portable power station for charging battery with trickle charger?

[John_Mc]

I have power to all my out buildings. The tractor battery, an Odyssey, is just too darn big & heavy to be moving around. I have a trickle charger on it. I use to bring the smaller batteries - ATV, lawn mower, motorcycle - in the house in the winter. Now I put a battery maintainer on each.

Solar would not be my choice here. Just too many overcast days in the winter.

A solar charger doesn't have to run every day to keep your battery topped up and conditioned. Even one sunny day a week will make a big difference compared to just letting your battery sit.

but if you have power to the area, then yes, a quaulity plug-in charger/maintainer is a good way to go.

 

[John_Mc]

I don't bother putting a trickle charger on my batteries, but just keep a good jump pack (Noco Genius) to jump it if it happens to get too weak, which can even happen to a good battery in frigid temps. Much less hassle. Then just let it run and warm up/charge up.

That's great if you are using your tractor regularly. However, if your tractor sits for extended periods between uses, the battery self-drains. Jump starting will get it going, but leaving it in a partially drained condition will start forming dilation on the plates. This results in shortened battery life. The best thing to extend lead-acid battery life is to keep it fully charged. If it gets even partially discharged, charge it up fully as soon as practical (either by running the tractor or with a charger).

 

[John0829]

There was a time years ago that I did not use any battery maintainers and every year on the lawn equipment or anything using the small UH-1 batteries in the spring I would need to replace them as they would not hold a charge or even start the machine if charged. Since I have power to all the buildings I now have maintainers on them I get/expect 6 or 7 years out of them.

I am so sold on using maintainers, battery life has greatly increased. I have them on everything that has a battery including the trucks that do not get run often. All the maintainers are on timers so they are on only for 30 minutes a day (or every other day depending on the timer) to prevent over charging if something were to go wrong with it.

 

[seville009]

That's great if you are using your tractor regularly. However, if your tractor sits for extended periods between uses, the battery self-drains. Jump starting will get it going, but leaving it in a partially drained condition will start forming dilation on the plates. This results in shortened battery life. The best thing to extend lead-acid battery life is to keep it fully charged. If it gets even partially discharged, charge it up fully as soon as practical (either by running the tractor or with a charger).

my tractor sits all winter; I just have it set up as a backup in case my other snow removal equipment breaks down. Haven't had to use it in the winter for easily ten years now. Battery is always strong the first time I start it up in the Spring (without a jump). Can't even recall how old the battery is, but it has held up well.

same experience with my skidsteer battery. I use that as my primary sniw removal equipment (blower on it). Sometimes when it's below zero and hard to start, I put the jump pack on it for a boost of power and it starts right up. That's an older battery too.

of course now that I've said that out loud, all of my batteries will be completely dead the next time I go to start them......

 

[John_Mc]

of course now that I've said that out loud, all of my batteries will be completely dead the next time I go to start them......

Murphy's law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

O'Toole's observation: Murphy was an optimist.

 

[charlessenf]

How about a solar charger? I have a 15 watt charger and it works well.

"I have a 15 watt charger and it works well"

Make, Model, Link?
Please

 

[charlessenf]

I did the same, (15Amp Solar Charger)

Make, Model? Price? Link?
Please

 

[charlessenf]

I have power to all my out buildings. Now I put a battery maintainer on each.

What brand, Size, Model, etc? A link, maybe?
Please

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Make, Model? Price? Link?
Please

Larry Caldwell said:
I did the same, (15Amp Solar Charger)

Wrong quote. Not me.