Buckandkelly

I need to pick up 2 battery tenders. I was leaning towards the Battery Tender Jr., but recently the reviews have gone downhill.

Any recommendations?

capevettes

C-Tek 3300. They are excellent battery maintainers

danh63

I have been using one for my Harley and haven't had any problems. I use about 6 Battery Tender Plus' for my vehicles and they are great

Haggisbash

C Tek for me too, I have had no issues with it, have had it for three years.

Jud Chapin

I also like the C-tek. A quality unit.

REELAV8R

I have read that other people are not happy with the Wal-mart Schumacher tenders but I have 4 of them and have not had an issue with any of them yet, 5 years running.

another option is the solar chargers;

I use them where ever power is not readily available and they keep batteries topped off as well.

Duane4238

I, too, have the Walmart battery tenders @ $19.95 each. I have 7 of them that I've used for at least 9 years and have never had any problems with them. They're all hooked up to batteries on the work bench for the Corvette, boat, tractors, lawn mower, and trolling motors. If I didn't have them, it would cost me an arm and a leg to replace everything.
Duane

persuader

This is the one I use on my vehicles. It mounts with a supplied l-bracket right up against the battery and all you do is just plug it into an extension cord. Cant be any easier. And they run under 30 bucks on Amazon.


Schumacher SE-1-12S0CA

flyeri

I have used the BatteryMinder model 12117 (newer model 1500) for several years with good results. I leave one on each Vette when they are sitting for a while. I put one of them on my generator for a few days about once a month. The 12117 is at Northern Tool for $29 if you can find them in stock. The newer 1500 is $49.

edit: 12117 is available online

c6miller

I had a bad experience with my C-tek. Had one on my 2003 Corvette, the other on the Harley. We had a storm and the power must have gone off. When I got home the lights on the chargers were off and the circuit breaker was ok. Both chargers were cooked but the Corvette's EBCM was fried. Cost me almost $600 to replace. C-Tek replaced the chargers but would not pay for the damage to the Corvette. I never used the replacement chargers they sent. Through them out.

zwede

No battery tender will save your car from lightning. It's not cteks fault.

c6miller

I don't believe that's correct. If you read the instructions that come with the charger, it states that it protects the vehicle from any damage.

Haggisbash

I believe C-Teks intention was that their charger would not overcharge your battery. There is no way it would protect your circuits from a high voltage spike caused by lightning unless they added a MOV (metal oxide varistor) to it. A standard circuit breaker won't protect the circuit either, its a current sensing device not voltage hence why it hadn't tripped. If you are in a high lightning affected area I would suggest fitting a surge protection device to your supply, these divert voltage spikes to earth.

c6miller

No. The power went off then came back on. Nothing in the house or garage was effected except the chargers.

Street Rat

I have a Battery Tender Plus and an Optima charger. Have never had a problem with either.

Craig

itsforfun

With the exception of gasoline, auto batteries are probably one of the most dangerous items on our cars. I too have used "tenders" and have had success with batteries maintaining their charge. But what happens when an extraordinary condition occurs, i.e. a huge electrical spike or a prolonged brownout. Are the "cheap" tenders designed and manufactured to handle these conditions and protect the batteries in our cars? Or for that matter are the expensive models?

Perhaps a electrical engineer can chime in with some advice.

FYI, the last Schumacher battery chargers I purchased never worked as it should and ruined at least one battery.

caskiguy

I've had this unit and a smaller unit for the better part of 15 years, can't beat them.

Richard454

The problem is- taking AC from your house- converting to DC to charge the battery.

If the power surges to the battery tender from lightning/brown outs-it can torch the internal rectifier(s) or go through to the car's electrical.

When that happens- the battery tender is sending AC or high voltage DC to your car's electronics and battery. The battery can handle some - but not the electronics.

IF you are gong to run a tender- I would think a SURGE PROTECTOR should be a requirement.

rosslato

Been using the Battery Tender Jr's for 15 yrs and never a problem till the Transformer blew, had
the Vette and Bike and DD hooked up at the time, all 3 Battery Tenders fried but no damage to any of the Vehicles.

Big2Bird

Must be a back east thing. Ive never used one.
Start the car once a month, let her warm up, done.