Battery tenders

[Eric]

How many of you keep your lightly used vehicles (cars, bikes, lawn equipment) hooked up to a battery tender/trickle charger during the off season?

I have two I rotate among my various bikes/cars to keep the batteries fully charged. These are automatic units that shut off when the battery is fully charged...

I find they have more than paid for themselves in terms of longer battery life - and fewer hassles.

Thoughts?

[Ken]

How many of you keep your lightly used vehicles (cars, bikes, lawn equipment) hooked up to a battery tender/trickle charger during the off season?

I have two I rotate among my various bikes/cars to keep the batteries fully charged. These are automatic units that shut off when the battery is fully charged...

I find they have more than paid for themselves in terms of longer battery life - and fewer hassles.

Thoughts?

My car, being used every day, does not require trickle charging although a charger is available in the garage if necessary. My 'bike on the other hand is linked up to a Datatool battery optimiser as soon as it is in its shed and up on the stands. This way I never have to worry about the battery state or the drain the alarm system is putting on it. As a bonus, as the 'bike is up on the ABBA Superstand, both wheels are off the ground and I don't have to go out every couple of days to rotate them. I'm all for modern 'MakeLifeEasy' devices.

Ken.

[Kwozzie1]

How many of you keep your lightly used vehicles (cars, bikes, lawn equipment) hooked up to a battery tender/trickle charger during the off season?

I have two I rotate among my various bikes/cars to keep the batteries fully charged. These are automatic units that shut off when the battery is fully charged...

I find they have more than paid for themselves in terms of longer battery life - and fewer hassles.

Thoughts?

I am not sure what intervals of time I should think about.....I try and ride / drive my vehicles every day...It confuses the heck out of the neighbours

[DonTom]

"How many of you keep your lightly used vehicles (cars, bikes, lawn equipment) hooked up to a battery tender/trickle charger during the off season?"

It's best to use a "battery maintainer". These charge the battery full and shut off until the battery voltage lowers a bit and then they come back on. These can be purchased at your favorite store, Wal*Mart. ;D. These are like trickle chargers, but they turn themselves off and on as needed. Most have a switch to set to either one amp or two amp. I keep them on one amp.

I use different methods with different vehicles depending on how often they are used. In my 2002 Ford Mustang, which is rarely used, I do nothing at all. It draws almost no current when sitting. My 1997 Sebring is the opposite. It draws quite a bit of current and is used very little. I keep a battery maintainer on it. The Sebring has the battery behind the front wheel and is difficult to get to, so I like to keep it well charged.

My 1997 Jeep (4WD) is rarely used in the summer, but used a lot in the winter to get between the two homes in the snow. I either disconnect the battery or remove the IOD fuse, depending on how long it will be sitting. Removing the IOD (Ignition Off Draw) fuse in Chrysler / Jeep / Dodge vehicles will remove the current draw from most things, such as the radio memory. The vehicle's alarm will still work without the IOD fuse and the Vehicle will still start and run, but turn signals and interior lights might not work as usually they too are connected to the IOD fuse circuit, depending on the model.

I also do above with my Dodge truck.

The owner's manual says remove the IOD fuse if you're not going to start the vehicle for more than ten days. However, if more than a month, I would disconnect the battery or else use a battery maintainer.

I also have a battery maintainer on my 1984 Yamaha Venture and my DR200 SE for most of the year. The 1971 BMW R75/S draws no current at all when sitting, but I use a trickle charger on it once in a while. I normally don't have any electricity going to the garage here in SSF, I just charge it when I turn the juice on for the garage. I normally keep it off be because I rarely go in there. If I had the electricity on full time, I would put the BMW on a battery maintainer too.

-Don- (SSF, CA)