Moparts
Opinions on Trickle Chargers:
Posted By: Sunroofcuda
Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:11 AM
Do I need to spend $20.00, $40.00, $60.00 to get something good? I need to plug my Challenger in over the winter so the battery stays good. I was reading about $55.00 Dekas today, some people swear by them, others said they had a $20.00 Shumacher that works great.....
Opinions?
Posted By: Andrewh
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:20 AM
so I have had 4 different kinds.
Battery tender, worked about 3 years and died. The warranty was worthless. They wanted me to pay for shipping both ways. it was about as much as the tender was new.
I have a ctek- but only because one car had an agm battery, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.
I have 2 of the under 20 dollar shumaker's. I have had one of them for 2 years and the other under a year now. no issues on either.
I also had one of the cheap 4 dollar harbor freight one's. I used it about 6 months.
My only issue with it was that if you unplugged it, the car powered it up. so no reverse protection.
Posted By: steve660
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:37 AM
I've never used one. I use a regular battery charger set on 2 amp and plug it into a timer that's set to turn on for 1/2 hour a day. You could set it up for however you want though. Once a day, twice a day......
Posted By: FM3AAR
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:40 AM
I've got 4 Battery Tenders/Jrs (the oldest being 15 years) and they are all still working fine.
Posted By: screamindriver
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 06:06 AM
I've got a schumacher pro series that's about 5 bucks more than the 20 dollar one and it's worked flawlessly for 3 years now...
Posted By: 451Mopar
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 06:07 AM
In 2012, I bought a quad output Battery Tender, been in constant year round use since then, and haven't had any problems with it.
Posted By: dOrk !
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 06:35 AM
The Shu one works for me
Posted By: Dans 68
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 06:48 AM
I have used a Battery Tender for about 5 years. I have had no issues with it, and my batteries seem to like it.
Dan
Posted By: jaque
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 07:45 AM
batterey tender works great.. 50.00
so does cheapo harbor freight..10.00
go grab a harbor in the meantime sometimes you can get em for like 7.99
Posted By: 71birdJ68
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 08:18 AM
Don't use one on one of the reproduction gel cell batteries.
Posted By: ademon
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 10:18 AM
Never used one and my battery's last 8 to 9 years. I usually just toss the charger on them twice during winter storage for 3 or so hours, and right before I start it in early April. My garage stays at around 52 degrees over winter.
Posted By: ahy
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 03:02 PM
Quote:
Never used one and my battery's last 8 to 9 years. I usually just toss the charger on them twice during winter storage for 3 or so hours, and right before I start it in early April. My garage stays at around 52 degrees over winter.
Works for me also.
Posted By: mopargem
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 04:05 PM
Quote:
Quote:
Never used one and my battery's last 8 to 9 years. I usually just toss the charger on them twice during winter storage for 3 or so hours, and right before I start it in early April. My garage stays at around 52 degrees over winter.
Works for me also.
Same here.... If you do use a trickle charger, watch your water level
Posted By: 70RR383
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 04:09 PM
I have 2 battery MINDERS from harbor freight.1 on my riding mower and 1 on my reproduction gel cell battery AS RECOMMENDED by the manufacturer!!!!
Posted By: goldduster318
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 04:23 PM
I have a dual bank battery tender, one side for my pickup and the other side for the Duster. 3 years without any problems. Battery in the Duster is from 2008 and still cranks great. It's been 20 below zero in my garage this winter.
Posted By: screamindriver
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:46 PM
Quote:
I have 2 battery MINDERS from harbor freight.1 on my riding mower and 1 on my reproduction gel cell battery AS RECOMMENDED by the manufacturer!!!!
Let's hope another vendor picks up on the turbostart battery line or the repop battery market is going to get ugly....
Posted By: 340duster340
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 05:58 PM
i have the battery tender 4 bank all mount unit. its great, i have the extra long leads and it can reach cars with in 10 feet of my garage! have 2 in and 2 out on the charger. no complaints. have it running continuously for 2+ years now.
Posted By: Sunroofcuda
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 06:42 PM
Well, I'll be at the NTEA show in Indy this Wednesday so I'll look & see what's there - all the latest & greatest items. Thanks for all the input.
Posted By: TA Wanted
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 07:04 PM
Quote:
i have the battery tender 4 bank all mount unit. its great, i have the extra long leads and it can reach cars with in 10 feet of my garage! have 2 in and 2 out on the charger. no complaints. have it running continuously for 2+ years now.
I have one on all my cars that are not daily drivers, one on my lawn tractor, my generator, and even the spare battery in the garage that is out of the Charger right now. That what the kids get me for Christmas every year. Highly recommended.
Posted By: Moeggenpar
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 07:22 PM
Quote:
I have used a Battery Tender for about 5 years. I have had no issues with it, and my batteries seem to like it.
Dan
no issues here
Posted By: Challenger 1
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/01/15 07:26 PM
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Never used one and my battery's last 8 to 9 years. I usually just toss the charger on them twice during winter storage for 3 or so hours, and right before I start it in early April. My garage stays at around 52 degrees over winter.
Works for me also.
Same here.... If you do use a trickle charger, watch your water level
Me three, I just charge them a few times a year when they are not being used.
Feels good doing it and you can say "I worked on the car today"
What fun is it having them charged all year long?
Posted By: Ramrod39
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/02/15 01:01 AM
I have 4 Battery Tenders in use right now. I have the cheap models and the more expensive models. I think all of them are at least 5 years old, some are probably as old as 12- 15 years. No problems with these, altough I did have one that just quit working a few years back.
i would not hesitate to buy another Battery Tender.
Posted By: Ski 61701
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 04:08 AM
I have one of these for the past 4 yrs absolutely no problem less than 20 bucks.
http://www.lectriclimited.com/battery-butler.htm
Posted By: 62maxwgn
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 06:38 AM
Quote:
Do I need to spend $20.00, $40.00, $60.00 to get something good? I need to plug my Challenger in over the winter so the battery stays good. I was reading about $55.00 Dekas today, some people swear by them, others said they had a $20.00 Shumacher that works great.....
Opinions?
Never needed one and my last two restoration batteries are both 9 yrs old,started each car every few months during the winter and let it run for about 1/2 hr. 
Posted By: p d'ro
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 02:43 PM
Who leaves everything connected? Mine says not to but it is designed for underhood mounting and many people seem to do it with no harm..
Posted By: Andrewh
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 03:37 PM
all of mine are continuously connected, unless I am driving it.
I found a place to mount them so they stick out somewhere and I just connect and disconnect as needed.
Posted By: pittsburghracer
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 05:27 PM
Love them. I have a couple of the cheapo Harbor Freight ones and a 20 dollar Schmucker one from Walmart. Using it occasionally was a big part of the battery in my 2003 Chevy Malibu lasting 12 plus years. It was still going strong but I didn't trust it making this years cold Winter in PA so I finally bought a new battery.
Posted By: 6PKRTSE
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/04/15 05:33 PM
I have never used them in my life and everything I own starts up just fine whenever needed but I do have a heated garage so that probably helps. I don't trust them. I hear too many horror stories of them burning down garages or causing fires from shorting out or over charging batteries.
Posted By: TJP
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/05/15 04:18 AM
On the older vehicles I recommend disconnecting the battery, On newer ones UHHH
http://www.ctek.com/have good reviews. I have a customer with over 100 cars and he has a BIG box FULL of battery tenders. Schumachers seem to be better thnt the battery tenders IMO. No Experience with the HF ones
Posted By: markz528
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/08/15 05:37 PM
My opinion is that they can do more damage than good. In my opinion if you treat the battery correctly and put a charger on it a couple of times a year you will be better off.
I have a Schumacher 3 amp trickle charger on my marine battery and it destroyed the battery by overcharging it. It boiled the water out of it. The charger failed - it never shut off. They sent me a newer version under warranty and this unit maintains the voltage at a significantly lower level than the older one.
I personally would not be using a trickle charger on my vehicles.
If nothing else, they are an additional fire risk.
Posted By: justinp61
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/08/15 08:01 PM
I have several HF trickle chargers and so far they've been fine. My four wheeler doesn't get ridden much so I put an end on the trickle charger that matched the pig tail for my sprayer. One thing about the HF trickle, if you don't unhook it from the battery when you unplug the power it will run the battery down.
Posted By: Sunroofcuda
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/09/15 03:36 AM
Well, I bought one of the Schumacher ones (one that goes into float mode when the battery is fully charged) & hooked it up today to my Challenger. I connected the pigtail quick connect to the positive on the battery post, & the negative on a chassis ground - all located in the trunk. Plugged it in & we'll see how it works.
Posted By: pittsburghracer
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/09/15 04:40 PM
Quote:
My opinion is that they can do more damage than good. In my opinion if you treat the battery correctly and put a charger on it a couple of times a year you will be better off.
I have a Schumacher 3 amp trickle charger on my marine battery and it destroyed the battery by overcharging it. It boiled the water out of it. The charger failed - it never shut off. They sent me a newer version under warranty and this unit maintains the voltage at a significantly lower level than the older one.
I personally would not be using a trickle charger on my vehicles.
If nothing else, they are an additional fire risk.
I would NEVER use a 3 amp "trickle charger". A trickle charger is 1/2-1 amp and in my eyes should never be left on long term.
Posted By: AARCONV
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/11/15 03:06 AM
charge mine every few months...cant see a trickle charger running 24-7..its just another item sucking up electricity...even if it states that it shuts down..its still plugged in..
Posted By: JonC
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/11/15 03:34 AM
Over the winter I just start the car outside and bring it up to temperature and let it run for half an hour or so after that. Good for the engine and battery. Also, replace the battery every three years whether it needs it or not.
Posted By: bill440rt
Re: Opinions on Trickle Chargers: - 03/11/15 04:00 AM
I have a 4-gang Battery Tender, have used it going on 4 years now.
I pull the batteries out of everything when not in use over the winter (cars, lawn tractor, trailer, etc). I keep them on my workbench and attached to the Tender.
Works for me.
Anyone have any horror stories with these things?