Battery Tenders

[ruffdog]

I "had" two of the Shumacher brand battery maintainers. Both went into the trash barrel. Deltran is all that I use now with about 10 years experience and no failures. Never have tried the sun light kind.

Good to know.

 

[fried1765]

Good to know.

I use the "Battery Maintainer" brand, and the "Deltran" brand.
I have a BUNCH of these things, as all my batteries (17) go unused for 6 months at a time.

I have had 2 of the Deltrans fail outside the 10 year warranty......in the trash they then went.
I recently had two Deltrans fail within the 10 year warranty.
I had to pay postage to send them back, but Deltran replaced them at no additional cost to me.

All these things are made in China, so design, and manufacturing quality control, is really what it is all about.

 

[Industrial Toys]

May have said this before. Have two tender type chargers. One a Schumaker. Both work but don't fully charge the batteries, and don't boil the batteries either. Good to keep batteries healthy but not good for starting or deep cycle applications. Just ordered some chinese 4 stage charger for $12.99 USD, Free Shippinground s. See how well that works.

I rather buy something right from China for Thirteeen Bucks, than buy the same thing here marked up three times for Sixty!



Ordered with US Plug.

 

[Grumpycat]

I bought 2 of B07NSTQCM8 from Amazon. $35. Bluetooth battery voltage logger. If it proves robust this will become a new standard Must Have.

 

[RoyKing]

10 year warranty
BatteryMINDer 151 | 12 Volt Maintenance Charger with 1 Year Warranty

 

[fried1765]

10 year warranty
BatteryMINDer 151� | 12 Volt Maintenance Charger with 1� Year Warranty

Battery Minder .... $69 on Battery Minder website...$54 on Amazon.

 

[lman]

I've been using this. It has a setting for AGM batteries.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PWCTZ1C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[John_Mc]

I've had very good luck with the BatteryMINDer brand of chargers. I tried some others, but they failed completely after a year or two, or didn't fully charge the battery, or overcharged the battery. I've had such good luck with them, that I now own 6 of them. All of their current models include a desulfation feature as well as temperature compensation (varies the charging voltage as appropriate for ambient temperature). All are smart chargers and can be left connected to the battery long term with no ill effects to the battery. All will shut down if a problem with the battery is detected.

• Model 12117 - inexpensive, 12V 1.3 Amp charger (no temp compensation on this one) 20 years old and still working fine!
• Model 1500 - 12V, 1.5A (electrically identical to the model 1510, 1510 has longer warranty and different included accessories.)
• Model 12248 - 12V, selectable 2 4 or 8 Amp, with user selectable charging profiles for Gel, Flooded, or AGM batteries (this one is discontinued, has been replaced by model 128CEC1)
• Model 2012 AGM - 12V, 2 Amp specialty AGM-only charger, includes state of charge indicator and bad cell indicator.
• Model 128CEC1 - 12 V, 2 4 or 8 Amp, selectable profiles for Gel, Wet/AGM/Sealed, and specialty AGM batteries. State-of-charge indicator, bad cell indicator. (This model is the successor to the discontinued 12248 model.)
• Model 24CEC1-AA-S5 - 24V 4 Amp aviation-specific battery charger (expensive, but so are aircraft batteries)

I also own a Noco Genius GEN2 charger a two-bank charger 2x 10 Amps, Basically two separate 10A chargers in one case. It's able to charge the two 12 volt batteries in my 24V truck individually and simultaneously. (I prefer to charge them individually, rather than use a 24 charger on the two together, since there are some 12V things in the truck which run off of one battery, and I want to keep them balanced.) It seems to be working OK, but I haven't owed it long enough to really judge. I'm not sure if the desulfation circuit runs continually, as it does in the BatteryMINDers, or if it shuts down when the battery is fully charged and just in "float" mode.

EDIT: I guess you can tell I'm sold on BatteryMINDer brand

 

[PILOON]

I leave a battery tender hooked up to my generator all the time so that when we experience our frequent power outages it is ready to go.
INMO one of my better investments.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Can't believe I got my cheapie Chinese Charger in the mailbox yesterday. Looks promising. I was doing to put it on some battery last night, but was worried about buring the place down, so I will try it today and keep an eye on it.

Glad it somes with instructions.

"The Charger has a high-pressure, danger, such as failure, please contact your dealer or contact the manufacturer . . ."

And Lastly. NOTE: There reverse protection function is not connected to the battery charger, the output voltage is not output when the output terminal from the battery output only after being triggered. So there! Glad I know that now.

 

[radios1]

If you use a battery maintainer, be sure to use a voltmeter to double check it is actually working. I have two Schumacher SEM-1562a maintainers and I'm finding out they are not working and may be actually discharging the batteries. Do not assume that the green light that means "fully charged" is true. One battery was below 11v and the other was below 10v when the maintainer green light was on. Check your batteries with a voltmeter!

Amazon has stopped selling that.. that Company USED TO be very good, perhaps they are made in China now

 

[ruffdog]

Amazon has stopped selling that.. that Company USED TO be very good, perhaps they are made in China now

I have been testing my two Schumacher SEM-1562a maintainers on a battery and checking it every hour. I first plug it in and the battery goes to ~14.5v, stays for a while, then slips down to ~12.6v. That is fine with me. Then, a few hours later, the voltage is at ~11-11.5v and the green light is still on....not good. I do have 2 Battery Tender Plus maintainers on order. Don't trust the cute little lights, use a volt meter to verify.

 

[LittleBill21]

I have been testing my two Schumacher SEM-1562a maintainers on a battery and checking it every hour. I first plug it in and the battery goes to ~14.5v, stays for a while, then slips down to ~12.6v. That is fine with me. Then, a few hours later, the voltage is at ~11-11.5v and the green light is still on....not good. I do have 2 Battery Tender Plus maintainers on order. Don't trust the cute little lights, use a volt meter to verify.

no offense but it sounds like you have a battery problem, unless the units are actually shorting out, dropping a full size battery in hours takes a significant short to do it, what voltage do these battery's rest at?

 

[ruffdog]

no offense but it sounds like you have a battery problem, unless the units are actually shorting out, dropping a full size battery in hours takes a significant short to do it, what voltage do these battery's rest at?

Yes, I'm doing the testing on a battery that is resting at 11.7v because I want the chargers to have to work a bit. I agree that something major goes wrong several hours into charging. Like I said, everything looks great until the voltage crashes for some reason. It is not the battery's fault as I have seen it happen on several batteries. I will do the same testing once the new chargers come.

 

[fried1765]

Amazon has stopped selling that.. that Company USED TO be very good, perhaps they are made in China now

"Battery Tenders" are also made in China,..... but sold by Deltran, in Deland Florida.
Not everything made in China is bad.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I kind of like this cheap little charger. Short thermoplastic cords that don't get tangled up as easy.

I like a brick style charger, but the charge/ready light doesndd't tell me much. This thing has Volts, Amps and percent charge which I like, if the information is accurate.

BUT, like all low current chargers, it will put a surface charge on a depleted battery and tell you it's charged.


Even if there is the remote possibilty that a charger isn't made in CHINA, the parts inside will be. Last I knew, they didn't make components in the States.

One question I have. Should you remove a charger when starting a machine?

 

[3Ts]

"Battery Tenders" are also made in China,..... but sold by Deltran, in Deland Florida.
Not everything made in China is bad.

My experience with "made in China" is that if the design and overseeing of the manufacturing is done by a US (or other reputable firm - Europe, etc) then the product will be good. If left to their own design, manufacturing, etc, the result will probably not be as good.

 

[yomax4]

Thanks for sounding the alarm. I have a POS $9.99 china battery maintainer hooked to my plow truck maintaining 2 batteries. Never had an issue in 3 years. Thinking maybe I should do what?

 

[ruffdog]

If it is working for you....fine. Just use a voltmeter to verify it is keeping your battery at a good voltage.

 

[Grumpycat]

"Battery Tenders" are also made in China,..... but sold by Deltran, in Deland Florida.
Not everything made in China is bad.

Ditto. China is hungry, they will build exactly as good or bad as the importer wishes to buy. As good as the importer demands and tests.