maintainer

bobsmanstuff

bobsmanstuff

Senior Member
I live in a cold winter climate so my 53 Ford sits for a few months. If I out a battery maintainer on it can you leave it hooked up all winter? Thanks
 
I have used this brand for many years, Fords and motorcycles. Hook it up and your battery will be fresh when you are ready
 

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I have a number of vehicles both antique and quite modern that I have a dedicated tender installed upon. I plug them in once a week for a full twenty-four hours.
 
Kube said:
I have a number of vehicles both antique and quite modern that I have a dedicated tender installed upon. I plug them in once a week for a full twenty-four hours.
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Hey Mike, Do you have one tender that you move from car to car? I am wondering if you are suggesting that leaving the tender on indefinitely is not OK. (This could open a can of worms I suppose) LOL
 
I have two cars that sit outside during our northeast winters with temperatures down to zero or slightly below. Each has a battery minder on it and I leave them on all the time winter and summer when the cars are not being used. On average they draw only about 0.7 watts which might cost 10 cents a month. The newer of them, on an '84, has the unit mounted inside the engine compartment on the passenger side wheel panel with the plug dangling down in a chamber where it doesn't get wet. I can easily reach up under to connect a lead core. That battery is now about 12 to 14 years old. The other Walmart battery is about 8 years old. Both cars start nicely.
 
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Not sure if I'm just lazy or what, but I do nothing and mine start in the spring. Mine are stored inside an unheated barn, no fancy radios or anything else that would drain the battery. If your battery is good, it won't freeze, only a dead battery freezes. all of my vehicles start or just need a quick half hour on the charger. JMHO
 
I use maintainers, but had one go bad and boil a battery one time. I solved the problem by buying a cheap mechanical timer that I plug into the wall and then plug the maintainers into it. I find 30 minutes a day is all you need.I usually set them to turn on for 15 minutes 12 hours apart. The timers are less than 10 bucks. I go to Florida for the winter and have never had a problem.

$$6.98 at Home Depot : https://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant...hoppingads&locale=en-US&gStoreCode=6302&gQT=1
 
I take my 6 volt battery out and put it in my cellar, and once a month I put the charger on it for about an hour.
 
34fordy said:
tubman said:
I use maintainers, but had one go bad and boil a battery one time.

I don't know what brand of maintainer you use Denny but I have used the Deltran for years. A little more expensive but worth the money I think.
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It all boils down to what you think the point of failure will be. I have chosen the cheap timer. If it would fail, I would think that it would just stop working, which would leave you back at ground zero. (Even if it failed permanently on, you would still be back where you started.) I prefer one cheap alternative vs multiple expensive ones.
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oldbugger said:
Not sure if I'm just lazy or what, but I do nothing and mine start in the spring. Mine are stored inside an unheated barn, no fancy radios or anything else that would drain the battery. If your battery is good, it won't freeze, only a dead battery freezes. all of my vehicles start or just need a quick half hour on the charger. JMHO
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Same here. My vehicles and machinery sit in cold storage sheds all winter with no maintainers or anything. Months later they start up with no problem. The only one I find tends to drain the battery is my newest. A 97 Blazer.
On the 52 Merc I always disconnect the battery when not using the car mainly because of the 73 year old wiring. I'll put a slow charger on it for a few hours before I plan to start it but thats all the maintenance it gets.
 
34fordy said:
Hey Mike, Do you have one tender that you move from car to car? I am wondering if you are suggesting that leaving the tender on indefinitely is not OK. (This could open a can of worms I suppose) LOL
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I have one per car. A few are dedicated (factory OEM) chargers.
I am not suggesting anything for fear of worms.

I have never found it necessary to keep a charger on constantly during storage.
 
I remember back in the 1960's there were "trickle" chargers of different amperage output. If you used one too long on a small motorcycle battery that had too much output it would ruin the battery. I am assuming the technology in a maintainer is similar to the brains in my charger for my drills, saws, leaf blower etc. ??
 
Ileft a maintainer on our 38 conv and did'nt check it for a while; when I opened the garage door, I could smell the hot battery, it boiled all the acid out, a while longer would probably had a fire, put new acid in, it never charged up, so I had a junk $250.00,Ford script battery, now I put it on till is charged then remove it, the company would not help replace my battery, said they repair maintainer for $10.00,said no thanks..J.Parsonsn WVA
 
I pretty much do the same thing. I do disconnect the battery as there are clocks that could run the battery down. Cars are in an unheated garage. Just started two of my cars after sitting out in the cold for about a month and a half and they started good.


oldbugger said:
Not sure if I'm just lazy or what, but I do nothing and mine start in the spring. Mine are stored inside an unheated barn, no fancy radios or anything else that would drain the battery. If your battery is good, it won't freeze, only a dead battery freezes. all of my vehicles start or just need a quick half hour on the charger. JMHO
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I use a solar powered maintainer on my tractor, it sits in the shed 10 months of every year without being used, always starts right up, battery is 12 years old. [1951 ford 8N tractor]
 
I use a system Master Switch on my '47 so the battery is isolated. As noted, I leave mine on 24-7 and have not had one go bad. The concept being that a small charge rate reduces or prevents the formation of sulfate on the battery plates. Sometimes the plates in the battery may wrap, usually due to over charging and that damages the battery. I check the LED status light on it once in a while just to make sure its working. Regardless, the use of a timer sounds like a good idea if only to pro-long the life of the charger. Otherwise, if its going to fail or over-charge it can do it anytime.
 
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