Battery Maintainer - Charger ?

[Ironhorse]

Winter is coming this way, again, and with it comes the problem of trying to keep the batteries up on all the vehicles in the shop. Hence, the question here:

Seems as if my battery maintainers are all dying off one by one. Have 4 total, 1 each for the '71 4x4, '71 Chevelle, '86 Monte Carlo LS and the ZTR mower. Have tried what I thought were good maintenance trickle chargers, 6/12 volt capable. Have had Schumachers and Sears Brand Die Hard chargers. All did well for couple years and then slowly but surely died off one by one. With my '57 2 dr. coming home from paint at some point I will need to add a 5th charger. Thinking I need more of a "float" type charger rather than a "trickle" charger. Difference in a float charger battery charges til full and then turns off until battery charge drops to a certain point then begins charging again. The trickle charger constantly charges constantly.

Have looked at a Black and Decker BM3B 6/12 volt capable, seems to have good reviews and won't break the bank needing 5 chargers total. Anyone have experience with the B&D BM3B float battery charger or a similar type/brand?

[crossfire84]

I use the battery tender brand for years and no problems.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by crossfire84

I use the battery tender brand for years and no problems.

Thanks for the reply. Will look into the Battery Tender brand. Is that perhaps a O'reilly or Autozone item? Where did you acquire such?

PS: Seen you are located in Wind Lake, Wis. I was born in Rice Lake, Wis. in the upper NW part of the state, many, many, long time ago, awhile back, LOL.

[Dead Parrot]

I use these: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...2201_200332201

If your need isn't immediate, they go on sale every so often for $20. Might be worth waiting until Black Friday and see if they drop the price.

One of mine is several years old and used on a motorcycle. Picked up two more a couple years ago when I moved and needed to keep a tractor and ATV charged up.

[_Ogre]

i bought a battery tender on sale a 3 years ago to replace the 5 year old $5 harbor fright battery float charger
still haven't used it cuz the $5 harbor fright charger is still chugging along
due to my shaved handles/keyless entry module i need to plug my 58 truk in anytime i don't drive it for a week
this one has lasted 8 yrs, last one fried due to the battery failing
i keep one on my mower too. my son uses them on his bike and 68 elco. my neighbor just bought 5 for his boat
another neighbor has a car collection, he bought 10 of them 5 yrs ago

i highly recommend the harbor fright charger, regular price is $10, they go on sale all the time for $5
they're cheap and they work great

automatic-battery-float-charger

[The Rocknrod]

I bought a shumacher? last night (at tractor supply) to put on my 2500HD Diesel, worked as advertised. Yesterday morning, no start. it was like 9 degrees though. Also plugged in my block heater. I'm in an apartment with a garage that the truck hangs out of (too long) so I guess when it gets cold it goes in there plugged in from now on.

[mongocanfly]

I've got these on my boat, 4 wheeler, lawn mower, and tractor...been running for yrs

[rsavage]

I have 4 of the battery tender Jr.s like Mongo. I've replaced a couple over the years but they last many years. Five year warranty and made in the USA. About $25 each.

[rpmerf]

I've used the harbor freight one for years. I've read some bad reviews on them, so seems they might be hit or miss. I keep them on old batteries that I wouldn't trust in my car, but still hold a charge, so not a huge deal if they don't get charged. Overcharging is a different issue, so I have it on a lamp timer I run for about an hour a day. I check the voltage on and off every once in a while.

[v30crewcab]

I have a battery tender jr I've had for over 10 yrs. been dropped and cracked, and still works great.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

I've got these on my boat, 4 wheeler, lawn mower, and tractor...been running for yrs

Well, stopped in at Northern Tool & Equipt. yesterday and bought 4 of those. Had a big sale going on, I get their sales brochure and spotted these listed. Normal price was listed as $59.99, on sale for $17.99. $10 off coupon for anything over $50 spent so total of the 4 worked out to $15.49 each plus tax. Gives me one for my '71 4x4 truck, '71 Chevelle, 48'' ZTR and one left over for the '57 2 dr. when it comes home from paint. Hopefully will be set for awhile now with all the batteries and vehicles.

[mongocanfly]

Good deal...I need to get me a couple more...

[cericd]

When y'all use these, I just got one of the Battery Tender Juniors, how do y'all hook them up. The instructions say for vehicles like my 1970 C10, with the negative cable grounded to the chassis (engine block), hook the positive wire of the Battery Tender to the + Positive post of the battery and the negative clip of the Battery Tender to the chassis or engine block of the vehicle. Well the wires for the Negative and Positive clips aren't long enough to spread that far apart. Can I just connect the Positive clip to the positive battery terminal and the Negative clip to the negative battery terminal?

[Ironhorse]

I hook my battery tenders direct to the battery posts while the battery is still mounted in the car, truck or the ZTR. I hook up the alligator clips to the correct post as needed before I connect the maintainer itself to an electrical outlet. Have been very pleased with them since purchase. I do dis-connect the unit from the wall and then the battery before attempting to start the vehicle.

[cericd]

Awesome! Thanks. This is my first time using one of these. Seems like they're a good thing to have for the health of you batteries.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i bought a battery tender on sale a 3 years ago to replace the 5 year old $5 harbor fright battery float charger
still haven't used it cuz the $5 harbor fright charger is still chugging along
due to my shaved handles/keyless entry module i need to plug my 58 truk in anytime i don't drive it for a week
this one has lasted 8 yrs, last one fried due to the battery failing
i keep one on my mower too. my son uses them on his bike and 68 elco. my neighbor just bought 5 for his boat
another neighbor has a car collection, he bought 10 of them 5 yrs ago

i highly recommend the harbor fright charger, regular price is $10, they go on sale all the time for $5
they're cheap and they work great

automatic-battery-float-charger

funny thing about this thread popping up again...
i'm still using the (now) 8 year old harbor fright 500mA battery float charger.
i did buy a new NOCO GENIUS10, 10-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V and 12V Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, and Battery Desulfator with Temperature Compensation
i'll throw the noco on 58truk and the harbor fright on the mower this year