What does Oppo know about battery tenders?

"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
08/11/2014 at 11:02 • Filed to: None

I've got a boat and a camper trailer that spend a lot of time sitting, so the batteries tend to die. Yesterday I put the boat in the water only to find it didn't have enough battery available to start. Luckily we were able to borrow a set of 40' long jumper cables and once started it charged up just fine. I want to get a battery tender(s) to put on these to keep the batteries from dying and keep from having to charge them before using them. Does anybody have any recommendations? Should I get a couple of individual tenders or a double tender? I would be able to park them close enough to use a double.

Have a fast Subaru screenshot from Launch Control for your time.

DISCUSSION (37)

Sportwagen, Is Sad > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:06

You should ask Battery Tender Unnecessary ;)

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:08

I don't know much about battery tenders, but I know some things about coal tenders!

Kinja'd!!!

thebigbossyboss > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:09

I heard battery tenders were unnecessary.

IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:11

I bought a random battery charger at autozone a while back that has a 2amp trickle charge feature. I really like the charger, it's got an auto off feature so it should work well, and it can go up to 10amps when you need to charge something faster.

Looks like this is a newer version of the one I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-…

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Sn210 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:11

I have a Battery Tender Jr. that I use for my lawn mower battery. I pull the battery for the winter and store it in my basement with the battery tender hooked up. My mower has started up each spring without issue. Definitely worth it

McMike > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:14

Love them. I have three batteries on tenders all the time.

I used to replace motorcycle batteries every-other year, since I started using battery tenders, it has stretched to 5+ years, same as our daily drivers.

Keep in mind, the smaller ones don't charge the battery. They just keep them topped off. Deltran makes some that do both. If you don't have a dedicated charger too, that might be the way to go. The nicer ones start at $70

If the two batteries you are going to maintain are on two different vehicles, just get two of them.

http://batterytender.com/products/charg…

I have two battery tender Jrs, and one of these waterproof ones. The waterproof one comes in handy when I store the Mini for the winter.

Kinja'd!!!

The one down side to battery tenders? You sometimes won't know if your charging system (or battery) is kaput.

A guy I ride with ruined a trip we were on once because he only took his bike on short rides. Run it for an hour or so, then charge it up, take it out, come home and charge it. We were 100 miles out when his bike coasted to the shoulder. His stator was not working.

Every 75 miles, one of us would have to switch batteries with him so he could run.

While they are good, they can sometimes keep a problem from being exposed. That's why I only plug the bike in when it's going to sit for more than a week.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:15

I've had good luck with one of these, for keeping the fun car charged in the garage. Have been using it for a few years and works great. They also make it easy to throw some connectors on your battery so all you have to do is plug it into the charger, without messing with any clips, etc. Which makes hookups quick and tidy, especially if your battery is not readily accessible (like mine).

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender…

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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:16

we were able to borrow a set of 40' long jumper cables

This sounds like you have the most Zany Scheme-Ready friends of all time. 40'?! Do these people also know where to obtain anatomically correct mannequins, an animatronic zebra, a giant inflatable gorilla, a 5lb sack of wheat pennies, green-tea flavored herbal gelatin in a can, 5 expired cans of whitewall cleaner and a 1974 Cheerios ad - all within a day?

jariten1781 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:18

I know nothing about them other than the standard Deltran ones (the Batterey Tender brand) have worked for me for decades.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Sn210
08/11/2014 at 11:19

Can you use the battery tender with the battery still in the vehicle? Because I'm lazy and don't really feel like unhooking the battery from my boat. It is stored indoors so I don't need to worry about having a weatherproof charger/tender or the battery freezing. Usually I just charge it in the spring, but it goes so flat over the winter that I suspect that is the reason it lost the charge over the summer this time.

SantaRita > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:23

I user the battery tender Junior. I just have one wall-wart and put it on the car/bike I'm not driving(i have the leads wired already on each car. They are the least expensive and they do a great job of charging/maintaining . My father in law has one on his vette too. No issues ever.

If i were you i'd just buy two of those. If one dies you have a second backup which you would not have on a single mulch-interface unit. Also those multis are more $$$. you could buy 3-4 juniors for the price of a multi and you only sacrifice about .5A of charging rate (which you'd probably never even notice).

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:24

That's what I do; it's a royal pain to get my battery out, so I just ran one of the cables they included from the battery up to a convenient place, and then just plug the tender into that when I park the car. So much easier!

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK
08/11/2014 at 11:24

I've got a 2/10/50A charger/starter that I can use to charge a flat battery. What I'm interested in is a maintenance charger type. It kind of looks like this will do not that, but it seems like pretty high amperage for a maintenance charger since 3A looks like the lowest setting.

Sn210 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:26

I don't see why not, but do your homework first. My father's and father in-law's motorcycles have battery tender connections prewired so they don't have to pull their batteries for storage. I also used mine on my father in-laws Accord while they were on vacation for a few weeks without having to remove it.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > thebigbossyboss
08/11/2014 at 11:27

If we were talking about the Mercedes SLS I would agree with you. But since I don't live on a lake and my boat spends most of its life on a trailer I will have to disagree on this one.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
08/11/2014 at 11:27

I'm not sure that a coal tender would work for my application.

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:29

It would, but not in a very effective way.

Build steam generator, feed with coal tender, use electricity to power battery tender!

Bandit > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:30

I know he is unnecessary. (Please tell me someone gets it)

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/11/2014 at 11:31

I could probably come up with all of that and more. The cables were custom made out of 2/0 welding leads. As awesome as they would be to have on my boat it is cheaper to buy a battery tender.

thebigbossyboss > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:31

Haha agreed. Deltran makes battery tenders. I know this from ALMS. I don't know if they are good or not, but maybe you could hunt some reviews online.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:31

I'd get individual battery tenders. They also make waterproof versions. I have one on the motorcycle, and one on the waverunner, and I have put leads on the truck and the BMW.

I've never taken them out to charge them, and it also saves the memory with the new body control modules, etc. Or for the old school types, it keeps you from having to reset your radio presets.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Bandit
08/11/2014 at 11:32

I chuckled. But you're at least the third person I've seen make a BTU joke. And yes, I knew there would be a lot of them coming when I made this thread.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:33

Well, they sure don't make good boats...

Kinja'd!!!

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
08/11/2014 at 11:34

I don't need the waterproof one as the trailer and boat are both stored indoors. The only advantage that I can see is that I would only need one outlet to take care of both batteries if I get the 2 bank tender. Since outlets are sort of limited where they get parked that would help me.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake
08/11/2014 at 11:35

That might be out of my price range. I don't really have a spare billion sitting around to build my own personal power plant with.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
08/11/2014 at 11:36

And I don't think my boat has enough reserve bouyancy to float one of those either. Though I do only need it when the boat is being stored on the trailer.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:37

You could also get away with an outlet squid. Reason is because the amp draw for each of the battery tenders is about 1-2A (Assuming they are all at full output for charging), so it wouldn't present a large load to worry about to do two on an extension on the same outlet.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:41

Welding leads - yeah, that would make sense.

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 11:42

Psht, it wouldn't cost much at all to make one for tending a battery. Buy a cheap electric fan, a pot, a hose, and a funnel.

Run some water into the pot at a slow rate, heat it with the coal fire, use the funnel to direct the steam across the fan. Reverse the polarity of the fan to make it generate power.

Note: I actually have no idea if this would work, also, I don't take any responsibility for any injuries suffered from attempting to build a ghetto steam turbine

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > McMike
08/11/2014 at 11:49

Thanks for the info. I don't really need to charge the battery, just keep it maintained. In the event that it is totally flat I've got a dedicated charger already. From what you're saying it sounds like the Jr. would probably be perfect for me. I don't need waterproof since everything gets stored indoors.

The boat has a set of full gages, so I can see if the battery is charging or not. It just sits enough that it didn't have quite enough to turn over.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake
08/11/2014 at 11:58

Wouldn't it be easier to buy a tiny wind turbine to put in front of the fan? Then I wouldn't need to burn the coal so it would be much safer since there wouldn't be any fire or boiling water.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/11/2014 at 12:00

If I ever stumble across that much free welding lead it would be worth doing. Unfortunately 2/0 lead is expensive if you actually have to buy it.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 12:07

I've used one on the Montego with great success.

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 12:23

Wind turbine in front of fan. INFINITE FREE ENERGY! SUCK IT ALL BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONVENTIONAL MECHANICS!

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake
08/11/2014 at 14:01

Thermodynamics be damned, there is free energy to be had.

BoulderZ > McMike
08/11/2014 at 14:38

I'll second McMike. I have a basic/junior from Deltran (different model name, some 4 or 5 years ago) that I use to maintain the battery in my Z in the winter. I attach the leads around Thanksgiving and remove it again in the spring (I don't want it in there for shows or track days), and just unplug it for the 3 or 4 days I take it out from the holidays to, say, late March or so.

fawgcutter > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
08/11/2014 at 16:36

Yes, you can. I do that with my motorcycles for winter storage. My BMW has 21 screws to remove to get to its battery, so it's easier just plugging the Battery Tender into the bike's Powerlet outlet.

Some float chargers, like Schmacher SE-1-12S, can mount to the firewall or radiator support so you can leave it in the engine compartment all the time. Just plug in an extension cord to let it do it's job. I use this on my pickup truck and car.