Keeping a battery charged

[k0ua]

I used to have some dead battery trouble on the riding lawn mower, which can sit from oct. to april without any use around here. Now I use a simple solar maintainer, and never have any battery trouble now. I have never used anything on my large tractor batteries. as I start and move the tractor a fair amount thru the winter, and of course use it a lot in the summer spring and fall. The solar maintainer is just a 1.5 watt unit and it sits at an angle facing the sky in a southern facing window. It seems to be enough to overcome the self discharge.

James K0UA

 

[meburdick]

Here is my maintainer, I thought they look a little better than a battery tender.

Looks interesting... Especially with having a little more power output capacity. Other than the higher amperage (which means it could do a charge a little faster), what are some of the other benefits to that one in particular? Mine seem to work well, and I bought three for the price of one of those - so, I'm wondering what I would get if I were to add one of those to the mix of ones that I already have.

 

[Geneha]

I have a Battery Tender Jr that I keep my ZTR and B7500 hooked to.
They have quick disconnect power cords and these are battery maintainers so when I get ready to use just unplug and go.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Looks interesting... Especially with having a little more power output capacity. Other than the higher amperage (which means it could do a charge a little faster), what are some of the other benefits to that one in particular? Mine seem to work well, and I bought three for the price of one of those - so, I'm wondering what I would get if I were to add one of those to the mix of ones that I already have.

It looks like a very expensive, low amp( 3.5A) battery charger. Why would someone need a 3.5amp maintainer. That kind of discharge is not parasitic, that is a short and should be corrected. I cant see needing more than the $20 1.5 amp maintainer chargers for overwinter or otherwise idle protection. Some folks seem to think that spending money foolishly on something that is more than they need is the thing to do. I guess their thinking is that if it cost triple, then it must be much better. That thinking is like buying a package deal on a tractor with trailer, cutter, box blade etc and paying $3K more but saving $2K by buying lumped together when all you really need is a tractor.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Looks interesting... Especially with having a little more power output capacity. Other than the higher amperage (which means it could do a charge a little faster), what are some of the other benefits to that one in particular? Mine seem to work well, and I bought three for the price of one of those - so, I'm wondering what I would get if I were to add one of those to the mix of ones that I already have.

It looks like a very expensive, low amp( 3.5A) battery charger. Why would someone need a 3.5amp maintainer. That kind of discharge is not parasitic, that is a short and should be corrected. I cant see needing more than the $20 1.5 amp maintainer chargers for overwinter or otherwise idle protection. Some folks seem to think that spending money foolishly on something that is more than they need is the thing to do. I guess their thinking is that if it cost triple, then it must be much better. That thinking is like buying a package deal on a tractor with trailer, cutter, box blade etc and paying $3K more but saving $2K by buying lumped together when all you really need is a tractor.

 

[Geneha]

I picked up the Battery Tender Jr for a little over $20.

 

[meburdick]

It looks like a very expensive, low amp( 3.5A) battery charger. Why would someone need a 3.5amp maintainer. That kind of discharge is not parasitic, that is a short and should be corrected. I cant see needing more than the $20 1.5 amp maintainer chargers for overwinter or otherwise idle protection. Some folks seem to think that spending money foolishly on something that is more than they need is the thing to do. I guess their thinking is that if it cost triple, then it must be much better. That thinking is like buying a package deal on a tractor with trailer, cutter, box blade etc and paying $3K more but saving $2K by buying lumped together when all you really need is a tractor.

I agree that spending money to save money is often foolish since you won't use the extra stuff you get. I also think this appears to be a bit pricey, and that's why I'm wondering if it has any value beyond what mine have. The fact that it has a 3.5A output (which may only be for 6V, and 12V it may be 1.75A, not sure) could mean that it is *both* a full battery charger and a maintainer. Personally, I don't have a need for anything beyond a trickle charger since I'm never looking to do much more than "top off" a battery and then hold it there.

 

[94BULLITT]

Looks interesting... Especially with having a little more power output capacity. Other than the higher amperage (which means it could do a charge a little faster), what are some of the other benefits to that one in particular? Mine seem to work well, and I bought three for the price of one of those - so, I'm wondering what I would get if I were to add one of those to the mix of ones that I already have.

I got the 3.5 amp charger to use on my vehicles which sit outside, I try to top off the batteries once a month. It has 8 steps it goes through when it charges the battery. I got the 3.5 amp because it is the largest one that does 6 volt. It has a cold mode or mode for doing AGM's like a optima or odessy because they have to have a higher voltage to charge them properly. I also like that it shows the percentage charged. The 3.5 amp was not much more $ than the 1.1 amp. I also got a adapter where I can charge it through a 12 volt power port. I have had 3 Black and decker maintainers, I was lucky to get a year out of them. They would get hot.

 

[herringchoker]

My Case 450 crawler often sits for 3 to 4 months at a time at my woodlot. It's an old tractor and has no modern parasitic drains (as long as I remember to turn the switch off ). I used to have a terrible time with the battery; it would last 2 or 3 years. It's a big one and it's not cheap. On May 3, 2004 I replaced the battery yet again, but that fall I installed Power Pulse desulfator by Pulse Tech Corporation. A couple of years later I connected a 5 watt solar panel. Now, after more than 8 years the battery remains fully charged. The desulfator wasn't cheap either : $125, and the solar panel I got on sale at Princess Auto for $30 (IIRC), but they have now paid for themselves several times over.
The first photo shows the Pulse Tech unit in the battery box (the white wire leads to the solar panel). The other pics show the solar panel mounted on the ROPS screen..

 

[meburdick]

My Case 450 crawler often sits for 3 to 4 months at a time at my woodlot. It's an old tractor and has no modern parasitic drains (as long as I remember to turn the switch off ). I used to have a terrible time with the battery; it would last 2 or 3 years. It's a big one and it's not cheap. On May 3, 2004 I replaced the battery yet again, but that fall I installed Power Pulse desulfator by Pulse Tech Corporation. A couple of years later I connected a 5 watt solar panel. Now, after more than 8 years the battery remains fully charged. The desulfator wasn't cheap either : $125, and the solar panel I got on sale at Princess Auto for $30 (IIRC), but they have now paid for themselves several times over.
The first photo shows the Pulse Tech unit in the battery box (the white wire leads to the solar panel). The other pics show the solar panel mounted on the ROPS screen.View attachment 281237View attachment 281238View attachment 281239.

What does the "desulfator" do? Is it "just" a battery maintainer? And, is it designed to work off of a 12v or 24v solar panel or did you need to use a power inverter? I'm curious how different your complete solution is from the all-in-one solar panel / battery maintainer that I bought for about $65. I know mine is going to be a low-watt solution, but that should be all that's necessary with little or no parasitic drains.