Trickle Chargers.....Opinions, Brands, etc.

Nachtycoupe

Nachtycoupe

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I have had bad luck with trickle chargers going out. Car and Marine. I thought I would go Marine, generally a little better built and can endure salt water, etc. a little better but no luck. Any moderately priced ones out there. And I also worry about my wife tripping cord, dog, etc.and pulling ends apart, touching, and sparking under hood when we are away or whatever. Any tips on preventing that? I guess secure under hood real well to something in engine bay so that it won't yank on it from that point forward. Anyhow, suggestions welcome.
 
GolfBavaria said:
I have had bad luck with trickle chargers going out. Car and Marine. I thought I would go Marine, generally a little better built and can endure salt water, etc. a little better but no luck. Any moderately priced ones out there. And I also worry about my wife tripping cord, dog, etc.and pulling ends apart, touching, and sparking under hood when we are away or whatever. Any tips on preventing that? I guess secure under hood real well to something in engine bay so that it won't yank on it from that point forward. Anyhow, suggestions welcome.
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I guess you have a huge decision to make. Dog and Wife or CAR?
How much will you be aswking for the car. I want first grabs.
Just having a little fun.
Koopman
 
I use a "battery tender" brand.
they have multi port or just single. Used for motorcycle and e9.
Normally comes with a permanent battery port and clips.
great EBAY item for the stocking stuffer crowd.
I have used mine for 6+ years with no problems
 
Up here in the North, a lot of people use the brand CTEK, and afaik they have worked very good even if used outside and in cold winter conditions.
I don't know what you consider moderately priced, I guess these are a bit pricey, but they have alot of different chargers.

I haven't used one myself, but I've heard they have pretty clever solutions for connecting them.
 
I have been using the Griots Garage battery tender.
It has the clip and can be changed over to the ports with a quick connect feature. This allows the hood to be closed without pinching the wire or knocking off the clips when the hood is closed
 
CTek makes a very good battery tender. Most of the auto manufacturers have their battery tenders made by CTek. The Rolls-Royce and BMW tenders are all made by CTek as are the Ferrari tenders.

I researched and ended up purchasing a unit by NORCO and I have been very happy with it. They are high quality and work very well. They also offer different features including multi-car units for someone with a small or medium sized collection.

https://no.co/products

As with other brands they offer a pigtail that attaches to your + and - so you can just plug it in. Some have built in memory so if the power goes out it will reset itself and not let the battery drain. Some also have a built in amp spike which shocks the battery and helps to descale. I have seen batteries that wouldn't hold a charge for more than a week get refreshed by being left on a quality trickle charger.

In addition many offer a plug for your cigarette lighter for charging versus using the battery terminals. This will work in coupes and bavs since the lighters are always hot.
 
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I've bought BMW battery tenders for the M3 and 2007 X3, have worked great so far, going on 3 years for one and 1 year on the other.
 
I've been running a Yuasa battery tender called a Smart shot continuously since 2004. It seems very well made.
 
I use a Deltran Battery Tender Jr. on several of my vehicles, M/C's and cars/trucks. The most important thing I've found is that the claim of "float" charging is optimistic at best. I ran the battery of my '96 Triumph Trophy dry one year because I believed the operating instructions (Tim Allen: "The instructions are only the manufacturers opinion of how the thing should work" :rolleyes:). I put all of my chargers on a 24 hour timer and have them activate for one hour per day. Keeps everything topped up without running the risk of overcharging. Just a simple timer with the push pins for timing.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-...echanical-Timer-with-2-Outlet-49807/203677447

http://www.batterychargers.com/faqs/
 
My e9 came with a CTek.
I have a Noco on another car for the last 5 years. They both seem fine.
 
I have both Battery Tender and BatteryMinder ones. Had good luck with both.
I have 8 or 9 of them around the garages to keep my boat, mower, generators (2) and seldom used cars charged up.

Both the E38, E9 and my 911 (997) are fortunate in that the cigarette lighter is always powered, so I just have each charger going to an adapter and plug in the car that way. Don't have to mess with getting to the battery or popping up hoods/trunks or such.
My Mustang, I do have to clip to the battery on that one.... and the F250 also. But the BMW and Porsche (and Mercedes when I had one) were cigarette lighter friendly.
You can get extension cables and adapters to let you do pretty much what you want. I use the garage door tracks in the overhead area to string the cables around to keep them off the floor and being tripped on or messed with.

Cigarette Adapter
https://www.batterystuff.com/battery-cables-connectors-plugs/BTLighterA081-0069-5.html

Extension Cable (12' here, other lengths available)
https://www.batterystuff.com/battery-cables-connectors-plugs/BT12.5.html

BatteryMinder
https://www.batterystuff.com/battery-chargers/12-volt/0-4amps/bm1500.html
I favor this one.... FWIW....

Battery Tender
https://www.batterystuff.com/all-products-by-brand/deltran/BTjr12v021-0123.html

Good luck.
 
In most every car the alternator is the main source of recharging the battery and it really isn't a very efficient battery charger. It simply impresses its output voltage across the battery and the establishes a charge based on this voltage. There is no feedback from the battery, and this results in a less than fully charged battery, or having too much voltage can damage the battery. A battery charged to 85% will start your car just fine, and once this three second operation is over, your alternator takes 'charge' and you are none the wiser.
If the state of charge of your battery is critical, say as an emergency source of power, where the difference between 85% charged and 100% charged could be vital, you need a dedicated battery charger. I worked in the marine industry and occasionally got involved in the USCG testing of the emergency battery system, and we had to demonstrate the proper operation of the battery charger in each of its modes.
A simple DC power supply will keep your battery charged enough to start your car, the real value of the more intelligent chargers, like the Battery Tender, is the extension of battery life by use of the temperature sensing and desulfation mode.
 
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