looking at replacing my BluePoint tender that I got from snap-on, I'm on my second one now, I'd like to know what other folks are using?

 

I'm using this but they make a single unit also.

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender.../dp/B000NCOKV0

 

A friend of mine uses "Battery Tenders" on his Vette , truck and Mustang... They are in my hangar just north of Saginaw...

 

Have 3 Deltrons and one from Ace Hardware.
All are good, Ace is cheaper.

 

Every time I buy a charger I get a bigger one. I have had a Schumacher 50 Amp Start / 10A / 2A for a long time & like this one best so far.
I don’t normally use trickle. I gave away an older simple Schumacher still working.

 

I use this one by CTEK:



http://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Multi-700.../dp/B000FRLO9Y

It has worked real well for me.

 

Battery Tender Plus

 

Didn't know so many used tenders,I've never been fond of tenders.
A good battery with a disconnect will go 3 months with no problem.
If a battery starts going south during the winter the tender will keep charging.
I had a buddy with a 58 blow his battery up,which sent acid flying all over under his hood and destroyed the heater box.He didn't find the mess for awhile,cost him several thousand dollars to repair.

 

I've only got 1 winter in my Corvette experience, didn't use a tender and had a strong battery - no tender. I now have 2 Vettes and after reading this story I'm convinced I don't need or want one. Thanks Roger

 

Same here - been using C-Tek's for a few years on the Vette, ATV, and Harley - I really like them. Had a couple of the Schumakers that destroyed the batteries and themselves (no idea which failed first!).

 

Another vote for the C-Tek 3300. IMO it's the best tender on the market.

 

Roger:
Would you say that explosion occurred because the battery was sulfated? The newer tenders such as the Battery Tender will flash both the yellow and green light at the same time to indicate the battery is defective and will not continue charging the battery.

 

I can't say honestly,the battery was less than 6 months old,the battery company blamed the tender.
The tender was a Schumaker mity mite.
I used to sell battery's and had one of those racks with 8-10 battery's on them from Interstate and Deka,both company's back then told me not to use a tender on their battery's.

 

I use a Battery Tender brand for over winter maintenance. I like it because the Battery Tender Brands monitor the batteries and cycles them on and off, so not to over charge or shorten its life. So brands are just "On or Off"...

Regardless, I take the battery our over the winter just incase the above mentioned happens.

 

I've used charger/maintainers/desulfaters from VDC Electronics for over 10 years. My latest purchase was the model 12248

http://www.batteryminders.com/batter...f-p-16133.html

since I have flooded, AGM and gel 12V batteries. I faithfully used one on my Harley Fatboy during winter storage and the battery lasted 5 years and 2 months before it finally gave up the ghost. When I took it to the Deka battery manufacturing plant in Lyon Station, PA to recycle, their tech said it was unheard of for a motorcycle battery to last that long. I can only attribute its longevity to using the BatteryMinder. I have 10 storage batteries and use various BatteryMinder products on them all, from big bus batteries in a tractor trailer to the little lawn tractor type.

These are not your grandfather's chargers. These use a computer chip to prevent overcharging and a circuit to dissolve sulphation.

http://www.batteryminders.com/batter...sulphation.php

 

G'day,

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the "saveabattery" charger made by Granite Digital in Union City CA. Their 1702 model gives you a digital reading of battery voltage, which none of the others does, will charge at 4 amps, then switch to trickle mode when fully charged.

It has a number of 12 volt leads, each with gold plated terminals where they plug in to the charger. It is computer controlled to protect the battery, even if left on for extended periods.

You can have alligator clips, cigarette lighter plug, or permanently mounted ends, all coloured bright yellow. I've seen most of the major chargers available, and I bought the Granite Digital one. And glad I did.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

 

battery tender plus. i started using them up north on my Harley used to replace batteries every year with the tender got 3+ years.

 

Fairly certain we have an advertiser here... all posts for these two accounts are for Genius chargers. Also, luvmyride seems to be in on it as well.

 

I have about 7 or 8 of the Yuasa brand battery tenders and have them on my cars, motorcycles and lawnmower. There a very good unit. Just hook them up and forget about it. They've even been accidentally yank out of the wall and sent sailing across the floor from tripping over the cord and still work perfectly. I've been using them for about 5 years and have never replaced a battery since and some of my batteries are older than that. In my opinion, there a good investment no matter what brand you use as long as it's of good quality. Battery Tender is good too. The other ones I don't have any experience with.

 

I've been using them for about 10 years now... too many vehicles and not enough time!!! But I'm not complaining! In any case I did a bunch of research at the time and found that one of the major reasons for premature battery failure was due to sulfate crystals forming on the lead plates. By pulsing the charge at a specific frequency the charger can be used to desulfate a battery that has sulfate crystals formed on the plates. For this reason I purchased the Battery Minder mentioned earlier by 69 Chevy.

The original one lasted for well over 8 years and I used it constantly by rotating it on 4-5 different vehicles for typically a week at a time. It has a small green LED that blinks when the battery is fully charged and is in the maintain mode. They typically run around $40 or even less when they go on sale once or twice a year at Batterymart.com

A few years back I decided to try a Battery Tender because they seemed so popular with folks here and on other forums. Someone also was offering them at a special forum price, so I thought what the heck and I needed one for my lawn mower in another building that sat throughout the winter. Within about 6 months it just quit working. Nothing ominous, no smoke, no fire, it just quit working. I contacted Battery Tender and they replaced it, no questions asked. It has been working almost continuously ever since. One thing I did notice was that no where in the literature did it suggest the Battery Tender would desulfate a battery if that is important to you.

It is worth reading up on Desulfation if you get some time and want to have a better understanding of how to prolong the life of your batteries. The AGM in my Miata is over 10 years old and the AGM in my 2000 Corvette is approaching 10 years.

Good luck... GUSTO