Battery Tenders

[John_Mc]

Years ago I had a mechanical shop and it wasn't unusual to have 20 batteries all needing attention. Usually they were lucky to get trickle charged if I remembered to move the home-made trickle charger from one to another. My experience is about like yours.... trickle charging is good because if the battery is good it keeps it from going flat when it isn't being used. So you have battery when you need it. But I can't say that trickle charging did anything to help an older sufated battery. I always hoped it would, but it never seemed to improve an old battery. It did keep good ones at full charge though and that was worth doing.

Keeping a battery charged is a good way to avoid forming sulfates - that happens in a discharged or partially discharged battery. However, a simple trickle charger will not undo sulfation that has already formed in the battery. You need a charger with the desulfation feature for that.

So I think the answer to where the CTEC fits in is that trickle charging is one of the things that the Battery Minder does. But the Battery Minder seems to do more than that. Along with whatever it does for sufated batteries, the Battery Minder has a high amp mode for charging fully flat batteries. On high amp mode it monitors what's happening somehow so that it doesn't overcharge and then turns itself into trickle mode at the end. It has some dash lights to let you know what mode it's in.

The BatteryMINDer desulfates a battery by sending a high-frequency pulse through the battery every few seconds. I'm not sure HOW it accomplishes it, but that pulse works to break up the sulfation. BatteryMINDer chargers perform desulfation continuously, both during charging and during "float" operations. Being a smart charger, it monitors the battery condition, and will not overcharge (overcharging is a problem with some "dumb" chargers).

Some other desulfating chargers us a high-voltage pulse to accomplish the same thing. The pulse is brief enough that the high voltage does not damage the battery, but it does break up the sulfation. I have no idea if one method is better than the other. "Battery Tender" brand chargers do not do desulfation (which is why I do not use them). Most (maybe all) NOCO chargers do desulfation with the high-voltage pulses, however, they do this only while the charger is in charging mode, not while they charger is in float/maintenance mode.

I don't know exactly why the Battery Minder is good, and I've no stake in the company. It works for me.
rScotty

I've also had very good luck with the BatteryMinder chargers. (I own at least 5 of them, one of which is approaching 20 years old.) I also own a Noco Gen2 charger. I've not owned it for long, but it appears to be working well also. I'm not a fan of the Battery Tender or Harbor Freight brands of chargers. Battery Tender works OK if used regularly, but will NOT recover a sulfated battery. The Harbor Freight chargers I just can't bring myself to trust.

 

[coobie]

Where do CTEC chargers fall in all this? I haven稚 seen them brought up here. I got a 5.0 last year and haven稚 used enough to start bragging . One thing sure. On older heavily sulphates batteries it didn稚 work any miracles......

I have 2 Ctec chargers(multi 3300 model) going on my 2nd year of ownership.So far so good.

 

[California]

I discovered the Battery Minder I bought a couple of years ago has already died.

The tractor that hasn't been started since last fall has shown a steady 12.3 volts with the battery minder attached and the green 'charged' light showing. I finally looked in the charger's manual, it says the battery should be 13+ volts and the red light should be on whenever the battery minder is plugged into the wall. I haven't seen the red light for a long time. 1017 stamped on the charger is, I assume, the Manufactured date.

Are others having good luck with these?

 

[chim]

Does the title of this thread give anyone else a hankering for a breaded, deep fried snack?

Seriously, I read all 12 pages hoping for information. I bought a "maintainer" some time ago and still haven't taken it out of the package. Must have been an impulse buy because I've never had problems with batteries even after the equipment sat for months unused. After reading all the comments I can't decide whether I should press the maintainer into service on something or toss it.

 

[fried1765]

Does the title of this thread give anyone else a hankering for a breaded, deep fried snack?

Seriously, I read all 12 pages hoping for information. I bought a "maintainer" some time ago and still haven't taken it out of the package. Must have been an impulse buy because I've never had problems with batteries even after the equipment sat for months unused. After reading all the comments I can't decide whether I should press the maintainer into service on something or toss it.

I have a solution.
Send it to me!

 

[RoyKing]

I've bad batteries show green but couldn't deliver enough amps. The charger is still good

 

[trctr155]

A battery reading 12.3v is a 50% SOC(state of charge). Fully charged batteries are typically around 12.77v(100% SOC). That charger is failing as it needs to push a high enough voltage to overcome the resistance of the plates. I am a fan of the Battery Minders but they do fail.

 

[John_Mc]

I discovered the Battery Minder I bought a couple of years ago has already died.

The tractor that hasn't been started since last fall has shown a steady 12.3 volts with the battery minder attached and the green 'charged' light showing. I finally looked in the charger's manual, it says the battery should be 13+ volts and the red light should be on whenever the battery minder is plugged into the wall. I haven't seen the red light for a long time. 1017 stamped on the charger is, I assume, the Manufactured date.

Are others having good luck with these?

I've had very good luck with mine (all 5 or 6 of them). My oldest, model 12117 (same as the one in your link) is almost 20 years old and still going strong. Warranty is 5 years. If yours was made in Oct 2017, it's still under warranty. If you are sure it is not working, contact them about a replacement.

If the "Battery Condition" light shows solid green when connected to a battery, it's charging. If it's flashing, it's in "float mode" and has completed charging. If the charger never goes into float mode, there is either a problem with the charger, or something wrong with the battery. It might be worth trying connecting it to a known good battery to see how it behaves.

 

[Grumpycat]

I've had very good luck with mine (all 5 or 6 of them). My oldest, model 12117 (same as the one in your link) is almost 20 years old and still going strong. Warranty is 5 years. If yours was made in Oct 2017, it's still under warranty. If you are sure it is not working, contact them about a replacement.

1017 may be 2010, 17th week.

 

[Jaylegger]

Where do CTEC chargers fall in all this? I haven稚 seen them brought up here. I got a 5.0 last year and haven稚 used enough to start bragging . One thing sure. On older heavily sulphates batteries it didn稚 work any miracles......

Perhaps I just had a little bad luck but I purchased two 3300's at the same time. One crapped out within the first year by failing to go into maintenance mode on every battery I attached it to. After a couple years the second one failed by not being able to cycle between modes. It was the button switch problem which if you search you'll find info on this issue. Went to another CTC popular brand since then by purchasing an automotive and 2-bank marine charger and wasn't happy with those at all (great marketing lingo however). Finally landed on a Battery Minder 128cec1 which by all accounts lives up to the marketing and billing.