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WillThrill View Drop Down
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Joined: 04 Jul 2014
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Posts: 298 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Battery maintainer
    Posted: 10 Sep 2014 at 9:16pm
Originally posted by techntrek


Originally posted by johnmaci

I have three Deltran battery Tender Jr's, and they work great for my three marine batteries. Very inexpensive too.
If the battery state is low, it will stay red for a few days bringing up, then will turn and stay green in trickle.
Sounds like a situation where the batts should be topped off with a charger first, usually the battery tenders only output 1-2 amps.  On older batteries especially, that would barely keep up with the self-discharge rate, let alone put a charge on them.


That's a great point. 'Trickle' chargers often don't have sufficient amperage to charge up batteries. On top of that, they output a constant voltage/amperage, no matter what. You NEVER want that. You want a charger/maintainer that is 'smart' and adjusts its output according to the state of your batteries.

Like others, I have had great success with my Battery Minder #1500. It takes the ambient temperature into account, which is a great plus. However, battery maintainers like this should only be used AFTER the batteries are fully charged or nearly so.
"Not all those who wander are lost." Tolkien

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techntrek View Drop Down
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Posts: 9062 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 8:05pm
Originally posted by johnmaci

I have three Deltran battery Tender Jr's, and they work great for my three marine batteries. Very inexpensive too.
If the battery state is low, it will stay red for a few days bringing up, then will turn and stay green in trickle.

Sounds like a situation where the batts should be topped off with a charger first, usually the battery tenders only output 1-2 amps.  On older batteries especially, that would barely keep up with the self-discharge rate, let alone put a charge on them.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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freezingalaskan View Drop Down
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Posts: 34 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 7:24pm
For winter I take the battery out of the pod and have it in my garage together with motorcycle/generator maintaining purposes. I use this Optima device and switch between the batteries periodically. More expensive than the Battery Tender, but "more fun to look at".

http://www.amazon.com/Optima-150-40008-Battery-Charger/dp/B00DHGPVKI/ref=sr_1_57?ie=UTF8&qid=1409786567&sr=8-57&keywords=battery+maintainer

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Sleepless View Drop Down
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Posts: 556 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 5:34pm
If you need to recondition a deep cycle battery, members of the 2 shrimping and fishing clubs I belong to here in east central Florida swear by the Battery Minder.  This is not a "battery tender" but a unit that will actually extend the life of an old or neglected 12 volt deep cycle battery.  I have been using mine for about 12 years and can normally keep these batteries for about 6 years. 
http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator-System/dp/B00D7HZ6FC
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furpod View Drop Down
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 2:00pm
The pod has a pretty good built in system, if you can park/store within reach of an outlet.
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johnmaci View Drop Down
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Posts: 202 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 10:25am
I have three Deltran battery Tender Jr's, and they work great for my three marine batteries. Very inexpensive too.
If the battery state is low, it will stay red for a few days bringing up, then will turn and stay green in trickle.
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2McPods View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2014 at 9:57am
Hello, any thoughts on battery tricklers/maintainers? Good,better,best brands? Thanks
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