Batter Tender

1948F-1Pickup said:
Any battery will go bad just sitting there...... hooked up or not...... current draw or not. That's the nature of the beast. I worked for Douglas Battery and Delco (Delphi). Wrote warranty and did plenty of battery autopsies. You hear a lot of stuff about batteries, that for sure.
On two cars that are literally never driven, I have maintainers. A Genius G750 on one car and a Battery Tender (not sure which) on the other.
The argument would be that the cars should actually be driven but with 5 others in constant rotation, we have plenty of wheels for the two drivers in the house.
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Agreed! Genius 750 is a great charger that you can use on anything. Plus the leads are supper long as well as the power-cord.
 
Discharge & charge cycle battery tenders are a relatively new concept. My customers started using them when they came out with the AGM type batteries for aircraft. These batteries were half the weight of the standard lead/acid types and didn't have the melt down hazzards associated with the NiCad batteries. The batteries were around $2K and they were lucky to get 12-month out of them till they started using the cycle discharge/charge type tender systems. This would give then 2 to 3 more years of battery life. It beat the hell out of an $8k NiCad for sure since they didn't last much longer.

How a battery is maintained make a lot of difference. If you cycle it regularly at 2 week intervals by driving the vehicle around for a while or at least running it for a qhile then no charger would be necessary unless a problem shows up with the electrical system.
 
Battery life varies so much that I don't think it makes much difference how you "maintain" them. I've had new batteries fail in a year (rarely). Some make it 7. I've had a tractor run 15 years on a set of batteries. Got one big 12 volt "Workaholic" that was retired from combine duty a couple of years ago and re-purposed onto an older diesel tractor. It still started fine last fall. I bought that pair of batteries in 1999. No special treatment. They sat on the combine year round never used or even disconnected all winter.
 
Bill OH said:
I remove the positive ground ******** the 6v Optima battery and reconnect in the Spring.
No tender or maintenance charger. No problems.
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My down side was me,Schnider tender didn't shut off, kept charging, cooked my Ford script battery dry, added new acid, never charged up, out $240'00
 
I'm not comfortable using a tender, so I make sure long term idle batteries are dis-connected, fully charged and then voltage-checked every month or so. I'll then re-charge at a 2 amp rate if needed with an older Sears or Schumacher charger. Most of my 12V maintenance-frees have been Sears Die-Hards and usually last 8-10 years, while the 6 and 12 volt Optimas have gone even longer.
 
I've been watching this thread since yesterday with reserve, until now. I may not be too friggen' smart, and I may not know very much useful stuff a lot of the time. But ONE thing I've learned about anything that involves electronic components after thirty plus years of involvement with the entire power distribution system in a huge Air Traffic Control Center.....it's possible that ANY electrical or electronic component can turn to smoke in an instant!! Innumerable fires have been cause by the failure of a 15 cent component in an electronic circuit, especially where voltage regulation is concerned, just like in a trickle/battery charger. I WILL NOT leave any battery charger unattended in MY garage structure. Out in the driveway...OK, I might lose one pick-up or a lawn tractor, but not the whole house. We don't even charge the cell phones while we're asleep. Just think back to the number of those kids' hoverboards that have burned houses down while they were being re-charged overnight. Chargers CAN get ya! Click on the link below for a short video of a charger catching fire in a repair shop. Scary stuff, folks...it just ain't worth taking the chance! DD


https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...EF3748EA2292ED3C3928EF3748EA2292ED3&FORM=VIRE
 
I'd like to graciously thank all who have posted their opinions and experiences regarding this subject. I have reached my personal decision regarding the use of a battery tender. Up here in the Pacific Northwest where it "rarely" rains and our cars can be driven about once every 6 months rain free through the winter it is important that the battery be charged when that exceptional day of sun arrives, or even a lack of fog. In my life right now I believe battery tenders are a safe product to be used as desired. In my case I have chosen to plug in and charge when home on the weekend and unplug when I'm gone. In my life experience as V8COOPMAN has described in post #26 if it's electronic expect failure. I'm just not going to chance it when I can maintain charge once a week when I'm home tinkering on my new aquisition. 47 Chrysler Windsor 4 door.
 
Late post. Tenders are fine. Not sure there is any info in a garage burning down from a tender, electronic can be faulty I guess. Batteries like to be discharged and recharged, not constantly charge (same with phone batteries). Guess it depends on the battery also.


I have a optima 6v battery. I disconnect when not running (key in my brain). Use a old schumacher charger sometimes (once twice a yr). and have a gen that charges as I run. so far so good. 11 & 15 yrs on two batteries.
 
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I have 6 batteries that get almost no use over the winter. No tenders and never had a problem in the spring.......maybe just lucky!
 
I have a '63 C**** that I did a total chassis refurbishment on. I put the car back on the road in 2004 with a Costco battery and a green knob disconnect. The car is stored over the winter and with the battery disconnected, no tender or charger. When I bring the car home from a run, same thing- disconnect and no charger or tender. It always starts in the spring as soon as it pumps gas to the carb. Same battery for 15 years now. What am I doing wrong?
 
I have gone through several brands of "Tenders" as I have at least 10 pieces of equipment and automotive applications that require "Tending". I agree the use of a Battery Tender will greatly extend the life of a battery. The brand I have the most units currently in use is Schumaker.(spelling??) I am not saying they are best but not worst. That belongs to some Dewalt Tenders I tried. I think the old "get what you pay for" is true. So, do not be swayed by the $10 or $15 piece and go for a "good-un".
 
I just ment out to the garage and unplugged the 2 Schumacher tenders . Had them on timers but not in the garage . I do have the solar chargers on 3 cars I drive ( very occasionally) . These Harbour freight solar chargers have kept lawn tractors , jeeps , race cars and batteries for my electric gates charged and are very little charging rate . Plus they have a built in timer , it's called night time .
 
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Here are my pictures of my two 6 Volt Battery Minders, a NOCO and CTEK. I bought two new 6 Volt Batteries in May 2016, and have hooked them up with a Battery Minder/Charger from the beginning. The Battery that my NOCO unit is attached to is fully charged and easily starts my 34 Ford each time. However, that is not the case with the Battery that has had my CTEK unit attached. As a matter of fact, that Battery is dead flat. I added my NOCO unit to if for a few hours, and the car started immediately. With my CTEK unit, for the last year, it has never gone to green, and always stays on red? This is actually my third CTEK 6V unit. The first one died and was replaced under warranty. After a while, the light on my replacement also stayed on red, so I purchased a new one. Because of all these problems, I have just purchased a second NOCO unit. I was very happy with my first one, so decided to buy a second. Regarding the CTEK brand, I also have two CTEK 12V units and both of them work fine. One advantage with the NOCO units is that they are 6V and 12V which is very handy. These are my experiences. Someone my be able to tell me why I have not had any joy with my 6V CTEK units.
 
Thank you for your sharing your experience. Electronics can be a frustrating gremlin prone to failure. I work for a multi-million dollar company that frequently gets completely shut down by some computer glitch. Simple things like a battery tender/charger/minder or what have you I'm interested in quality, performance and reliability. Your results are helpful but I am still unwilling to leave mine plugged in 24/7 when I'm not here. Sounds like the NOCO wins out.
 
Get yourself a shutoff switch, it will isolate the rest of the car from the battery, less wires to melt. Since my car is stored in an unheated storage unit, I bring my battery home in set it on a wooden bench in my cellar, I throw it on charge a couple of times during the winter.
 

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