Battery Tender

[Donnie]

Hi team, just looking for some opinions on battery tending devices..Not necessary that they be that brand...

I'm going to put one of my Chinooks in storage for the winter & would like to keep both batteries up to par...Everything around the homestead here I can start & run but this will a little more difficult to start & run ...So i would like to hear what other folks are using......Size, brand, best place to buy etc.......anything that you would like to add...........Donnie

[shibs]

I don't have much luck with these devices, someone pls educate us on tenders.

I just unhook it and take it home and zap with a 20 amp charger once a month.

my chevy diesel 08 has 2 batteries and I was putting it storage first few years and did not get around charging the batts for 4 months. they were pretty low and sulphated. I just charge this too once a month and batteries are running fine now.

I had to run a desulphation/regen cycle a few times few years back to get them working again.

So moral of the story is batts will sulphate if they sit,

high current charge will zap it and break up the bad crystals.

My 07 ridgeline is running on OEM battery, the batt is nearly 8 plus years old, still going strong, I let it discharge to all the way few times in storage. it sits 6 months or more at time, but I charge battery once a month.

[zero]

Hi team, just looking for some opinions on battery tending devices..Not necessary that they be that brand...

I'm going to put one of my Chinooks in storage for the winter & would like to keep both batteries up to par...Everything around the homestead here I can start & run but this will a little more difficult to start & run ...So i would like to hear what other folks are using......Size, brand, best place to buy etc.......anything that you would like to add...........Donnie

I've got over 30 cars, trucks, and tractors with battery maintainers on them. Been using them for 10 years so can tell you, at least in my case, which ones have lasted the best. For me the 1.5 amp Schumacher "Speedy Charge" units that sell for $20 each have been bullet-proof. They come with wires and clips so you can opt to hard-wire them in if wanted.

NOTE: A battery maintainer needs to be sized for the size, or amount of batteries you have. A 1.5 amp maintainer is only rated to maintain a battery up to a size of around 30 amp-hours. That's not very big. If you hook it to a pair of batteries, or just one big one - the maintainer will run longer and work harder and burn out prematurely.

If you want a real good one MADE for an RV with dual and separated batteries, a Guest 10 amp dual output charger is the way to go. Model 2611A. Hands-down one of the best in the market for RVs or boats that have two separated battery banks. You can hard-wire it into your RV and it keeps all batteries charged, front and back.

[Maineah]

If you have a modern charger/converter in your MH all you need is a jumper wire to bypass the isolator and charge both batteries. The older ferroresonant chargers (the original unit) will not work for long term storage they are poorly regulated and will boil the water out of the batteries. My experience with cheap (Walmart etc.) battery tenders is just that cheap results you do get what you pay for.

[Derek up North]

Pull the house battery and 'maintain it at home. Pull both if you don't plan to start the motor often.

[zero]

I'm not urging anyone to buy Walmart battery maintainers for $20 each but I've had great results and I will itemize.

I'll be specific. Model SEM-1562A or some variant. Here are the vehicles and time spans used.

My 1994 F250 diesel truck with two large starting batteries has had a Schumacher Speedy Charge hooked to both, all winter, for 6 years now. NO failures and those batteries are now 8 years old. Truck does not get used, at all from Nov 1 until June 1.

My 1992 Dodge Cummins diesel truck with one HUGE commercial battery. It too get parked Nov 1 to June 1. One Walmart charger on it for 6 years, every winter.

My 1986 Blazer diesel Hallmark RV. Sold it a few months ago. For five years I had a pair of Schumacher maintainers on it. I used a pair because it had so many batteries. Had two large cranking batteries and two large Trojan type 6 volt deep cycle batteries in back. Plugged in every winter and one full summer for 6 years.

For three years now, ALL the time, 12 months a year - I have the same maintainers on - 1960 John Deere 1010 gas crawler, 1952 Oliver gas dozer, 1960 Case diesel dozer with two batteries, John Deere 300B backhoe loader diesel with one large battery, 1960 IH B-275 diesel farm tractor with one large battery, Ford 641 gas farm tractor with a car-sized battery, Ferguson 35 gas farm tractor with a car-sized battery, IH 3414 gas loader-backhoe with car-sized battery,

Note NO failures. If Maine AH has had bad experiences - I like to hear what model chargers, and how used.

[Bob C]

If my RV was not in storage, I would just rely on the Progressive Dynamics charger/converter that I installed. It is perfectly suited for that purpose. However, I store my RV at the county fairgrounds under cover for the winter with the batteries stored in my basement. I use a battery charger with a maintainer built in. I move it from battery to battery every week so everything goes through the cycle every 3 weeks.

the first time I hooked the maintainer up to the engine battery from the RV, the charger said that the battery was questionable. After cycling it with the charger/maintainer a few times, the charger said that the battery was taking a full charge and working properly. I will continue to watch that battery when it goes back into the RV in the spring. If it turns over slow even once, I will replace it.

[zero]

Hi team, just looking for some opinions on battery tending devices..Not necessary that they be that brand...

I'm going to put one of my Chinooks in storage for the winter & would like to keep both batteries up to par...Everything around the homestead here I can start & run but this will a little more difficult to start & run ...So i would like to hear what other folks are using......Size, brand, best place to buy etc.......anything that you would like to add...........Donnie

I personally do not recognize the advantage to going through the work of removing all the batteries from the RV and then hooking them to a maintainer elsewhere. That is unless you want to avoid a few lbs. of extra weight with a hard-wired maintainer in your RV.

The marine chargers are designed for rigs with dual battery setups that are normally isolated. They are also well tested since there are thousands of boats using them and many are not used all winter.

If you want a charger wired in that will maintain all your batteries and requires no tweaking of your electrical system - the dual-output charger is good, and very reliable way to go. It's just "plug and play." You hard-wire it into the RV. When you park the RV, you plug the AC cord into an outlet somewhere (hopefully an outlet with NO GFIC ).

My Guest charger is now around 6 years old. Had it in another RV previously but it's now in my 1988 Toyota Minicruiser. My Minicruiser has one cranking battery up front and two large deep cycle batteries in back.

[Totem]

Battery Minder part number 12248...

Better than a float charger, it has desulphator mode and will do Flooded lead acid, AGM and Gel type batteries as well as 2, 4, or 8 Amp charge rate.

But, if money is an option, and you frequently discharge your RV house battery you could always get the Centech 500 mAH float charger from Harbor freight for 6 bucks and piggy back a Wizbang desulphator on the terminals.

I can't wait to see the comments on these suggestions also, because right now I have a bit of an experiment going on with control and test groups of various chargers. Long story short I have come into possession recently of 110 7ah Sealed lead acid VRLA or some call them SLA out of an 11 brick giant server rack APC backup system. The batteries were all installed in 2012, but the unit was taken out in 2013 and the batteries sat and self discharged over the span of 2014.

They were to be Hazmatted but I asked to keep them and they said ok.

So I opened up the bricks and took out the batteries, wow do I have a lot of them. Most were 1 volt or under 1 volt (dead). This also implies that they have fully discharged to nothing and are junk. I decided to by 2 wizbangs, one battery minder 12248 and of course my trusty schumacher 2, 10, 50 car charger. I also bought two Centech el cheapo float chargers from Harbor freight.

So, I have all of these batteries and I decided to experiment the "Art" of battery revival which many people say is a joke and with VRLA APC batteries cannot work. Guess what? it works.... it just takes a LONG time. In my testing I attached the Wizbangs to the Centechs (which are technically float chargers and not intended to charge dead batteries normally as one test group to see if the Wizbangs were snake oil (wizbangs are 20 bucks a piece and NEVER go on sale). I put 3 VRLAs in parallel on each centech/wizbang and let them run a month. I also put 3 VRLAs on the 12248Battery Minder in parallel, but could only really charge two because the third one HAD to be a good battery to fake out the battery minders controller otherwise it would go into bad battery mode and stop. Finally, I blasted 5 batteries in parallel with just a schumacher at 2 amp charge rate.

The results? the Centechs all came back to life and hold steady at 13.89 volts. Not perfect but damn good all things considered. The Battery Minder also revived its batteries.

the Schumacher cooked 2 out of 5 and almost burnt my garage down as they went into Thermal runaway, however the other three only made it to 7 volts or so and stopped taking charge. SO I am gonna say it... I am a believer in desulphators and tenders/minders. to me a schumacher charger is more for quick and dirty charging and probably can cook electrolyte and trash a battery if left on too long. Just my two dollars worth comment; (dollars being worth cents now after fed overprinting)

[Derek up North]

I personally do not recognize the advantage to going through the work of removing all the batteries from the RV and then hooking them to a maintainer elsewhere. That is unless you want to avoid a few lbs. of extra weight with a hard-wired maintainer in your RV.

In my case, it would depend if there was easy access to 110v and if I planned to go and start it up from time to time. Some do, some don't.

[WME]

A couple of 5w solar panels will work great if you don't have 110v ac close by

[shibs]

I'm not urging anyone to buy Walmart battery maintainers for $20 each but I've had great results and I will itemize.

I'll be specific. Model SEM-1562A or some variant. Here are the vehicles and time spans used.

My 1994 F250 diesel truck with two large starting batteries has had a Schumacher Speedy Charge hooked to both, all winter, for 6 years now. NO failures and those batteries are now 8 years old. Truck does not get used, at all from Nov 1 until June 1.

My 1992 Dodge Cummins diesel truck with one HUGE commercial battery. It too get parked Nov 1 to June 1. One Walmart charger on it for 6 years, every winter.

My 1986 Blazer diesel Hallmark RV. Sold it a few months ago. For five years I had a pair of Schumacher maintainers on it. I used a pair because it had so many batteries. Had two large cranking batteries and two large Trojan type 6 volt deep cycle batteries in back. Plugged in every winter and one full summer for 6 years.

For three years now, ALL the time, 12 months a year - I have the same maintainers on - 1960 John Deere 1010 gas crawler, 1952 Oliver gas dozer, 1960 Case diesel dozer with two batteries, John Deere 300B backhoe loader diesel with one large battery, 1960 IH B-275 diesel farm tractor with one large battery, Ford 641 gas farm tractor with a car-sized battery, Ferguson 35 gas farm tractor with a car-sized battery, IH 3414 gas loader-backhoe with car-sized battery,

Note NO failures. If Maine AH has had bad experiences - I like to hear what model chargers, and how used.

JD,

I have those Schumacher speedy charge and some Duracell ones (dunno who makes them).

questions:

1. So it is OK to leave a 1 amp tender tied to the battery? these have chips that turn charging off when full, correct?

2. Dual bank charger - I was thinking of buying the cabelas one, just cuz they have great warranty, what features should we look for for multi bank chargers pls?

I did not have bad experience with tenders but I think my batts perform better being zapped buy a high amp charger every so often.

[zero]

JD,

I have those Schumacher speedy charge and some Duracell ones (dunno who makes them).

questions:

1. So it is OK to leave a 1 amp tender tied to the battery? these have chips that turn charging off when full, correct?

2. Dual bank charger - I was thinking of buying the cabelas one, just cuz they have great warranty, what features should we look for for multi bank chargers pls?

I did not have bad experience with tenders but I think my batts perform better being zapped buy a high amp charger every so often.

Technically most any battery can benefit from being "zapped" with very high voltage once in awhile. Some high-end chargers include that function. It's called the "equalization" mode. It often charges at 16 volts for a short period of time. My Trace/Xantrax 120 amp charger has that mode but it's made for large battery banks.

The Schumacher Speed Charge model # that I posted does basically shut itself off. It is a 3 stage or 4 stage charger depending on the terminology being used. I've also used Duracell maintainers and they too have been great. Just not always so cheap and never at my local Tractor Supply or Walmart.

With dual bank chargers - I'd assume that most any sold for marine use it going to be good. Many boats have them hard-wired in and get used for many years. I chose Guest simply because of the great reviews by boat owners.

[zero]

.

the Schumacher cooked 2 out of 5 and almost burnt my garage down as they went into Thermal runaway

What model Schumacher? What was it rated for and what did you have it hooked to? Specifics please.

[Maineah]

Note NO failures. If Maine AH has had bad experiences - I like to hear what model chargers, and how used.

All were used to keep batteries charged! One Schumacher as soon as it's hooked up says the battery is charged no matter what the charge is, a Black and Decker that creates so much noise I can hear it in my ham radios 400' away. Number two Black and Decker that says it's charging but does not charge. All of these are cheap units I got what I payed for I finally gave up and use a 35 amp common RV switching charger/converter to keep all of my small lead acid batteries charged at the same time over the winter. I use switching chargers on two mountain top sites to keep backup batteries charged for two way radio repeaters. Have I just had bad luck with cheap chargers probably but the mountain top units I really don't want to take chances with cheap chargers. They are 3 stage chargers with desulphate modes.

[zero]

One Schumacher as soon as it's hooked up says the battery is charged no matter what the charge is,

You still have not told us what model # charger and what size battery it was used on.

[Totem]

What model Schumacher? What was it rated for and what did you have it hooked to? Specifics please.

not sure on the model of the schumacher its the standard 2, 10 charge and 50 amp starting model from wally world. it was rated for SLA and as i mentioned was hooked up to five (5) 7AH VRLA APC batteries that were wired in parallel.

[5Toyota]

I prefer too buy and use old good American made chargers I find the Schumacher to be a very poor built cheap made china charger. I gave my son an old u s made schumaker yard sale, find an old silver BEauty . and yes I take my R V battery out in off season I cant park long term at home. I drive over to the friends farm once a week start it up. I have bought good chargers at yard sales. yes none I have are automatic but they are heavy duty . very good made

[Maineah]

You still have not told us what model # charger and what size battery it was used on.

Does it really matter? No. They were less than $25 chargers one I throw out the others are in the garage it's cold and snowing you'll just have to use you imagination. They were used on batteries from small garden tractors to 800 CCA that help you? It also did not make a bit of difference what they were hook up to at the time the issues were the same. Pay shipping and you can have them. There are 160 amps worth of camper batteries charging right now on a switching 3 stage supply that stays plugged in 24/7 all year around and has been for several years. I have had zero problem with it or the batteries. Some of the chargers you say you have are good quality higher end chargers there a reason for that?

[zero]

not sure on the model of the schumacher its the standard 2, 10 charge and 50 amp starting model from wally world. it was rated for SLA and as i mentioned was hooked up to five (5) 7AH VRLA APC batteries that were wired in parallel.

I suspect I have the same one and mine has been a piece of crap since the day I got it. Not from Walmart. I got mine in a hurry at Advance Auto when I was away from home and needed a real battery charger quick. Not a maintainer; a charger. I got a Schumacher 2 and 10 amp charger with a 50 amp booster. All automatic. The automatic part is the thing that has never worked right. Always shuts off too quick.

[zero]

Does it really matter? No. They were less than $25 chargers one I throw out the others are in the garage it's cold and snowing you'll just have to use you imagination. They were used on batteries from small garden tractors to 800 CCA that help you? It also did not make a bit of difference what they were hook up to at the time the issues were the same. Pay shipping and you can have them. There are 160 amps worth of camper batteries charging right now on a switching 3 stage supply that stays plugged in 24/7 all year around and has been for several years. I have had zero problem with it or the batteries. Some of the chargers you say you have are good quality higher end chargers there a reason for that?

It matters to me if you claim the small maintainers from Walmart are crap. I've done great with the ones I've had. If you are saying that are no damn good - I'd like to know which specific models and what sorts of failures you had with them.

[zero]

I prefer too buy and use old good American made chargers I find the Schumacher to be a very poor built cheap made china charger. I gave my son an old u s made schumaker yard sale, find an old silver BEauty . and yes I take my R V battery out in off season I cant park long term at home. I drive over to the friends farm once a week start it up. I have bought good chargers at yard sales. yes none I have are automatic but they are heavy duty . very good made

I have a 80 amp Silver Beauty I bought new in 1979. Been a good shop charger although it has burnt out two transformers since I owned it. 1st one burnt out the first year and I got a free one under warranty. 2nd one I had to pay for. If it goes again, I'll throw it out. But what the heck does a large shop charger got to do with small three-stage battery maintainers? And you say you prefer old and American made? Where the h*ll are you going to find an "old" American-made three-stage battery maintainer? I don't know of any such thing.

[5Toyota]

I did not mean three stage battery maintainer that is a different category. just a good charger not automatic of course those old ones aren't . I have a schauer I bought new in 1973 10 amp and another a 1 amp I bought a few years later. for some a full auto three stage is great. none of mine are auto on and off but some of those older ones are. althou I am sure they are not three stage. I am keeping an eye out for a good used 12 volt auto on and off charger. I also have a century 30 amp got at an estate sale.

[Totem]

in my case the schumacher automatic mode failed to stop charging or sense thermal runaway resistance or maybe better put the lack there of.

Of course, shame on me for using it on little Valve release Lead acid sportsmans batterys when it was intended for car or marine batteries.

Technically speaking though the difference shouldn't matter and I have read articles about schumachers being used on golf cart batteries and causing explosions.

Back to the OPs topic though, a tender a good one isnt meant to charge, just keep a good float and downthrottle to keep from boiling. The Centechs from HF do just that and do it very well all for $6. they cannot be beat for that purpose.

[5Toyota]

thanks gon to check on that

[zero]

The Centechs from HF do just that and do it very well all for $6. they cannot be beat for that purpose.

The maintainers I got from Harbor Freight did the worse of any I've tried. I started out with 10 of them back when they were on sale for $14.99. That was 5 years ago. 9 of them failed and I have only one left. But to be fair - Harbor Freight sells a few different versions. Mine are the part # 99857 and built to be hard-mounted and hard-wired if wanted. All of mine were bolt-in to tractors or cars or trucks. Here's a photo of my IH B275 that is the only machine I have left with a HF maintainer on it that still works. Also note that all of them were hooked to batteries bigger then they were rated for. But so are my Schmachers and with them - NO failures, yet.

[Totem]

Yep those onboard maintainers from HF are junk as proven in their comments. The cheaper ones that have large alligator clips for 6 bucks have been working great so far for me. With a 500 mAH current they are a very safe way to float maintain a battery or charge a sportsmanship battery I say.

[Derek up North]

What's a "sportsmanship battery"?

[Totem]

autocomplete on the ipad made it a sportsmanship battery...I had typed sportsman battery. Hate autocomplete on ipad/iphone... it helps spell sometimes and not so much others.

Here are the batteries i have come into recently:

I have lots of them....(110).

http://www.amazon.com/EnerSys-Genesis-NP7-12FR-Fast-Connector/dp/B000LQDMWQ

As mentioned in previous posts, i have been reconditioning them with decent success.

[85mirage]

I had black and decker 2/6 auto smart charger and it broke, no good.I replaced converter with a WFCO 45 Amp Power Center/Converter/RV Battery Charger 8945 WF-8945 45 AMP in my rv awhile ago. did not change isolator thou.

How do i jump isolator to charge engine battery? Any picts anywhere?

thanks

[zero]

I had black and decker 2/6 auto smart charger and it broke, no good.I replaced converter with a WFCO 45 Amp Power Center/Converter/RV Battery Charger 8945 WF-8945 45 AMP in my rv awhile ago. did not change isolator thou.

How do i jump isolator to charge engine battery? Any picts anywhere?

thanks

I don't know what your RV uses for battery isolation but whatever it has - it has little to do with your power-center change-over. Likely you've just got a rectifier-box under the hood that did the isolation (finned aluminum box with either three or four small terminals on it). If not a rectifier box, then likely a simple electro-mechanical relay under the hood somewhere. Either would be fairly close to the cranking battery and alternator. If you want to "jump" either it just takes moving a few wires around.

[85mirage]

Thanks

Ive got simple electro-mechanical relay under hood. It looks like second picture but older and no led on it. I think its original. I'm looking to charge engine battery from power center converter while plugged in to shore power.

[zero]

Thanks

Ive got simple electro-mechanical relay under hood. It looks like second picture but older and no led on it. I think its original. I'm looking to charge engine battery from power center converter while plugged in to shore power.

The relay I showed has a voltage-sensor attached to it. It senses charge voltage and turns on automatically.

I assume you've got a standard relay setup that is energized by the ignition circuit. I.e., when you turn the key "on", the relay turns "on" and the front battery gets connected to the back "house" battery.

So what you want, as I understand it - is to either bypass your relay, or energize it - so when the converter/charger is plugged in to the grid - all your batteries are charged - front and back, corrrect?

One easy way is to just put a jumper wire on the relay. Pitfall is this. Once you do this - you could be running the camper on battery power when parked (not plugged into the grid) and drain the cranking battery to a point you can;t start the truck.

You can also add a jumper-wire with a manual switch. That switch needs to be big enough to carry the charge current. You'd have to remember to flip the switch "on" when parked so all the batteries are charing. Then turn it "off" when using the camper as a camper.

Here is a typical relay setup used to isolate batteries. The fine and light lines I added are what you could do to add a switch.

What I would NOT do is add a switch to energize the relay. If you do that, it will be on all the time and drawing power.

[Derek up North]

Thanks

Ive got simple electro-mechanical relay under hood. It looks like second picture but older and no led on it. I think its original. I'm looking to charge engine battery from power center converter while plugged in to shore power.

Is your truck alternator not able to do what it was designed to do?

[85mirage]

Yes your correct jde i want both batteries charged while plugged in. switch sounds good.thanks for info.

Camper is not in use but plugged in to keep house batt charged in cold weather.

My engine battery has been going dead in cold temp with no use.

Instead of having independent battery charger. I was thinking would be nice to use new internal converter.

I dont want to remove engine batt. and put in house.

Hope i didnt hijack post