights at night, and maybe the fridge in an emergency. Amazingly after I put it to the test, the battery had been used for eight days and had still retained a significant amount of its charge.

Back to the research.  After much research and comparison, I settled on a Delkor DC31 12V Deep Cycle Battery. This brand appeared to be the best value for the price ($250) and although made in Korea, it came with a 3 year warranty. The Delkor is now owned by BOSCH and has since changed its label, but the battery remains the same.

After spending the money to buy a quality battery, it made sense to get a charger that would allow the battery to be charged and maintained in good condition. You see, if you let a deep cycle battery drain below 50% too often, it will shorten the life of the cells. Similarly, if you use the wrong type of charger, damage to the battery will occur.

The research on chargers lead me to discover three obvious choices; Ctek XS 3600, OZCharge, and Jaycar Smart Charger.

I ended up buying the Ctek XS3600 because it was $55.00 cheaper on Ebay than anywhere elese and it was rated for charging the DC31 battery. Any one of these chargers however would have been suitable as they are “smart chargers”. This means they have a multi step charging process suitable for deep cycle batteries.  The big risk with using a standard wet cell battery charger like the type used on car batteries, is overheating a deep cycle battery. I’ve seen a deep cycle that’s been overheated using a basic charger and it was rendered useless in the process. Dont risk it.

Battery chargers are now available at a reasonable price and will to do whatever job you need of it. When it comes to charging 12 Volt deep cycle batteries, an electronic (or “smart”) charger makes life so easy you can “set and forget”.  The Jaycar Charger was also exceptional value in terms of features. It allows you to run 240V power into your van while charging the battery. Great for topping up while you stop over at a caravan park.  The Ctek with the same features was about $100 more in price.  The Jaycar only has a 24 month warranty, but certainly in the top of the class for this type of charger.

Depending on the size of your battery(ies) you will be able to read more about each of these brands and learn which will be best suited to your application on their web sites. A rule of thumb when charging is; the lower the amps on the charger, the longer it takes to charge the battery.  In this case, you want a slower charge rather than a faster one, so if it takes 19 -25 hrs to fully charge your 80-100ah battery, that’s OK.