Don't Blow Your Battery Tender

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philipswanson

Well-known member
I blew my Battery Tender by starting the car with it still hooked up and powered. I suspect a diode blew inside of the Battery Tender from generator current. To avoid this, simply unplug the Tender before starting the engine. Luckily it was still under warranty and a new one is on the way.

Phil
 
Yeah too bad they don’t include an outlet wire circuit breaker for over amperage protection.
 
Thanks, I have a battery tender and am always starting the car without unhooking it. Thanks again for the heads up.
 
Most standard type battery chargers should NEVER be used as a power supply for testing electrical components such as lights or motors as they are not designed to do this. Some large chargers have the capability to supply a couple of hundred amps for a short period to jump start cars. Battery chargers are just battery chargers ONLY. Regards, Kevin.
 
I think you may have had a bad unit. There has to be protection for high amp draws. They put out like a 1/a and that is it. Generator current should go to the battery before the tender because that is the path of least resistance. It is a good idea to unplug it first because you do not want to drive off with it plugged in.
 
That's probably good practice, I've been known to start the car with the tender plugged in. There is a fuse in the line of the leads that go on the battery. That came in handy for me one time when I was switching the charger to another battery that had a lead on it and mistakenly hooked the two batteries together.
 
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