Don’t let a dead battery leave you feeling powerless. Learn about the different uses of chargers like jump-starters, trickle chargers, heavy-duty chargers and more with Interstate. You’ll also learn about the safety precautions you should take when charging a battery and how to prevent your battery from draining.

So, you may not think about it, but not all batteries are the same. Some power our phones, others little toys, like this guy. I’m an Interstate Batteries pro, and I’m here to show you how to charge your car battery like a pro. So, what makes car batteries unique? Well, for one, they’re rechargeable. Knowing this comes in handy after maybe leaving a dome light on overnight or over a week and a half. Or perhaps you only drive your car short distances and not very often.

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Ah yes, that is not a good sound. So, if your battery appears to be dead, you can bring it back to life by giving it a charge. But where do you begin? Here with me. 

The first thing you’ll need to do is to figure out what sort of charger you need, so let’s talk about the different types of chargers. For our purposes, we’re going to discuss four types of chargers: trickle charger, solar charger, heavy duty charger, jump-starter. A jump-starter’s not technically a charger, but it may do the trick to get you to a nearby auto shop. But more on that later. Now I’m going to start by telling you the differences between the four types of chargers, and then a little later in this video I’ll show you how to use them.

We’ll start with the trickle charger. That’s trickle with an ‘r’, because there’s no such thing as a “tickle” charger. Trust me, I checked. Like I was saying, a trickle charger is a maintainer. It’s meant to be left on cars that may not be driven for a while. The trickle charger helps stop self-discharge. Self-discharge is when the battery loses its charge over time. This can be affected by hot or cold weather. The trickle charger is also a great tool to keep the battery from being overcharged. They’re ideal for use on vehicles that you don’t use every day like motorcycles, ATVs, lawn mowers and car batteries. A trickle charger is best when working with a battery that is charged, but would otherwise sit idle for a month or longer. Last point to make is trickle chargers don’t hurt the system while charging because the voltage isn’t too high. So, that’s a trickle charger.

Next type of charger is a solar charger. Yeah, going to need these. As you might have guessed, a solar charger uses the sun for power. Solar chargers are used for maintenance charging, similar to a trickle charger. They can be used on any battery, but are ideal for RV, marine batteries and powersports. Of course, there’s some reliability issues because if the sun’s not out, charging is not happening. 

Next up: heavy duty chargers. Heavy duty chargers are for when your battery is straight up dead. Don’t go into the light! No! He’s dead. Yep. Dead batteries. Not batteries that need maintenance, you need a full charge. There are a few things you’ll want to know about your heavy duty charger, so check your user manual for these questions: What is the output of the charger? Is your charger going to automatically let you know when your battery is fully charged? Do you need to be worried about messing up the computers inside your car? Where can you find these answers? In your manual. Yes, I know I already told you that. 

Last among the chargers is not a charger at all. A jump-starter is what you use for - you guessed it - a jump! Not that jump. So let’s take a moment and talk about the difference between jump-starters and chargers. Our jump-starter is solely for a quick jump. It will not charge your battery. The purpose of a jump is to get you enough charge to drive directly to the nearest auto shop. 

Let’s recap. A charger like a trickle or solar charger are the chargers we recommend for maintaining your battery. A heavy duty charger, fully automatic - either 15, 20 or 30 amp - is what we recommend to charge your battery fully. Can I overcharge my battery? Short answer: oui. Slightly longer answer: yeesss. If the battery is charged too fast, it can cause an overcharge which may harm or kill your battery. That could result in rapid disassembly, which is just a four-syllable word, which means your battery will come apart really quickly. I can sum that up in two more syllables: not good! You can find all these chargers at all Interstate Battery Centers and at all Interstate battery distributors.

So now you're asking "How do I use a trickle charger?" Well, I'm going to tell you. First, make sure you have your safety glasses, chemical-resistant gloves and close-toed shoes. Now, you'll notice that trickle chargers have a power cable and clips. You'll see a black, negative clip and a red, positive clip. You're going to want to check the appropriate voltage that your battery needs. What you really need is a volt meter to test the battery voltage. It's really easy to use. Once you determine your battery needs a charge, grab your charger, take the red, positive cable and attach it to the positive terminal. Next, place the black cable on the negative terminal. Make sure each cable is solidly attached before turning on your charger. OK, now plug in your charger and set it to the "On" position. Most battery chargers have an amp meter that will read higher on a dead battery, and lower to zero on a fully charged one.

And now, here's how to use a solar charger. You're going to connect the solar panel to the battery. Start with the positive, red clamp. Now the negative, black clamp. That's kind of it. For 10-15 watt panels, once you hook up to the panel, they're on, there's no switch. No complex logging on procedures, you just let that battery soak up the sun. Want to learn more about heavy duty chargers and jump-starting your car? Here's the link to our videos.

Now you know all you need to know, or at least you've learned pretty much all you're going to learn from this video. Luckily, you can always come to one of the 150 000 Interstate pros who are just around the corner ready to learn more.

Find one now.