I'd like to find a tender, or maintainer, that turns completely off when batt. is completely charged. All I'm finding are the ones that have the float mode, they constantly charge, just at a very low amp, that shouldn't harm the batt. Both my home charger & boat's, on board charger, turn completely off when batt. is fully charged, then if, when, batt. loses a slight amount of voltage, it will turn back on till fully charged, then to off again. Has anybody seen or heard of such an animal? I'd just feel better knowing it's not trying to charge a batt. that is already at full capacity. Just seems good.
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battery tender (maintainer), completely off NOT FLOAT.
- Thread starter rphillips
- Start date
People that build charges are usually pretty expert at battery charging. Buy a quality charger. If you are really worried about it get a mechanical timer to shut off the charger.
A 24 charger will probably work OK then it is only on a short period (your choice) of time a day.
https://www.amazon.com/GE-Mechanical-Programing-Polarized-15076/dp/B002HEY300
A 24 charger will probably work OK then it is only on a short period (your choice) of time a day.
https://www.amazon.com/GE-Mechanical-Programing-Polarized-15076/dp/B002HEY300
Steve
GS Whisperer
I have a few Schumacher Battery Maintainers around here. I got some at Wal-Mart several years ago for about $20. Before they closed, Sears had a Die Hard version of the same thing. It looked identical, I think Schumacher made it for them.
The link above is for one that is available for about $23, but it's also available on Amazon for $29.
I have had no problems with my units here, I would not hesitate to buy another one, if needed. :encouragement:
.
The link above is for one that is available for about $23, but it's also available on Amazon for $29.
I have had no problems with my units here, I would not hesitate to buy another one, if needed. :encouragement:
.
Thanks, but after a little searching, found the SC1355 is on a float system also. I thought I'd found one a while back, Tusk (or Task) makes a little tender size, 1 amp, & when batt. is fully charged it will automatically shut off, but reading farther, it won't turn back on when batt. drops a little, kind'f useless, to get it back on, you need to unplug it then plug it in again. Just thought, as this technology has been around a few yrs. now, someone would have introduced it in the tender, maintainer mkt. Oh well, maybe not, or I maybe I just haven't found it yet.
Yes and yes.
Bought one about six years ago. Extremely satisfied with it.
fbody_mike
Forum Mentor
How about putting a battery tender on a smart plug. Set the smart plug schedule for once a week for a few hours that way it can't float.
The original poster doesn't want to charge, or even "maintain" a fully charged battery. But consider this: the moment you disconnect it from the charger, the battery is discharging. It's only fully charged for an instant. Unless it's on a maintainer.
That's odd, I've read most everything there is to read about the Battery Tender, & all I see says go into a float mode. Now, I've just got off the phone to Deltran U.S.A., (the Battery Tender folks) & talked with Loretta in Tech. Support. She advised they have no Tenders, maintainers, that switch off, All theirs constantly float, keep charging, forever. I asked how much it charged when in float mode & she said appx. 100mA., or 1/10th of an amp. She also explained the newer AGM & maintenance free batteries actually needed a constant charge going in all the time. I didn't question her a lot, It's gets over my head pretty quickly, but wondered why. I think all, On board chargers shut completely off when batteries are completely charged, & I know mine are, & I know many batteries in the boating world are maintenance free. I always see the simple side of things, adding current to a batt. that is completely at full charge, seems like putting gas in a can that is already full, just don't see an advantage.
Look at it this way: the gas can is full, but the gas is evaporating.
The first winter I had a Battery Tender, I though I was smart leaving it plugged in most of winter. That Spring after a couple of rides, I had a weak battery. Upon checking I found that the water in the battery had evaporated. I topped it off and it lasted a couple of seasons. After that I only used the tender ocassionly and unplugged it when it indicated full charge. No issues after that.
Batteries self discharge when left unattended. You can't do anything about that.
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/elevating_self_discharge
In theory the battery tenders simply is overcoming the self-discharge or other parasitic loads in your bike.
If that is boiling your battery , then I would suspect a different problem of the battery is already bad.
As I mentioned before use a mechanical timer for say 50% duty cycle (e.g. 12 hours on and 12 hours off or some other 1 hour on/ one hour off)
Looking at this figure, self discharge is dramatically affected by storage temperature. In this case cold is good meaning low self discharge. It suggests that if you live in a cold climate 0 degC, that you shoudl be able to leave your bike off tender for 3 full months with no problem; there is little discharge even after 18 months.
On the other hand storage at 40 degC will require a recharge well within only 6 months.
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Naw, I guess I'll just keep doing like I am, put the home charger on 2 amp. connect to 1 bike, a day or few later, when the fully charged & green light is on, move it to another bike till I notice the little green light again, a day or few more to another, till all 6 are good, then start over again. All while the boat is just sitting there, glancing once in a while to see all 3 lights are green. If one of the 3 batt. drops a little, the auto charger will kick on & boost that batt. back up to full charge again, then kick back off. red light indicates topping batt off again, constant red means bad batt. Next spring unplug charger & head to the lake, knowing the batteries are at full charge
If self charge is your only problem then this charts suggests that you can get down to 75% SOC in about 2 months at 40 degC (104 degF). That means you don't have to cycle any more often than 2 months which is also a pretty good rule of thumb based on experience. Of course if you have a volt-meter or USB port powered all the time you might have 10-20 mAmp draw that will bleed the battery down much faster.
Anecdotally in my experience leaving a battery on a tender full time causes issues (I always use AGM's), I know others that do it with no problems though....
I prefer to bung them on the tender when I think of it.. usually every 2-3 weeks. Often they take less than 2mins to get back to "green"
I prefer to bung them on the tender when I think of it.. usually every 2-3 weeks. Often they take less than 2mins to get back to "green"
Anecdotally in my experience leaving a battery on a tender full time causes issues (I always use AGM's), I know others that do it with no problems though....
I prefer to bung them on the tender when I think of it.. usually every 2-3 weeks. Often they take less than 2mins to get back to "green"
I do the same. I ruined a brand new AGM by leaving it on a smart charger all winter. It would read fully charged, but wouldn't take a load. It's a quad bank charger, and the lead-acid batteries that were hooked up at the same time survived just fine.
Never realized all batteries would lose a charge at the same rate. I just figured battery size, weight, type, quality, age, would all affect the rate a battery would lose charge Also never realized tender, maintainers may cause as much problems as they do, heck in this little thread here's 3 folks that have had problems. Who knows, maybe if those tenders just topped the batt. off when needed then turned off, instead of keeping charging constantly, may have helped, maybe not. Back to the gas can, when a little evaporates, fill it back up, when a little evaporates again, fill it again, just don't see the need for keep pouring when the can is full. don't see the need to keep charging if the batt. is full. Heck, maybe I'll just invent one.
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