Battery booster / charger

[RedZR]

I currently have my 2008 stored while we are looking for a house and want to make sure the battery does not discharge too much and, in turn, strains the alternator.

The battery is 2 years old and I try to drive the car every two weeks to warm it up and keep it charged but as winter sets in it may sit longer.

My storage does not have an electrical outlet so I can not use a traditional trickle charger. If I were to unhook the battery upon parking it and then hook a battery booster (the thing you use for jump starts) to it for 15 minutes or so before connecting the battery and starting it would that help charge it ?

Any advice is appreciated.

Dan


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[GT Premi]

No. How is it going to help charge the battery while the battery is still disconnected? If you're going to disconnect your battery anyway, just remove it completely from the car and take it to your house to be put on a trickle charger. Just don't store the battery directly on the ground/garage floor.

 

[RedZR]

An update to my problem. I purchased a portable power unit that accepts 110 and I use it to keep the battery up to power. I plug it in once per week and leave it for a few hours and so far so good.

 

[Catmonkey]

No. How is it going to help charge the battery while the battery is still disconnected? If you're going to disconnect your battery anyway, just remove it completely from the car and take it to your house to be put on a trickle charger. Just don't store the battery directly on the ground/garage floor.

This is what I would do too. Leave it on a maintainer until you want to drive the car.

 

[Robert M]

This is what I would do too. Leave it on a maintainer until you want to drive the car.

^^Same here..............You do not want to put a changer on that continues to charge, even after the battery is fully charged. If there is no electronics in the charger unit to just "maintain" the charge level after it has come to full charge, the battery will be over charged and possible plate damage will result. <<This will also minimize the battery life.

If the "trickle charger" does not stop trickling after the battery is fully charged, and after the full charge only "trickle" as needed to maintain, that is not good.

R

 

[GT Premi]

...You do not want to put a changer on that continues to charge, even after the battery is fully charged. If there is no electronics in the charger unit to just "maintain" the charge level after it has come to full charge, the battery will be over charged and possible plate damage will result. ...

That happened to my battery while we were vacationing a few years ago. (It was actually for MW '14.) It swelled out and started venting. The stench was like a dirty swamp. If it hadn't been for somebody being around to jumpstart us, we would've been stranded miles away from somewhere to get help. Now I just take it out for a quick drive at least once a month during the cooler months. I really need to get a good trickle charger. The charger I have now is basically for quick charging and jumpstarting. It doesn't shutoff once the battery is charged.

 

[Robert M]

I have used the Battery Tender brand battery maintainers for years, the Battery Tender Plus is the model that cycles as needed to maintain, but not continue to charge after the battery is fully charged.

^^^^I know there are other brands out there also, I just prefer Battery Tender brand, the reason being, one time I closed the hood on my 1993 Cobra R and as the hood was closing I notice the B.T. lead was in the latch!!!! The tender lead was cut!!!

There is a disconnect on the tender lead to use the provided clamp pigtail or eyelet pigtail, of course the cord severed behind the disconnection point and rendered the B.T. useless unless I wanted to splice it back together. I sent it to Deltron (the company who makes Battery Tenders) for a repair/replacement of the lead.........they sent me a new Battery Tender at N/C.........WOW!! That was Cool!! Great/unexpected customer service.

The longest lasting oem assy. line Motorcraft battery (came in the car new) that I have ever had was 13 years, I maintained an original Motorcraft battery from a 1995 Cobra R until 2008 using a Battery Tender Plus. I can't say that I have heard of anyone else who has been able to extend an oem 3 year warranty Motorcraft battery or any other battery for 13 years of trouble free starting. But when it crapped out, it was done!



R

 

[GT Premi]

Do they make one that will maintain 2 (or more) batteries at the same time? It would be great to be able to maintain both car batteries and the lawn tractor battery on one charger. I realize the lawn tractor battery is wishful thinking, since it's a different voltage.

 

[Robert M]

The different voltages may be the issue, but it seems to me I saw something about a multi-charge unit that they now offer, but I would assume it is for "like voltages".


R

 

[Robert M]

My mistake in an earlier post............It is "Deltran" not Deltron who makes the Battery Tenders, here is their link.........I see WiFi on something.......Cool!!

http://www.batterytender.com/

^^^They have Really expanded their charger line up since the time I started using them!!!

One other thing I experienced, I have a Z-Turn mower for my lawn, I was keeping a Battery Tender Plus on it during the slow growing season, the B.T. Plus for automobiles is 1.25A, it does not work well with the smaller lawn tractor/ motorcycle type batteries. There is a smaller B.T. rated at 75A for those smaller batteries.



R