Oil & Fuel Battery Tender Success Story?

[the old grind]

Do you have a link to the AccuMate tests?

For you, sure! It's not that recent, but 'charts is charts', 'tests is tests', and those tested are still around. Very informative, read.

Five Battery Maintainers' Performance Compared

 

[dickfoster]

Wow. Didn't know that. Up north, I was always told that you should bring a battery inside for the winter, in order to prevent it from freezing. Completely different from what I'm reading here!

There is a simple chemical rule of thumb at work here. That rule says that for every 10 degree C rise in temperature chemical reaction time is speed up by a factor of two. Conversely for every 10 degree C drop in temperature chemical reaction time doubles. Therefore in high temperatures the sulphation process increases however at low temperatures the chemical process that converts chemical energy into electric current falls off and drops to near zero depending on how low the ambient temperature is. So you see temperature plays a role both coming and going. Actually I think it's more like 7 degrees C but for most folks it's easier to remember 10.
It's a fundamental rule that reigns over almost any chemical/physical reaction. It plays a role in how fast epoxy glue cures and even in how solid state electronic devices work. Wanna make epoxy glue cure fast? Stick a heat gun to it and it will cure almost instantaneously. Wanna reduce the dark current in an image sensor then chill it with liquid nitrogen like they do in astronomy and it will go way way down so you can make exposures that take hours.

 

[oldyellr]

Very informative, read.

Five Battery Maintainers' Performance Compared

Thanks for the link! I've known about the Battery Tender brand for many years. After two battery failures in the spring with my summer drivern Camaro, I bought a Battery Tender Plus to put on it through the winter and never had a problem again. When I acquired a riding mower with electric start I got a Battery Tender Jr. for it and it still has the same battery today. I see that over the years several other "maintainers" and "float chargers" have appeared on the market and even though some were around when I bought the BT Jr. I wasn't going to experiment , especially since I found the BT Jr. on sale for a great price. One would think that with evolving technology, lots of other manufacturers would come up with float chargers as good or better than the Battery Tender and at a lower price point. That may be, and you're welcome to try them. But it would take years and many winters of storage to conclude that one is better than another. I see in that test that they were disappointed that the Battery Tender took longer to bring a dead battery up to working voltage. Well, I have a couple of regular high amperage chargers, so that's not an issue for me.

 

[fried1765]

Thanks for the link! I've known about the Battery Tender brand for many years. After two battery failures in the spring with my summer drivern Camaro, I bought a Battery Tender Plus to put on it through the winter and never had a problem again. When I acquired a riding mower with electric start I got a Battery Tender Jr. for it and it still has the same battery today. I see that over the years several other "maintainers" and "float chargers" have appeared on the market and even though some were around when I bought the BT Jr. I wasn't going to experiment , especially since I found the BT Jr. on sale for a great price. One would think that with evolving technology, lots of other manufacturers would come up with float chargers as good or better than the Battery Tender and at a lower price point. That may be, and you're welcome to try them. But it would take years and many winters of storage to conclude that one is better than another. I see in that test that they were disappointed that the Battery Tender took longer to bring a dead battery up to working voltage. Well, I have a couple of regular high amperage chargers, so that's not an issue for me.

I have 15 battery maintenance chargers.
6 Battery Tenders, 6 Battery Tender Jr's., 2 Battery Minders, and one 6V Battery Tender.
They all seem to do the job.
I have had 2 Battery Tender failures that were covered by their 10 year warranty.
BT expects the buyer to pay warranty shipping BOTH ways. For THAT cost, one can buy a new maintenance charger.
For THAT very reason I refuse to buy another BT product.
The BT "warranty" is a bad joke!!!

 

[94BULLITT]

For you, sure! It's not that recent, but 'charts is charts', 'tests is tests', and those tested are still around. Very informative, read.

Five Battery Maintainers' Performance Compared

Thanks. I read over it quickly. I need to read it better but it looks like the battery tender did not do too well. I've never cared for their maintainers.

Is the accumate the same as an omptimate?

 

[94BULLITT]

A fully charged battery will not freeze (at least not at temperatures we see here in Vermont). It should be noted that while a battery's rate of self discharge is slower in colder temperatures, the battery also puts out less in the cold, and engines are harder to crank in the cold (oil thickens, clearances shrink, etc.) So even you a battery may hold a higher % of it's full charge after a month or two of disuse in the winter, that still may not be enough to start the engine to which it's attached. That's usually when people around here discover that their battery is no longer doing the job -- they might get by with a weak one in warmer temps, but they need one in top shape in the winter.

In really cold climates, people sometimes add a battery heater as well as a block and/or oil heater. I've never used a battery heater. I've often wondered if the heater was powered off the battery whether the heater gets you more benefit than the drain on the battery it causes. (I assume if the heater is powered by the battery, you shut it off before starting.)

The noco genius g1100 and larger chargers have a cold mode on them. It puts a little extra voltage in the battery to help keep it warm.

I have 15 battery maintenance chargers.
6 Battery Tenders, 6 Battery Tender Jr's., 2 Battery Minders, and one 6V Battery Tender.
They all seem to do the job.
I have had 2 Battery Tender failures that were covered by their 10 year warranty.
BT expects the buyer to pay warranty shipping BOTH ways. For THAT cost, one can buy a new maintenance charger.
For THAT very reason I refuse to buy another BT product.
The BT "warranty" is a bad joke!!!

I have the same problem. I have 9 Noco genuis maintainers of various sizes. Then I also have some solar panels and regular battery chargers.

 

[the old grind]

In defense of B-T's 'longer' full charge recovery, we ought to remember that at <3A this type of charger will surely take hours to top up a weak tractor battery, and much longer to desulphate an 'oldie'. I suggest that a few more hrs is moot when you realize that these often do their work over days or o'night and won't bulk charge quickly like our 10 A automatics. The good news, of course, is that 'one size fits all' in regard to battery size.

Also, if buying these by the handful there's a trade-off between warranty terms and the time/effort to return a defective product. So my 'cutoff' for 'digital' bling accys is ~$50 to just buy another something that wasn't pre-tested, .. my own way of balancing 'principle' with 'practical'.

btw, we have kinda tip-toed around the 'Genius' line of chargers. I didn't dig deep (confused again by many options ), but haven't heard anything but good about them. That said, I'm a bit concerned about the usual one or two guys who don't recognize 'maintainers/desulphaters' as so much better than older crude tricklers. There IS a difference.

 

[John_Mc]

The noco genius g1100 and larger chargers have a cold mode on them. It puts a little extra voltage in the battery to help keep it warm.

Most, if not all, of the BatteryMinder chargers/maintainers are temperature compensated, adjusting the voltage for either the ambient temperature, or if you have one that comes with the appropriate sensor, adjusted for the temperature at the battery. (I've not reviewed their solar chargers' specs on this).

They also have models with charging profiles specifically designed for AGM batteries (as well as a model that can be switched between Gel, Flooded Lead-Acid, and AGM).

 

[KYErik]

I have 2 of the Noco Genius 1100's and one 3500. I like the fact that I can see how much the battery is charged, but the recovery (desulphate) mode seems to only be active at the beginning of the charge process and only works on some older batteries (for the 1100 model, I hear an audible click and can see the voltage briefly spike up to 17 volts on my voltmeter). My BatteryMinder has a full time deslphate mode. For this reason, I put BatteryMinder chargers (I have 2) on older batteries that I hope to rejuvenate a bit.

I have a few battery operated fence chargers or a cattle fence in a remote area, so I am constantly swapping out/topping off 12v batteries.

 

[94BULLITT]

btw, we have kinda tip-toed around the 'Genius' line of chargers. I didn't dig deep (confused again by many options ), but haven't heard anything but good about them. That said, I'm a bit concerned about the usual one or two guys who don't recognize 'maintainers/desulphaters' as so much better than older crude tricklers. There IS a difference.

Noco has the gen 2 genuis chargers now. I had 2 early model gen 2 chargers that did not work right. I sent them those chargers and they sent me 2 new ones.

Most, if not all, of the BatteryMinder chargers/maintainers are temperature compensated, adjusting the voltage for either the ambient temperature, or if you have one that comes with the appropriate sensor, adjusted for the temperature at the battery. (I've not reviewed their solar chargers' specs on this).

They also have models with charging profiles specifically designed for AGM batteries (as well as a model that can be switched between Gel, Flooded Lead-Acid, and AGM).

The cold mode is the same for the AGM on the Noco chargers.

I have 2 of the Noco Genius 1100's and one 3500. I like the fact that I can see how much the battery is charged, but the recovery (desulphate) mode seems to only be active at the beginning of the charge process and only works on some older batteries (for the 1100 model, I hear an audible click and can see the voltage briefly spike up to 17 volts on my voltmeter). My BatteryMinder has a full time deslphate mode. For this reason, I put BatteryMinder chargers (I have 2) on older batteries that I hope to rejuvenate a bit.

I have a few battery operated fence chargers or a cattle fence in a remote area, so I am constantly swapping out/topping off 12v batteries.

The G7200 and larger Noco chargers have a dedicated desulphate mode. Noco recommends desulphating twice a year.