Topping off a battery in storage

[y_p_w]

I'm helping with friends on long vacation, and they have a car that's sitting at home in the garage for a couple of months. I don't feel like driving it per se, but in the past they've asked me to come by to give a jump after these vacations were over and the battery didn't have enough juice to start. Now what I'm thinking of doing is maybe plugging in a trickle charger so I'm not going to have to do it when the inevitable time comes.

So I've got a few chargers - both from Schumacher. One is their basic 1A 12V trickle charger that doesn't monitor the battery and doesn't stop. It's a wall-wart with mini-clamps and short protection circuitry. The other is a 1.5A 6/12V switchable maintainer/charger in a plastic box with a power cable and a connection to mini-clamps. It's got an indicator that's yellow when charging and green when done. I've used this one when going on vacation myself or if my wife drained the battery on her car because she forgot to turn off the map lights. If she's not in any hurry to use her car, I'll use this instead of a jump starter. The light is interesting too. I can open the door when the light is green and it'll turn yellow while the car dome light is on, and go back to green once it's closed for a few seconds.

So for this, any opinions on which one to use? I'm leaning towards the maintainer, but I've heard that a 1A trickle charger is pretty harmless to keep hooked up to the average car battery.

 

[The_Jeff]

Do you have a plug in timer? I'd do the trickle charger but only an hour a day.

 

[AandPDan]

Use the maintainer and don't worry about it.

I put my OPE batteries on them during the off season and they're going on 5 and 7 years old.

 

[JamesBond]

I'd just jump their car when they get back, but if you must...

Take the battery out and charge it at your place.

If lightning strikes and burns the house down, they will still think you and your battery charger are responsible.

 

[nitehawk55]

Recommend to your friends they purchase a smart charger or the like to maintain their battery while they are gone. (better theirs than yours)

Some of these new cars don't like the battery removed sans computer .

 

[itguy08]

Have them pick up the $4.99 Harbor Freight batter maintainer and be done with it.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
Have them pick up the $4.99 Harbor Freight batter maintainer and be done with it.

All I could find was a couple "Centech" brand ones for $9.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69594.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69955.html

I ended up getting the Schumacher SEM-1562A for $17 (current price) from Amazon. I think this is what I have, or at least an earlier version. At the time I think I ordered it directly from Schumacher. At the time they sold direct and even though it was more than from Amazon, they had no minimum for free shipping. It doesn't appear that they sell direct any more.

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM-1562A-Speed-Charge-Maintainer/dp/B0009IBJAS

Schumacher says it's primarily for motorcycles and boats, but also for classic cars that don't see a lot of use. A lot of reviews of this are from people who use this on a modern car in winter storage.

 

[oldhp]

+1 on maintainer. I left my Harley plugged in all winter with no worries, and kept it on the Charger on anytime I wasn't driving it.

 

[mattwithcats]

My favorite...

Only puts out 800 milliamps, so it's not for jump starting,

But it's waterproof, smart (shuts off when battery is charged, then turns back on when voltage drops)
and small...

http://batterytender.com/waterproof-800-usa-western-hemisphere.html

Come with alligator clips and spade lugs on quick disconnects, cut the spade lugs to terminal lugs (from an "O" to a "C") to attach to your auto battery...

 

[Errtt]

I've had my best luck with the maintenance maintainers.
Just last week I took a used motorcycle battery that's been on a maintainer for maybe 5 years (guessing)off the maintainer, then this morning dropped it in a bike. This afternoon turned ignition on and LED battery monitor/charging indicator showed good. Start/crank then took it for about an hour ride.
After all that time on the maintainer, it cranked fine. It was a used battery pulled years ago but was still working order back then.
Tonight or early tomorrow morning I'll pull it and put it on the maintainer again... I just had to try/check how it would do.
My normal in bike battery gets the Deltran Plus charger/Maintainer when sitting.
I've used them for boat batteries (no longer have a boat) and they always held to spring time.

 

[TFB1]

I just disconnect the negative battery cable and have not had any starting issues setting for even three or four months...

If a battery can't hold a charge for a couple months, either there is excessive drain or it has a weak/low capacity...

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: TFB1
I just disconnect the negative battery cable and have not had any starting issues setting for even three or four months...

If a battery can't hold a charge for a couple months, either there is excessive drain or it has a weak/low capacity...

Won't that reset the ECU? Certainly in my car, the trip odometers reset when the battery is disconnected. I use trip A for the mileage since the last fillup, and trip B for the mileage since my last oil change.

I also looked at my Schumacher maintainer. It does say SEM-1562A, but the lights are in a different location than the photo of the latest version. It also has a 6V/12V selectable switch, while the current version (seems to say SEM-1562A-CA is labelled as automatic on the front. Mine also says it's for lawn tractors, motorcycles, and ATVs, although I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter..

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Have them pick up the $4.99 Harbor Freight batter maintainer and be done with it.

All I could find was a couple "Centech" brand ones for $9.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69594.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69955.html


Those are the ones. I think the $4.99 price I paid was with one of the Harbor Freight coupons.

 

[Donald]

+1 on the maintainer.

A trickle charger left on for a long time will damage the battery, maybe explode it. Fine for a battery in storage, use it once a month overnight. But don't forget about it. Also good for lawn tractor batteries.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w

I ended up getting the Schumacher SEM-1562A for $17 (current price) from Amazon. I think this is what I have, or at least an earlier version. At the time I think I ordered it directly from Schumacher. At the time they sold direct and even though it was more than from Amazon, they had no minimum for free shipping. It doesn't appear that they sell direct any more.

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM-1562A-Speed-Charge-Maintainer/dp/B0009IBJAS

Schumacher says it's primarily for motorcycles and boats, but also for classic cars that don't see a lot of use. A lot of reviews of this are from people who use this on a modern car in winter storage.

So I'm giving away the old one but just got a new Schumacher SEM-1562A-CA. It is very different than the previous version that I'm using on this car in storage. The new one says its microprocessor controlled, while I suppose the previous version has an older (possibly pure analog) type of circuitry. The old unit was heavier, the box was tapered a bit, and there were ventilation holes. It had a switch to select 6V/12V and at least one light would turn on immediately when plugged in.

This new one seems to go through some sort of delayed power-on cycle when plugged in. All 3 lights will cycle on then off. If it's not connected to anything, the lights will stay off. If it's connected to the battery, the charging light goes on. I put it on my wife's car since she has a habit of leaving the map lights on, but didn't check it in the morning.

The new unit is much lighter, has no ventilation holes, and seems to select the 6V/12V charge automatically. I'm not sure how reliable it will be in the long run, but my previous box has been doing fine for years.

Now I supposed "Speed Charge" is their trademark, but it seems pretty odd to be putting that name on a 1.5A charger/maintainer.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Have them pick up the $4.99 Harbor Freight batter maintainer and be done with it.

All I could find was a couple "Centech" brand ones for $9.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69594.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69955.html


Those are the ones. I think the $4.99 price I paid was with one of the Harbor Freight coupons.

I found a coupon in their circular. Limit of 7? I can't find it on their online coupons though.

I might just buy a few of these just to have around and for my friend's car. I owe him something.

 

[wander2039]

Bought one of the HF float charger for the RV yesterday. Think it was $4.75 with coupon. Brought the battery up to 13.2 and keeping there. See what it does long term.. the electric steps was drawing it down over time. I cut the clips of and stuck a power point end on it.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
Bought one of the HF float charger for the RV yesterday. Think it was $4.75 with coupon. Brought the battery up to 13.2 and keeping there. See what it does long term.. the electric steps was drawing it down over time. I cut the clips of and stuck a power point end on it.

I looked at the pictures, and apparently all the HF float charger is would be a 15V DC wall-wart linear power supply connected to a box to regulate the charging. Seems pretty simple to me, bur probably not the most efficient way to do it.

The newer Schumacher unit I have seems to be really, really light - possible only a few parts inside the box instead of a large circuit board and transformer. I'm thinking they completely redid the thing with a switched-mode supply. It doesn't feel like there's a transformer in there, and the lights turn off after reset if there's nothing connected. However, I haven't seen it actually terminate the charge yet. I haven't left it on overnight where I went and checked (I forgot one night and my wife took it off her car). I'm guessing this one is probably more efficient - with circuitry that barely draws any current unless it's connected to a battery.