Battery Tender?
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 21,848
Likes: 140
From: When all is said and done... there is a hell of a lot more said than done. Riverside,Texas
St. Jude Donor '05 thru '26
A baby battery charger that monitors the state of your battery and re-acts accordingly.
Worth having if you car sits for 2+ weeks.
Worth having if you car sits for 2+ weeks.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
From: Phoenix for 6 months Alberta/Arizona
go to www.batterytender.com
Only need it if your vehicle is sitting for weeks without being started.
Only need it if your vehicle is sitting for weeks without being started.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 5,894
Likes: 1
From: Farmingdale NY
St. Jude Donor '06
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 183
Likes: 0
From: Apalachin NY
A trickle charger will keep charging which is bad for the battery and ultimately will destroy it over a long period of time.
The battery tender (plus or junior) will charge the battery until it reaches the optimum level. It then monitors the battery and charges again if needed. Green and red lights on the charger indicate the mode.
I have two. Bought them on ebay from Ralco. 100% rating for the seller with high volume of sells. I paid $44 with free shipping for the Battery Tender Plus. I highly recommend it. It was recommended by others in this forum is why I bought it to originally.
The battery tender (plus or junior) will charge the battery until it reaches the optimum level. It then monitors the battery and charges again if needed. Green and red lights on the charger indicate the mode.
I have two. Bought them on ebay from Ralco. 100% rating for the seller with high volume of sells. I paid $44 with free shipping for the Battery Tender Plus. I highly recommend it. It was recommended by others in this forum is why I bought it to originally.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,003
Likes: 1
From: Life ain't no dress rehearsal, are you gonna wait to get your toys til AFTER you have a heart attack?
Suggest you forget about a "Battery Tender" and get a "Battery Minder." The "Battery Minder" minimizes the sulfation in the battery.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfation
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfation
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,907
Likes: 3
From: Jupiter Florida
CTEK (from Sweden) has been a tender of choice in Europe and is now getting rave reviews here>>
Compact and works great and comes with a 'permanent' hard wire connectors for the battery so it becomes a 'plug and play' item (don't need to use the battery clamps.
This is a good read>>
http://www.ctek.com/EN/sulphated_battery.asp
Michael
Compact and works great and comes with a 'permanent' hard wire connectors for the battery so it becomes a 'plug and play' item (don't need to use the battery clamps.
This is a good read>>
http://www.ctek.com/EN/sulphated_battery.asp
Michael
Racer
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 399
Likes: 1
From: LBL TN
Battery Tender is also a quick connect/disconnect without having to use the gator clamps. Have used one for years for both motorcycle and car.
Have never had a battery cell problem. I suspect the technology is pretty much the same in them all now. Just a matter of chioce.
Have never had a battery cell problem. I suspect the technology is pretty much the same in them all now. Just a matter of chioce.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 324
Likes: 0
From: Kalispell Montana
Suggest you forget about a "Battery Tender" and get a "Battery Minder." The "Battery Minder" minimizes the sulfation in the battery.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfation
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfation
For clarification - 'Battery Minder' is a patented trade name, a brand name. I think 'battery tender' is more like a catagory of charger. Tenders are regarded as low amp chargers with good circuitry for cycling off and on, as the dormant battery requires. So the 'Battery Minder' is a brand of tender whose circuitry also incorporates the pulsating, de-sulphating charging process.
I see that some other tenders also use a de-sulphation mode. They may be as good, maybe better than the 'BM'. I don't know. I do know the 'BM' works as advertised. Depending entirely on the state of the particular battery, I have brought batteries back from near dead to at least serve one more season. Often they are too far gone though. Where they really shine though, is in preventative maintanance - keeping that crystaline junk from building up in the first place...
So check it out - make sure the tender you're looking at incorporates de-sulphation. My 2 cents.
