Battery Trickle Charger?

[Gomer]

I was thinking my battery might last a little longer with the proper maintainance.
Does anyone use a trickle charger on theirs?
I was thinking of something like a motorcycle "battery tender" to keep it up to snuff when sitting, but don't know if this is enough as they are around 700 to a 1000 ma.
What do you suggest?

 

[rtc]

I use a battery float charger which is designed to keep 12 volt batteries in top charge without overcharging It has worked well on my B7800 and the weather has been in the -16 range for lows the last few days. I bought mine at Harbor Freight on sale.

 

[Sully2]

When low.use DISTILLED water to refil...and when not in use for quite awhile...stick the strickle charger on it. 1/2 amp to 1 1/2 amp...it will do fine.

 

[DieselPower]

I have about 8 of the Schumacher battery tenders. I have them on everthing from cars and trucks in storage, tractors, my mobile service truck and lawn mowers. One of them is installed in one of my garages to keep 3 new batteries toped off and ready for use and it does a great job. Their small, waterproof and seem to last forever. It turns on and off automatically to keep the batteries fresh.

These are the ones I use.
SE-1-12S - Schumacher Chargers - 877-746-2288 Live Help

They also make a smaller one.
SE-1 - Schumacher Chargers - 877-746-2288 Live Help

 

[DickS]

My favorite is the BatteryMINDer. Desulfates, charges, and maintains.

 

[Casco1]

My favorite is the BatteryMINDer. Desulfates, charges, and maintains.

I just bought one, it was a little more $ than I wanted to spend but the technology sold me. Any recomendations ?

 

[Sully2]

I have about 8 of the Schumacher battery tenders. I have them on everthing from cars and trucks in storage, tractors, my mobile service truck and lawn mowers. One of them is installed in one of my garages to keep 3 new batteries toped off and ready for use and it does a great job. Their small, waterproof and seem to last forever. It turns on and off automatically to keep the batteries fresh.

These are the ones I use.
SE-1-12S - Schumacher Chargers - 877-746-2288 Live Help

I have 4 of those..and they work fine! Wally World DID have them for $22.95

 

[Sully2]

My favorite is the BatteryMINDer. Desulfates, charges, and maintains.

I wouldnt trust one to actually "desulfate" a battery! Charge and maintain...yepper...but ya need some higher voltage and higher amps to actually desulfate a battery's plates.

 

[crd]

At least around here, the Wally World has a black-and-decker 2A "smart" charger for about $18. It's been on my BX since November and seems to do the trick - although the quick disconnect that comes with is too short so you have to leave the grill off.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Best deal is u have a Harbor Freight Store near by, $7.49 and sometimes less then $5. Been using one for 3 years now on the 73 Caddy, works great.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

I also use one of these solar units on the BX since I have no power in the shed. Battery is from 02, still working.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

 

[Fredex]

ya need some higher voltage and higher amps to actually desulfate a battery's plates.

True. And trying to desulfate a battery sometimes gives a little more life, sometimes not, and sometimes knocks so much material off the plates that you actually lose capacity or worse, short a cell. I maintained telecom battery plants back in the '60s - deep cycle emergency plants up to 400A load. Our battery engineers & mfgrs instructed us to try a modest overcharge of some duration - if not capacity improvement, call engineering. They usually replaced the string in the next year's construction budget.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

At least around here, the Wally World has a black-and-decker 2A "smart" charger for about $18. It's been on my BX since November and seems to do the trick - although the quick disconnect that comes with is too short so you have to leave the grill off.

I added a cigarette plug socket wired to the battery and use that to charge the battery. Also good for other electric stuff like an air compressor.

 

[crd]

The cigarette socket's a great solution for a battery tender - the BX2350 has a socket built in, but unfortunately Kubota decided that it should be dead when the tractor's off so it's not useful for charging.

 

[DickS]

According to the marketing material from BatteryMINDer, the charger first attempts to take the battery to 14.2 volts. Then it switches into a desulfate/maintenance (D/M) mode. If, after a few days, the charger does not get the battery to 14.2 volts, there is a button to put the charger into D/M mode which is supposed to apply a 'certain frequency' intended to remove the sulfation. If, after a week or two, the battery cannot reach 14.2 volts, it is probably beyond recovery.

So much for marketing. My actual experience has been pretty much as described above. I hooked the unit up to a known good battery and attached a DVM to observe the claims. Sure enough, the meter slowly climbed to 14.2 volts in charge mode and then dropped down to 13.6 volts (D/M mode). Then I tried a 'questionable' battery and after 3 days, the DVM could not register higher than 13.75 volts in charge mode and would not automatically enter into the D/M mode. Over a period of a week, I manually alternated between 'charge' and D/M. Last check showed the voltage to be up to 14.12, not enough to automatically enter D/M mode. I intend to leave it in D/M mode for a week and then switch to 'charge' to see if it reaches 14.2 volts.

These are my observations. For that which is going on inside the battery concerning desulfation, I cannot give testimony.

 

[HomeBrew2]

... These are my observations. For that which is going on inside the battery concerning desulfation, I cannot give testimony.

Essentially the same results for me. I've had mine for 2 years and have actually left a very poor battery in d/m mode for 3 months ... it finally did take full voltage and went to d/m mode by itself.

 

[TractorDad]

I've been using the BatteryMINDer for several years now. One is on my B3030 and a second one is on my old Sears 20hp lawn & garden tractor. I have seen a definite improvement in battery life for the 20hp tractor, which is not used on a regular basis any more (the B3030 is a whole lot more fun to use!).

By using the BatteryMINDer, I expect to see a similar improvement in the battery life for the B3030, as well.

TractorDad