Why wouldn't I get only a battery maintainer and manual charger?

[Walravenseth]

Over the last couple days I have been been looking at bitog for 12v battery charger recommendations. I have seen BatteryMinder tenders recommended a lot, so I plan on picking up a couple 1510's and seeing how they do. I didn't see much of a consensus on smart battery chargers though, so I'm wondering why I need a smart charger at all? The only thing I can think I would lose by going manual is maybe cell balancing, assuming the battery minder does a good job taking batteries to a full charge, desulfating, and tending. I just wanted to post here and see if I'm missing something, or my plan makes some sense. Thanks.

 

[f355spider]

What is the reason to even get a battery charger? I have one and I have used it very rarely, and mostly for the boost capability...its one of those 100amp boost, and 15 amp and 2 amp charge. Its supposedly microprocessor controlled but even on the 2 amp mode I have found it to overcharge, so I don't trust it to leave connected longer than what is required to fully charge a battery.

The main purpose of a dedicated charger is the higher amperage. You can split the difference with a higher output "charger/maintainer".

A couple of my Battery Minders are the 128CEC2 with 2/4/8 amp which is pretty versatile. Short of a completely dead battery, the 8 amp will get a weak battery up to snuff reasonably quickly. I also have the smaller units like the 2012AGM (recommended) and the wall wart version from Northern Tools (the NT version is not recommended...uses a different algorithm than all the other Battery Minders)

I got the 128CEC2 here, which is one of the better prices...free shipping and no tax too. They restock pretty quickly, email them and ask when they will have more:
https://www.batterystuff.com/batter...r-and-lithium-charger-maintainer-128cec2.html

They also carry the 1510s if you are sold on those.

 

[Walravenseth]

I need to call and see of the 1510 and the 2012 use different voltages, temperature compensation, or algorithms. There manuals say they use the same algorithm, other than the time they spend on each step. I like that 1510 has a longer warranty is the only reason I am leaning that way. I mainly want a charger to get a really dead battery high enough to put on a batteryminder. The 128cec2 seems pretty cool, but I'm afraid I would just use it as a charger, and not tie it up as a tender if it's my only charger. If that's all I'm going to use it for, then it kind of seems like a waste.

 

[DCDG]

A personal favorite I been using. 10 A battery charger

 

[repairman54]

I had to dust off my 30 yr. old fully manual 10A charger to put enough ''juice'' back into a totally flat MC battery for a friend that he left the key on for weeks so my BatteryMinder would even start to charge it. Once I got enough voltage back into it so the BM would even sense a weak battery it brought it back over the winter and he used it all last summer. That battery was only a year old when he killed it BTW.
My newer big10A auto charger wouldn't even start to charge it either as it was so dead so old school to the rescue.
We'll see how it lasted over this winter on his Schumacher maintainer.

 

[Nessism1]

the wall wart version from Northern Tools (the NT version is not recommended...uses a different algorithm than all the other Battery Minders)

I thought the Northern Tools version was good? I've got my motorcycle battery on one. To be honest, it's not improving my battery's health despite long-term usage. I was hoping to recover at least some of the lost capacity over time, but it hasn't.

 

[DCDG]

I thought the Northern Tools version was good? I've got my motorcycle battery on one. To be honest, it's not improving my battery's health despite long-term usage. I was hoping to recover at least some of the lost capacity over time, but it hasn't.

Have you tried a charger with pulse desulfurization mode?

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[Snagglefoot]

I keep an old Kahuna to re-energize a totally flat battery but have a modern smart charger to optimize the charge on batteries that were sitting.

 

[Nessism1]

Have you tried a charger with pulse desulfurization mode?

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I have two of them.

 

[duck__dodgers]

I am a forgetful dummy that likes the 'set and forget' benefit of smart chargers.

I use it for: charging new batteries (surprised at the amount of top-off a new Costco AGM with a same month sticker needed, assuming the supply chain is multi-month);

and as a voltage tester when I'm too lazy to reach for the multimeter, one car is 95% used for <15 minute, <4-mile trips.

 

[f355spider]

I thought the Northern Tools version was good? I've got my motorcycle battery on one. To be honest, it's not improving my battery's health despite long-term usage. I was hoping to recover at least some of the lost capacity over time, but it hasn't.

I use a bluetooth monitor to track what it does compared to my other Battery Minders....the temp compensation is much milder and the charging voltages seem overall lower as well. It certainly works, but just appears more tepid in its algorithm. I called BM tech support to question if it was working and they said "normal operation"... I'm uncertain with the lower voltages if the desulfation pulses are strong enough to be useful...it may.

 

[f355spider]

Have you tried a charger with pulse desulfurization mode?

​

All Battery Minder products, including the Northern Tools wall wart version, have continuous desulfation in all modes. They also have automatic temperature compensation (higher charging voltages when colder ambient temperatures and lower voltages when hot)
I can confirm in the products other than the NT version, that the desulfation does indeed restore some of my batteries. Its the reason I own so many of them....they work.

I used to use Granite Digital Battery Saver, they have a similar pulse desulfation....but it never worked at restoring a battery. They are now shelved and collecting dust. In fact two batteries that used to be on the Granite, I put on the Battery Minders and saw improvements in CCA over 6 to 8 weeks. One came back about 75cca and the other a bit over 100cca. The larger H8 agm battery saw the bigger gain. The lower gain was on a flooded Interstate 24F.