battery

[fidowanttobe]

Take it for what it's worth but my instructor at aviation mechanic school said "In theory, a fully charged battery will last indefinitely". So on that note, I use a solar charger on my outdoor 4x4/snowmobile truck and a Battery Tender on my tractor. Have had extremely good results from both. The solar is a cigarette lighter plug and the Tender is the quick connect that came with it.

 

[silvertramp]

I have 2 battery tenders and use them sporadically on my motorcycles during the winter. My POS plow truck gets plugged in before each storm. The tractor, almost never. I've got small alligator clips for 1 tender. For the tractor, I connect the hot lead of the charger to the hot stud on the starter, and attach the ground to the tractor.
I don't think that batteries need to be constantly on a tender. If they sit for months, OK. Otherwise, I don't bother.

 

[RaydaKub]

I mounted a cig outlet on my tractor to run a small sprayer for the yard. I put a switch on the dash to turn it off and on and the wire goes right to the lugs on the starter. It does double duty in that I clipped the alligator clips off my HF tender and put on a 12V plug. I hung the tender from a hook on the garage ceiling. I pull the plug and start the tractor, use it, then back it in again and plug it right back in. Takes literally 2 seconds and that's if I'm slow.

 

[RPW]

I use a solar charger on my skidsteer because I won't be using it for the next several months. Tractor I don't as it gets used every week.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Best way to store lead acid battery is fully charged in cold place. Use a battery tender on the suburban as it sits and the clock runs it down. Otherwise wouldn't bother with one. Don't care to keep pulling off the ground and resetting the clock.

 

[pat32rf]

Best way to store lead acid battery is fully charged in cold place. Use a battery tender on the suburban as it sits and the clock runs it down. Otherwise wouldn't bother with one. Don't care to keep pulling off the ground and resetting the clock.

What kind of Big Ben do you have in that Suburban? Most of our clocks have one AA 1.5 volt battery and they last 12 months...

 

[Gary Fowler]

What kind of Big Ben do you have in that Suburban? Most of our clocks have one AA 1.5 volt battery and they last 12 months...

Clock, security and whatever else runs on modern autos will weaken a good battery in 8 months and kill a 4 year old one in the same period. This from personal experience with my autos stored in a garage for that period of time.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

What kind of Big Ben do you have in that Suburban? Most of our clocks have one AA 1.5 volt battery and they last 12 months...

That is a good question. Two weeks and she is dead. Just happened forgot to hook tender up. It was a new battery too, so I just killed the life expectancy on that battery. lead acid battery like to be fat and happy. You put them in a cold place fully charged, with ground disconnected, last forever, run them dead, leave them discharge you can turn a new one to junk. There maybe something wrong with the suburban, battery tender I thought was a simple solution.