Any recommendations for trickle chargers?

[dparm]

Soon I'll be starting a new job that will be 100% travel and my car may sit for very long periods without being driven. It's a climate controlled garage (always around 50-70 F) but it may go two or three weeks without being driven...maybe longer.

I just replaced the original 7 year old battery with a new East Penn AGM, but I'd still like to keep it on a trickle charger to be safe.

Was looking at this nice Braille 2A trickle charger:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/products/2_amp_trickle_charger/

The CTEK 3300 seems to be popular too. The Battery Tender Plus is the "old timer" here and a solid buy it seems.

What do I need to be looking for when it comes to a trickle charger?

 

[Donald]

You want some called a float charger or battery maintainer. A real trickle charger puts out about 2 amps forever and will over time cook your battery. Many people may call a float charger a tickle charger, but its not. Actually the float charger is not really made to charge a battery, rather its made to float the charge at exactly fully charged forever. They will charge is slightly, but if the battery actually needs charging, then throw it on a normal AC charger first then hook it to the float charger.

The Battery Minder is the best as it floats and desulphates a battery. Its $40. I have one and have used it for years on boat and tractor batteries. Its not an outdoor charger so your car would need to be in a garage.

 

[Maximus1966]

You need to be looking for a Battery Tender Plus. I have 8 of them and they really do the job. Used on tractors, PWC's, motorcycles, boats & trucks. Had one go bad after almost 15 years of service. Sent it back and it was replaced with a new one for about $15.

 

[Sayjac]

I got the Battery Tender Junior last year from Amazon, and I think it's great. Use it for my motorcycle, lawn mower and vehicles. Very easy to use and store, and very reasonably priced.

I also have a regular 10/2/50 amp bc, but haven't used it since getting the BTJ.

 

[FirstNissan]

Been wondering about getting one of these for my second car.
Can I remove the battery from the car, since I have outdoor parking?

 

[tc1446]

The Battery Tender Jr is hard to beat.

I recently bought a Schumacher from Walmart for $20 that puts out 1 1/2 or 2 amp (forget which) and when full charge is reached it goes to a float. I has lights to tell you. I emailed the company to make sure it was good for AGM and Gel and they affirmed that it was.

I've also used the cheapie Harbor Freight floaters for several years on my tractors and cycles that sit all winter and they do do the job. Often on sale for under $5 I think.

 

[The_Jeff]

I have the HF charger and it's dandy. 2 amps is too much, half an amp will do. I would look for one that has a quick connect/disconnect that you can permanently wire into your battery then feed the connect through your grille somewhere. More reliable than alligator clips always going on/off, and it's less conspicuous to thieves etc too.

 

[dparm]

I sent Braille a note to ask if theirs will float the battery once a full charge is reached. Pretty hard to beat the Battery Tender Jr for $39 at AutoZone, though.

 

[Sayjac]

Quote:
I sent Braille a note to ask if theirs will float the battery once a full charge is reached. Pretty hard to beat the Battery Tender Jr for $39 at AutoZone, though.
Tougher to beat for ~$22 at Amazon, even adding a $3 filler for free shipping.

 

[doitmyself]

I bought in to the Batteryminder hype, as mentioned by Donald above. Desulphating of batteries is a controversial topic on some forums, but what the heck, it sounds good.

They are more expensive at $39, but it is more amps (1.3) and IF the desulphation mode works, who can complain.

Both the Battery Tender and Batteryminder get excellent reviews.

Also, Donald says they are not for outdoor use. But, it seems like it would be o.k. to run an outdoor extension cord to your car and plug the unit in underneath your hood....no?

 

[dparm]

What about on AGM? Do you need to even do that sort of thing?

 

[Donald]

The BatteryMinder looks like a power cube (a little larger than one) and if kept out of the rain it should be fine for a car. I would not run it in the bilge of a boat however.

I think the desulphate process does work in some cases. Will it take a battery you ran dead and boiled all the water out of and make it like new, I doubt it.

But as you said, its kind of almost free and it certainly can not hurt to try and blast those nasty sulfur crystals back into solution.

 

[paulo57509]

I would also recommend the Battery Minder: (http://www.batterymart.com/p-batteryminder-plus-12v-1_3a-battery-charger.html)

I have three of them. Two on the motorcycles and one on my seldom driven Camaro. I like that they're wall-warts so they off the floor and don't take up much space. Of course, I need more outlets in the garage.

I have heard stories of the Deltran Battery Tenders (tin boxed ones) burning out after a few years; My friend went through two of them.

 

[dparm]

Braille wrote back to me:



Thank you for your inquiry to our products.

The Braille 2 amp battery does have a float mode, but it is voltage limited, meaning that once the battery has reached a max float voltage the charger will shut off. It will also perform tests to see if the battery voltage has dropped and in some situations will initiate charging to preserve the battery from having it’s voltage drop to low during storage.

Due to your comments, the 2 amp battery charger would be an ideal solution to your needs

 

[Robenstein]

I have a 1.5 Amp Schumacher and two Battery Tender Jr models. I use the Schumacher on my car I store and the battery tenders go on my two motorcycles. So far, never had an issue with either. I do notice that when the Schumacher registers as charged, if I swap the battery tender on it will charge for a while longer before going into float mode.

 

[Boss302fan]

I have a collection of classic cars and have used BatteryMinders for years. They work great... Even brought back a few batteries that I thought I would have to replace. They work well with old style and new style batteries..

Battery Tenders are fine but I think the BatteryMinder is a slightly better product.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Braille wrote back to me:

The Braille 2 amp battery does have a float mode, but it is voltage limited, meaning that once the battery has reached a max float voltage the charger will shut off. It will also perform tests to see if the battery voltage has dropped and in some situations will initiate charging to preserve the battery from having it’s voltage drop to low during storage.

Due to your comments, the 2 amp battery charger would be an ideal solution to your needs


This is a feature that BatteryMinder counters is a less effective way to maintain batteries (shut off/turn on at set voltages). But, I claim no expertise in this.

"These other chargers shut off, then wait for the battery to self discharge before turning back on. This is when Sulphation occurs! Also, none of them can reverse the sulphate build-up in your battery. Only the BatteryMINDers can accomplish this safely and inexpensively."

 

[Quest]

luv my CTek that does float/trickle charging.

I personally do not see the need of going back to my old schmacher transformer-based charger anymore, citing the rather ancient/archaic designs, which no longer serve my needs.

I'm now a fully converted, switch-mode based charger guy for anything rechargeables.

Q.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Quest
luv my CTek that does float/trickle charging.

I personally do not see the need of going back to my old schmacher transformer-based charger anymore, citing the rather ancient/archaic designs, which no longer serve my needs.

I'm now a fully converted, switch-mode based charger guy for anything rechargeables.Q.


One problem that I "read" about smart chargers is that they will not recognize a battery drawn down to low voltage. In this case, it is said that the old style transformer chargers will initiate a charge and bring them back.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Quest
luv my CTek that does float/trickle charging.

I personally do not see the need of going back to my old schmacher transformer-based charger anymore, citing the rather ancient/archaic designs, which no longer serve my needs.

I'm now a fully converted, switch-mode based charger guy for anything rechargeables.Q.


One problem that I "read" about smart chargers is that they will not recognize a battery drawn down to low voltage. In this case, it is said that the old style transformer chargers will initiate a charge and bring them back.


That may sometimes be the case but in my case: this rarely happens.

*luck is on my side I suppose*

Q.