"Best" battery charger

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

Batteries charge best with a small amperage charger. The idea of a tender is not to charge a dead batt, it is to maintain one. If your batt is dead, its still best to recharge it with a 1 or 2 amp charger, unless you need to use the batt soon. But charging your batt with a 1 or 2 amp charge will give a deeper charge over all.
Most good chargers will step down their output as needed, but they wont ever shut themselves off completely. That is the difference between a tender and a charger.

Right. The one I have right now can do 20amp at first and then as the voltage of the batt gets higher it will step down the voltage a little until it goes into a 2amp charge that will raise the voltage the last bit. I guess the issue I am having is the best way to maintain a large bank of large batteries. I'm working on getting a load tester as well, so I can ensure proper function and ability to recover and hold proper voltage. I assume that I can just manually do slow charges every once in a while to keep voltage up without having to invest in a tender.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Right. The one I have right now can do 20amp at first and then as the voltage of the batt gets higher it will step down the voltage a little until it goes into a 2amp charge that will raise the voltage the last bit. I guess the issue I am having is the best way to maintain a large bank of large batteries. I'm working on getting a load tester as well, so I can ensure proper function and ability to recover and hold proper voltage. I assume that I can just manually do slow charges every once in a while to keep voltage up without having to invest in a tender.

yes you can simply manually test voltage once in a while, but it is more ideal to have an tender that will do it automatically. For a large bank of batts, Id either look into one of the larger tenders others have discussed in this thread, or the one I linked to earlier comes in a larger version with multiple outputs to hook multiple batts to at the same time (usually used for businesses).

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

I think I found the answer to all of my questions, and for $100 nonetheless. Up to 55amps of charging if needed, and float-mode monitoring to keep everything topped off at all times.

Schumacher Battery Charger, SpeedCharge - Walmart.com