Battery Maintainer/Charger Recommendations Please

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AlfinVA

Member
Which Battery Maintainer/Chargers do you like best and why? The BatteryMINDer claimes to be a charger, maintainer, conditioner, auto float and desulfation device. Hoopla or helpful? What do you recommend?
 
I should have asked this earlier. When I was at the auto parts store the other day I picked up a Schumacher unit for $40 that claims to do all you mentioned. It took a little over 24 hrs to trickle charge my 550 cranking amp 6V from an unknown state, then switched to it's maintenance mode.

Sorry, not a long-term test, but so far so good.
 
I don't happen to be a fan of maintainers. I just use low amp chargers and when the batteries are charged I remove the charger.
 
I use a schamucher maintainer, but only turn it on to charge the battery once a month over winter. I like the low amp of it and the fact it will stop charging not just switch to low amp when the battery is charged. That way if I forget to turn it off and unplug it after a day or so no harm done.
 
Patrick L. said:
I don't happen to be a fan of maintainers. I just use low amp chargers and when the batteries are charged I remove the charger.
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X3

My favorite two chargers are my 4 amp Sears and my 6 amp Sears from the 60's or 70's. They have a meter with numbers, so you know exactly what's happening. I paid $5 and $7 at swap meets and second hand tool store.

I don't like the newer chargers where the battery needs to have voltage before the charger will turn on. For one thing you can't use them for testing bulbs, coils, etc.
 
I have to leave my car away from home for the whole winter, so can't keep an eye on the battery. I've thought about taking the battery home with me and maintaining it there, but like having it with the car in case a freak nice day shows its face during the winter.

I picked up this Die Hard one from Sears about a year ago. Used it so far two seasons with good results. When I take the battery off the maintainer, it has a nice full charge. People have recommended to me to put the maintainer on a timer so it only runs once a week, or for an hour a day or so, but I never got around to setting that up.

I started the car up last weekend for the first time with no issues. Took her for a nice quick ride!
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
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I don't like the newer chargers where the battery needs to have voltage before the charger will turn on. For one thing you can't use them for testing bulbs, coils, etc.
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I made the mistake of giving my "old" charger to my son when I got this new fangled one with all the bells & whistles. I've since tried to talk him out of it, even trading for the new one, and he won't have any part of that. Wise man, that son of mine!
 
We also leave for the winter. I just charge the batteries before leaving, remove the charger and recharge when returning. I get 10 years out of batteries, now on 12 years on one of the motorbikes, knock on wood. Maybe I shouldn't have said that and will run out of luck.
On the wife's car though the battery will go dead so I do leave a charger on it run through a timer.
 
I have used the Battery Tender for many years on all my cars (Both 6 and 12 volt) and have never experienced a problem.
I supposed what you buy will depend on what you need and expect from it.
 
The people selling maintainers told me that I would double my battery life if I used their product, ---at that time the Optima was 15 years old---so I asked if it would give me 30 years---they said NO, that it would double the life of a battery to 5-7 years ---with regular batterys i got 7-9 years ---why would I want something that would give me less battery life, increase my electric bill and increase the chance of fire

I run a relativly high charge rate, about 15 amps, on long drives I will run with the headlights on some ---works for me, even if the car sits for 6 months I still expect it to start on a 30 degree day, my current battery is a 12 year old Mercedes battery cut in 1/2 to make 6 volts

If you have a modified from stock car you may need some kind of charging if you don't drive enough
 
I keep my batteries topped up with a solar powered trickle charger. The solar panel comes with suction cups on it so it just sticks to the inside of a widow in the workshop. For about $20, I think they are a great innovation. I could recharge the phone or GPS from it too!
 
I'm a fan of posts # 3, 4, 6, & 9. I guess that makes me " x 5 "
However, In weak moments I bought a Schumacher 1562 (6-12V, 1.5A, charge/maintain),
A CTEK 3300 (12V, 0.8A/3.3A)
A BatteryMINDer Plus 12117 (12V, 1.3A)
and have used a neighbors BatteryTender.
I was experimenting. Experiments yielded nothing of value to me.
I have no opinion on any of them, and would never consider leaving any of them on, un-attended. I'm especially leary of leaving the Schumacher unattended, because one of the fellows on the 'barn' once posted that his failed, causing sparks within the 'box', and had the potential for a fire???
I'm also one of those that has had good life from seldom-used collector-car batteries, I've had two that have lasted 14 and 16 years, with almost NO maintenance.
Over the winter, when I think of it, I put a trickle charge on, never for more than an 8-hour period, maybe once at the end of winter. When I retire for the night, the charger(s) are unplugged. Just opinion.

Forgot... I don't leave batteries hooked up. One battery post is disconnected, except when I'm using the car. For the 'wife's car', or any modern car that sucks the battery down (due to alternators, security systems, radios, etc), I have the battery disconnected when it is left unattended for any length of time, like vacation, over winter, etc. IMO, it's better for the battery, and removes the possibility of something going 'wrong' while I'm away.
 
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I used to buy a new battery for my Harley every year. 10 years ago, I put it on a Battery Tender and am still using the same battery that was in it 10 years ago.

Please know trickle chargers and battery maintainers are two different devices.
 
I periodically use a "Battery Saver" battery maintainer, though my Optima has never given me any problems, even after a long storage with no maintainer. I use it primarily to maintain my very old 6V battery on my garden tractor.

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I have installed a female end of a cigarette lighter in a discreat location in the engine compartment. Then when I pull into my garage to park, I simply lift he hood and plug in the battery maintainer using the male cigarette lighter plug.

The "Battery Saver" automatically detects either a 12V or 6V battery and automatically adjusts accordingly.....so I can use it on my modern cars as well as my garden tractor. One "Battery Saver" maintainer can maintain two batteries at once, reducing the number of maintainers needed if you have several batteries that need maintaining.

Fordially,
Brad in Maryland
 
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I have a ctek that I Have used a few times. I like the desulfication mode. I've been able to reserect a few batteries that wouldn't hold a charge. So far they are still working. As for the maintainer, I have Napa 6volt that came with a wiring harness to to mount directly to the battery. I usually Plug it in for a couple days a month.
 
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