How Long Does It Take to Charge A Car Battery? Is FC Suitable?

How long would it take to charge the battery of a car isn’t a question that has a unique answer; this is due to the fact that there are several types of car battery chargers out there available in the market, each with its own amps.

The higher the value of amps of the charger, the faster it will charge the car. Similarly, if the value of the amps on the charger is comparatively a small figure, it will take longer to charge.

Another factor that influences the time that is taken to fully charge a battery is the size of the battery that is installed in your vehicle.

The batteries that have smaller amps values such as in small cars etc. take less time as compared to the ones that are installed in bigger vehicles.

Which charger to use: low amps one or one with a higher value of amps

Now the real question is which charger to use out of all the available ones. Again, the answer to this question is not unique, either.

It varies from car to car and person to person. If you are in a hurry, you might be looking for a fast charger, but in the other case, when you have time on your plate, you will find it a better option to use slow chargers as they are more effective and the battery generally lasts longer.

Given below are three types of car battery chargers that we will be discussing, each with their own value of amps from 2 amps, four amps to 40 amps.

We will discuss in detail the time that each of these chargers is going to take to fully charge your car’s battery.

1. Charging the battery of your car with a two amps charger:

Two amps are the lowest amp value out of all the other values. This charger will take the longest to charge the battery of your vehicle. If the battery says, 48 amps, then the charger will take approximately up to 24 hours to fully charge it.

The good thing about this charger is that it can be used by the owners who do not drive very often.

So, you can simply use the charge the battery and keep it at an average value instead of fully charging it so that if in case you are going out for a ride, your car is ready.

The two amps charger is mostly used to charge the battery for use but not fully charge it to give your car a boost. To fully charge your car’s battery, a charger of higher amps is preferred as it takes less time than this one.

2. Charging the battery of your car with a four amps charger:

Using the same mathematics that we used above, a four amps charger is going to take up to 12 hours to fully charge a battery of 48 amps.

This is still not too fast, but it is comparatively half less time than the two amps one, as the amps of the charger now have been doubled.

A 4 amps charger is mostly used to charge small batteries as they have a lower amps value and are fully charged in a few hours.

We are basing our assumption of a four amps battery taking 12 hours to fully charge a battery on the fact that the battery is at 0 %. But suppose that the battery is not at 0 % then obviously it will take less time to charge it.

Therefore, it is easy to understand that four amps and two amps batteries are, in most cases, used to maintain the battery of the car above a certain value, instead of charging it fully. It is considered a healthy practice to keep the battery charged at all times, to increase its life span.

3. Charging the battery of your car with a 40 amps charger:

Now, this is where things get a little serious. A 40 amps charger as per the logic that we have even using for the other chargers should only take around an hour to fully charge the battery effectively.

Due to the fact that it takes only an hour, it is best suitable to keep in the car, especially during long drives, as you can instantly charge your car’s battery if you run of charging.

The only problem with this charger is that if your battery is fully charged and you don’t unplug the charger, it might even damage the car’s battery.

Forty amps chargers are also not considered suitable for maintaining the battery percentage.

However, there is a solution for these chargers, and that is smart chargers. These smart chargers charge at 40 amps.
When a certain threshold is achieved, they automatically reduce the value of the amps or switch off automatically, making sure that the battery of your car doesn’t get damaged.

Read Also: Battery Terminal Corrosion

Charging the battery of your car with a trickle charger:

There is one more type of charger that we haven’t discussed yet. It is a trickle charger. A trickle charger is used specially when the battery is kept out of the car and has not been used for a long time. This is to make sure that the battery doesn’t stop working at all.

For instance, if your car has been in the garage for quite some days, it is a healthy practice to charge it with a trickle charger every once in a while.

A trickle charger is also mostly used at mechanics shops when they take out the car’s battery and are checking other things.

Now, as you can see, a trickle charger is specifically designed for slow charging. It mostly takes up to at least one day or 24 hours to fully charge the battery of the car.

Just like the two amps charger a trickle charger is also mostly used in its purpose to maintain the car’s battery so that it is ready and working when it is installed back into the car or when the car is taken to a drive after being left in the driveway for a long time.

How to instantly charge a car:

In the case that you instantly need to charge the battery, you can use a jump starter, they are safe to use nowadays and are also found to be pretty user-friendly.

Is fast-charging suitable for your car’s battery: A comparison between fast and slow charging?

Now that you are aware of all the types of car battery chargers, it is important to discuss which ones to use under what circumstances and also the pros and cons of both and how it may affect the life of the battery of the car or the vehicle.

Want to save time, use a fast charger, effective and fast:

Now you know that the higher the amps of the charger that you are using to charge your vehicle’s battery, the faster it will be charged.

For an average 48 amps battery, a two amps charger will take up to 24 hours, a four amps charger will take up to 12 hours, and a 40 amps charger will take more or less an hour.

So, if you are in a hurry and want to get it done with as soon as possible, then the best decision is to go with a fast charger that is a 40 amps charger.

Or you can go with a smart, fast charger that automatically reduces the value of its amps when the battery is close to being fully charged.

Also, while using any charger, know that the amps written on the charger are usually lower than the amps it is actually operating at, especially in case of the cheaper ones. Therefore, before making your purchase, make sure that the charger you are buying if of a good company and has good customer reviews.

Want to save your battery and to expand its lifetime, use a slow charger with lower amps or keep a time check on your fast one:

save battery and to expand its lifetime — Battery life time

We all know it pretty well that all that glitter is not gold. Even though the 40 amps charger takes only an hour to charge the battery, it comes with the expense of damaging it, which might decrease the life of your vehicle’s battery by a great degree.

The problem with 40 amps chargers is that if left on or connected to your battery for too long, they might cause harm to the battery. So, it is important to keep it on check at all times and disconnect as soon as the battery is charged.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, each type of charger takes its own calculated time to fully charge the battery, and each is designed for its own unique purpose, some for fast charging, some for instant charging, and some only for maintaining the battery. So, choose wisely!

Reviews Recently