Discovering your car has a dead battery when you really need to move it is a drag, but you can avoid that headache with an inexpensive smart charger.
Maybe you have a “garage queen” classic car that sits waiting for a sunny summer day. Or maybe, thanks to the work-from-home shift, you and your partner barely move one of your cars—let alone both of them. Whatever the reason for your car sitting idle for long periods of time, that sitting around isn’t great for the battery.
The solution to that problem is a trickle charger and battery maintainer. But not just any trickle charger, mind you, because the really old fashioned ones are a pain to use and hardly set-and-forget. Thankfully there are modern models that have a lot in common with cellphone charging technology and aren’t particularly expensive.
While you can easily spend $100 or more on a high-amperage charger, all you really need for the basic battery maintenance that will keep your car’s 12v lead-acid battery happy is a little $30 model like the Noco Genius 1.
Smart Trickle Charger
NOCO GENIUS1, 1-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V And 12V Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation
This entry-level trickle charger sports sophisticated charging routines to keep your car battery happy and healthy.
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$20.77
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Clip the alligator clamps on just like you would when jumping your car battery, plug it in, and leave it to charge and maintain your battery with the same hands-off ease you’d expect from charging your smartphone.
In fact, it’s so easy to use (and forget about) that we recommend putting the box it came in on the dashboard or seat of the car so the next time you use that ol’ seldom-used-vehicle you remember it’s tethered to the wall.