Oil & Fuel Battery Tender Success Story?

[Diggin It]

I have two cars that I seldom drive but have the insurance "drivewise" module on them. It will kill the battery in a couple of weeks if the car isn't driven, therefore I keep a Schumacher battery tender on both of them. I didn't realize the Drivewise module pulled so much power till after it killed 2 batteries so dead that I couldn't charge them.

I only had one for 90 days and they used the data to adjust rates for the year. I don't think it used much power to retain memory though. Probably another thread though.

 

[fried1765]

I have two cars that I seldom drive but have the insurance "drivewise" module on them. It will kill the battery in a couple of weeks if the car isn't driven, therefore I keep a Schumacher battery tender on both of them. I didn't realize the Drivewise module pulled so much power till after it killed 2 batteries so dead that I couldn't charge them. I don't keep chargers on my tractors, they don't have any electronics robbing energy from the battery. My Kubota original battery lasted 9 years before I replaced it because it was getting very weak for cold day starts.
Battery tenders are good for stuff that has slow drain electronics but I don't find them needed for most tractors, lawnmowers etc.
I will occasionally top up the charge on my un-used winter time equipment (about every month or two) just to keep them in top shape but I wont put on a battery minder.
I used one of the HF battery tenders (ONE TIME) and it burned up my boat battery from overcharging, hence, I no longer buy them and don't recommend anyone use the cheap HF units.

I stay away from ALL of the cheap chargers!
Possible battery life extension is not worth the risk of burning down your building!
Buy a quality charger, or don't buy any!

 

[k0ua]

My tractor building doesn't have power, so I am using a Solar charger for the tractor. I have only had it on the solar charger for 4 years out of the 8 years the battery lasted. It has been getting weaker for the last year and a half. I could see it on my digital voltmeter I installed on the tractor. (I highly recommend that). Before last winter it was getting weak, but I figured it would make it one more winter and it did. But this fall, it was really dropping voltage during the glow plug cycle. A few days ago I went to start it, and the cranking voltage was about 3.5 volts. Needless to say, it would not quite turn over with that. But still, 8 years out of the battery wasn't a bad track record.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...d-voltmeter-my-kioti.html?highlight=voltmeter

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]
Battery tenders are good for stuff that has slow drain electronics but I don't find them needed for most tractors, lawnmowers etc.
I will occasionally top up the charge on my un-used winter time equipment (about every month or two) just to keep them in top shape but I wont put on a battery minder.
I used one of the HF battery tenders (ONE TIME) and it burned up my boat battery from overcharging, hence, I no longer buy them and don't recommend anyone use the cheap HF units.

As we say, YMMV. I've had great success for years with the HF "deluxe" 12v maintainer. 12 Volt Deluxe Battery Maintainer and Float Charger

$16 with a coupon. I have one dedicated to each of four tractors, a motor home, a standby generator and a UTV. The oldest is five years. Except for the MH, I use the included, fused, ring-connector pigtail that permanently attaches to each battery. That way I just plug the maintainer into the pigtail, rather than fool with alligator clips. For the MH, I plug the tender into one of the coach's 120v receptacles (in turn energized when the landline is plugged it), and then use an aftermarket pigtail with cigarette-lighter style plug, plugged into the dash, to keep the chassis battery tended.

I don't bother with tenders on our two regular road vehicles as we use those either daily or every few days.

I've also had three of the HF basic maintainers (with just the alligator clips and less circuitry) for probably over 10 years. I see them on sale for less than $5 often. All still work fine, so I guess I've been lucky. Even today, one stays hooked to a deep-cycle marine battery that can run an 800w inverter to power a marine reef aquarium pump for a short while if ever there's a problem with the standby generator during a power outage.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've got way too many batteries... maybe 40 and it got to the point I could not keep up anymore.

I do keep 8 tenders busy on rotation... can't say anything bad about them.

 

[goeduck]

I stay away from ALL of the cheap chargers!
Possible battery life extension is not worth the risk of burning down your building!
Buy a quality charger, or don't buy any!

I am of the same mindset.

 

[LittleBill21]

im up to 7 of the HF tenders, some have been running for years 24/7. 13 seconds with a volt meter will tell you if they work right

 

[Threepoint]

im up to 7 of the HF tenders, some have been running for years 24/7. 13 seconds with a volt meter will tell you if they work right

Yep. I have no doubt that mine are "quality chargers". :thumbsup:

 

[RalphVa]

There's another thread where I told about my Battery Tender (the brand) experience. I'll repeat a shorter version here.

VERY good luck with an outdoor one for 5 or more years now on my Isuzu diesel whole house generator. I keeps its big battery up that powers the Isuzu's panel plus the indoor Gentron panel.

An indoor Battery Tender failed when used less than a year on the Isuzu but had worked fine on a little utility battery on the 4400 watt generator I'd had before that. I've an indoor Battery Tender on my Tacoma's battery because we only put about 1k miles/year on the Tacoma.

A Battery Tender tied between a 5w solar panel and the utility battery on my fence charger failed. I'd run a few years before and now a couple years or so after with the solar panel directly to the utility battery.

I've some el cheapo batter tender on the utility battery I keep as backup for my remote gate & fence charger. It's been fine for around 4 or 5 years. Indoors.

Ralph

 

[Cougsfan]

This is a subject I could argue in favor of either side. On a regularly used vehicle (used like every month or two), I think they have little or no value. They are probably of value on a rig that is stored for long periods of time, if the battery is less than perfect or you have a battery drain of some kind. I have a quality Battery Tender unit as well as HF units, and both seem to work about the same. I don't buy the story that HF ones are a fire hazard. They are not nearly the same build quality though. I have never left any charger hooked up to my RV or Motorcycle 100% of the time because I hate having wires draped all around the place to trip over. I check my batteries on my stored rigs once or twice a winter and hook up a tender for a day or two if they read low. My batteries have lasted for long periods of time The ones in my '96 diesel truck are 10 years old and still working fine, and I seldom put any kind of charger on it, unless I left the door open or something and drained it (which has happened more times than I care to admit.) I took the truck to NAPA a few months ago and had the batteries checked because they were so old, but they said they were fine. My old Ferguson TO35 batteries are reaching 8 years old and still start that hard starting rig. That rig sets for long periods of time in the weather and I do charge it a couple times over a winter. I replaced the battery in my '78 BMW Cycle about 2 years ago and the old one was so old I can't remember when I got it. All my other rigs are less than 5 years old and still have the OEM batteries. All in all, I don't fret over batteries nearly as much as I did 40 years ago. They are much better today.