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Odyssey Battery has been working on their new automatic charger for a few years now. It’s been quite the combined effort with them and CTEK. When you have a vision of a product you want to produce to fulfill a need it can take some time to put that vision into a fully functioning product. We got wind of this charger last year. Odyssey had hopes of releasing this battery charger at SEMA 2023. The realization finally came to fruition at SEMA/AAPEX 2024, where Odyssey unveiled this charger in all of it’s glory. We had the opportunity to interview the project manager Bryce Gregory at the show and he gave us a great interview revealing what sets it apart. See that interview below.
What sets this charger apart? First and foremost it’s the world’s first combined AGM2 and lithium charger. It’s super light weight and easily portable. They are offering this charger in 5 Amp, 15 Amp and 25 Amp models. As Bryce mentioned each model has their specific user. 5 Amp could be used most most consumers, where the 15 Amp is prosumer and the 25 Amp would be mostly for shop usage. MSRP for the 5 Amp $110.99, 15 AMP $275.99, and the 25 AMP $327.99
Here at Torqued magazine we have a wide variety of machines we are running everyday as well vehicles that he have to put away for the winter. For us we are always needing to put machines on chargers as often some vehicles aren’t used for months. We pull batteries out and but different ones in on the regular. With type of need we got out hands on the OBC-15, 15 Amp model. And boy oh boy are we happy with it. Let me explain some of the features here. This is a fully automatic battery charger. It will charge 5 different types of vehicle batteries. From Lead acid, AGM, AGM2, TPPL and Lithium. All you as the operator need to do, is connect the clamps to the battery terminals. And just in case your having a rough day and connect the clamp in a reverse polarity. The charger will light up a red light indicating the connection is reversed. Next plug in the charger to your wall outlet. And finally select the battery type you are charging and that’s it. The charger does the rest of the work. It will do an initial check of the battery then move to charge, Once the charge is done it goes to the maintain stage where it will give just enough current to the battery to maintain it’s full charge.
As well, here are some highlighted specs. It charges batteries from 15-150Ah. It has automatic temperature compensation for High Efficiency. It has a IP44 rating, so it is classified for outdoor use as well. It has multiple charging programs for the various battery types. Recondition and Supply. The Recond program runs at 15.8V/1.5A and it is used to return empty flooded batteries from a deep discharge. The Supply program 13.6V/15A, is used as a 12V power supply or for float maintenance when 100% capacity of the battery is required. The other programs for specific battery types are as follows. Flooded 14.4V, AGM 14,7V, Lithium 14.2V, AGM2 14.7V. If you’re a specs geek like me, all that info has you giddy.
This charger truly is a one stop shop if you have various battery types your using in your various machines. It can handle them all without breaking a sweat. Let me talk about charging times as well. Odyssey states charging times are as follows. 15Ah battery size = 1hr empty to 80% charge, 100Ah battery size = 7 hr empty to 80%, and 150Ah size = 10hr empty to 80%. We tested multiple batteries that we have ran dry or that were maybe at 50% and can concur with these charging times. And it comes with a 3 year warranty.
OUR TAKE AWAY
We’ve honestly been looking for a battery charger like this for a long time. With the advent of lithium batteries now being available in powersports vehicles as well as cars, who wants to buy multiple different charges to handle the charging duties? I really like how Odyssey knows their customers, they have three models available to satisfy those customers based on what type of charging needs they have. The super simple self explanatory modes are a huge bonus. Not everyone wants to read hours of instruction manuals as well as worry if they will fry a battery if they select the wrong charging mode or timing. This charger take out all of that guess work. The 15 Amp model is a great size for portability. It’s not one of these things that needs wheels to move around. It is literally 9.25″ length, 5.12″ width and 2.5″ height. And a measly 4.6 lbs. It’s super easy to use, it’s does the job, and it’s versatility to cover so many different battery types make it a winner in our book.
I have to hand it to Odyssey Battery. They didn’t rush the release of this. They wanted to get it right. I personally feel they got this right on all levels. A battery charge with these types of capabilities and with this versatility will be our first choice for all of our battery charging needs for a long time coming. Find out more at Odysseybattery.com
