Battery Tenders

[pmsmechanic]

Does any one have experience with a six volt battery tender. I'd like one on my 47 IHC KB-1.

 

[John_Mc]

Does any one have experience with a six volt battery tender. I'd like one on my 47 IHC KB-1.

I believe BatteryMINDer still makes a 6 V charger. Their model 12106. It's an older design but works well. I have their 12 volt version of that charger, it's about 20 years old and still works perfectly.

 

[fried1765]

Does any one have experience with a six volt battery tender. I'd like one on my 47 IHC KB-1.

I have had a 6V one (Battery Tender brand) connected for 10+ years.
It is STILL working!

 

[fried1765]

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.

The appropriate term is ........quality control.

 

[fried1765]

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?

"I should do what"?

Keep your plow truck outside.
When the China cheapo starts a fire,..... you will only loose your plow truck,.... not a building too.

 

[ruffdog]

"I should do what"?

Keep your plow truck outside.
When the China cheapo starts a fire,..... you will only loose your plow truck,.... not a building too.

Yeah, there is a house close by that the garage caught fire from a battery charger. It was a expensive house with a 3 car garage. At least it was just the garage that burned.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm guessing more garages and houses caught fire from the vehicles themselves, than from Chinese battery tenders. Best we park them outside too, I guess.

 

[joecdeere]

I use NOCO brand chargers, they all have 6 & 12 volts, not the cheapest, but worth it

NOCO - Our Products

 

[Jkott]

Does any one have experience with a six volt battery tender. I'd like one on my 47 IHC KB-1.

The Battery Tender brand 3A I bought at Costco is switchable to 6v, but I only use it at 12v. They have quite a few models that are dedicated 6v or switchable.

I had an older Schumacher, and it seemed to have big parasitic drain if left connected. I had an decommissioned 100AH UPS battery from work that I kept in a box hard wired to an inverter, cig lighter, and the charger. Whenever I checked it, it was frequently dead. Diag testing showed it was the charger draining it. I haven’t used it since.

For Battery tenders, I’ve been using them for 15 years. I’ve had several die from lightning strikes, and a few others die from other reasons, but looking at the warranty it has never been worth my time to send it in. I will say my batteries are always ready to go, especially after long snow plowing sessions and other things that drain my atv or tractor batteries down before parking. I frequently get 8-10 years on my batteries, and they sit fairly frequently depending on the season.

 

[PineRidge]

Have 4 batteries in the bass boat. One in the John Deere zero turn mower and one in the TC40D New Holland tractor. All are on high end battery tenders when not in use. I learned my lesson years ago when I was charging a old tractor battery with an old lead acid charger. When I turned the key the battery immediately exploded. Covered the engine compartment with battery acid and my ears rang for hours. But hey, it could have been a lot worse.

 

[ruffdog]

I received the 2 Battery Tender Plus maintainers yesterday and they are working great! They weigh at least double what the other ones did and the cord material is better. They go through the same charge cycle and then they actually maintain the battery at ~13.5v while in maintaining mode. Isn't it great when something you buy actually works! :cool2:

 

[crbr]

I use NOCO brand chargers, they all have 6 & 12 volts, not the cheapest, but worth it

NOCO - Our Products

^ ^ This

NOCO is the cat's meow....

Amazon dot com.

I gave up the BTs years ago due to warranty refusals.

.

 

[fried1765]

^ ^ This

NOCO is the cat's meow....

Amazon dot com.

I gave up the BTs years ago due to warranty refusals.

.

The Battery Tender brand does have a history of warranty refusals.
I buy Battery Minders exclusively now.
NOCO is highly regarded, but is more expensive
I buy BT only.... if it is on sale at COSTCO.

I have 16 maintainer type chargers.

 

[shovelmike]

I read of several fires started by Battery Tenders, didn't give it much thought until one day when I hooked mine up to my Sportster, plugged it in and smoke started pouring out of it. I threw it away, and replaced it with a Schumacher, which has been good so far.... later I bought a second Schumacher.... surprisingly it weighs about a third of what the first one did.....better or worse...I don't know. I know that I don't trust any maintainer completely, as with any device things can go wrong.

 

[Industrial Toys]

On my list of things to do today is put a fuse on the battery lead and line cord, of my new chinese tender/charger. It works great and I especially love the amperage and voltage displays. But I'm not too fussy of the thing burning down the place.

 

[fried1765]

On my list of things to do today is put a fuse on the battery lead and line cord, of my new chinese tender/charger. It works great and I especially love the amperage and voltage displays. But I'm not too fussy of the thing burning down the place.

The 1.25amp. Battery Tender Plus chargers all come with an in-line fuse.

Battery Tender units are also made in China, but are of much higher quality than HF, or other low end units.
Many cheap Chinese electrical appliances do not meet UL/CSA standards, yet are sold to folks who will buy the cheapest of everything.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I just don't like paying heavy markup on the SAME chinese stuff. Maybe with a different name on it.

I have thrown several expensive Schumaker chargers in the garbage, where I figured they belonged..

I have also destroyed three 400 dollar or so Xantrax Truecharge chargers by hooking them up backwards (my stupidity) but they claim that won't hurt them.

I almost had a battery explosion over Christmas when yet another 40a 3 stage Xantrax Trucharge charger started to boil a battery. It was another freebee, but for all it's sophistication, that shouldn't be allowed to happen.

 

[aczlan]

I'm guessing more garages and houses caught fire from the vehicles themselves, than from Chinese battery tenders. Best we park them outside too, I guess.

The NYS Thruway and NYDOT (among others) had that happen, their plow trucks started catching on fire due to poor wiring (battery cable going from the battery behind the cab to the starter shorting out and melting the plastic fuel line that ran next to it), some were even while the truck was driving down the road.
A lot of municipalities now have a battery disconnect switch to shut off all power when the truck is turned off.


Aaron Z

 

[Industrial Toys]

Even with the chargers causing the fire to start with, it's probably the energy of the battery itself that caused the heat. The reason, why I am going to put a fuse in line with the cheap charger/tender.

My friend who installs thousands of commercial Inverter systems on utility trucks, has that ever present FIRE risk with all that stored energy. Sometimes a new milllion dollar rig gets burned down to the water line and the finger pointing starts. They have all their stuff inspected by ESA, but many upfitters don't and their electrical work is often terrible beyond belief.

 

[fried1765]

I just don't like paying heavy markup on the SAME chinese stuff. Maybe with a different name on it.

I have thrown several expensive Schumaker chargers in the garbage, where I figured they belonged..

I have also destroyed three 400 dollar or so Xantrax Truecharge chargers by hooking them up backwards (my stupidity) but they claim that won't hurt them.

I almost had a battery explosion over Christmas when yet another 40a 3 stage Xantrax Trucharge charger started to boil a battery. It was another freebee, but for all it's sophistication, that shouldn't be allowed to happen.

I absolutely agree with you on the Schumacher chargers.
They are cheap junk.
I have thrown several of them away also.