Wireless battery charger

[james133]

I’m storing my vehicle and has no outlet for the original battery tender that I would use on the car battery I was wondering if there’s a cordless version, I didn’t see anything on the battery tender website, but is there another company that makes cordless battery powered trickle chargers

 

[Pikser]

How about a solar battery trickle charger ?

 

[493 Mike]

Take the battery home and maintain the charge.
Mike

 

[Bird 426]

Post #3

 

[kiwigtx]

I was wondering if there’s a cordless version

Make sure you observe the polarity.....otherwise they may not work.

 

[Don Frelier]

I just disconnect the battery over the winter months.

 

[Cranky]

I just disconnect the battery over the winter months.

A battery will still lose some power even if it's disconnected....but I'll disconnect the battery anyways if I'm not driving it much because it looses more power by being connected. That's especially true if the vehicle has a computer.

 

[toolmanmike]

View attachment 1773454
Make sure you observe the polarity.....otherwise they may not work.

 

[toolmanmike]

I just disconnect the battery over the winter months.

I have done that with good results. I have also checked the voltage mid winter and hooked up the trickle charger to charge them back up. I keep a charger in the storage garage just for that.

 

[RemCharger]

I just disconnect the battery over the winter months.

A battery will still lose some power even if it's disconnected....but I'll disconnect the battery anyways if I'm not driving it much because it looses more power by being connected. That's especially true of the vehicle has a computer.

I'll throw this out, and it's a fact.
When we're done racing the polara, it's parked outside in Oct. Used to disconnect it. It sits in - 40 for 7 months. ( well not that temp for the whole time..) then left it connected a couple years. No difference.
I'll go out and crank it in April, and it starts like the day we shut it down.
No drains , of course. It's hard for me to believe, but proof is in the pudding.

 

[Don Frelier]

My charger has a stereo and EFi so that's why I started disconnecting the battery.
Probably not necessary on the Plymouth but it's just habit at this point.

 

[dadsbee]

I've said it for years, all tenders do is shorten the life span of batteries. Charge it properly and put the car to sleep..

 

[Cranky]

I'll throw this out, and it's a fact.
When we're done racing the polara, it's parked outside in Oct. Used to disconnect it. It sits in - 40 for 7 months. ( well not that temp for the whole time..) then left it connected a couple years. No difference.
I'll go out and crank it in April, and it starts like the day we shut it down.
No drains , of course. It's hard for me to believe, but proof is in the pudding.

Never had a battery that didn't drop voltage slightly even when sitting on the bench. My computer vehicles (mid 90's) makes the voltage drop even faster when I leave the battery hooked up.

 

[RemCharger]

Never had a battery that didn't drop voltage slightly even when sitting on the bench. My computer vehicles (mid 90's) makes the voltage drop even faster when I leave the battery hooked up.

Sure, but a slight voltage drop is no indicator of reserve capacity.

 

[kiwigtx]

I've said it for years, all tenders do is shorten the life span of batteries.

Totally agree. Some batteries will die faster than others using a tender. I have killed a couple using my tender.

 

[493 Mike]

I've said it for years, all tenders do is shorten the life span of batteries. Charge it properly and put the car to sleep..

I have gotten 13 years on 2 different batteries so far by using Battery Tender Junior units. Only in the winter.
Mike

 

[Cranky]

Sure, but a slight voltage drop is no indicator of reserve capacity.

Right....but my diesel would turn over slower than it does with fully charged batteries. My Dakotas will sometimes sit for a week or more and they fire right up but seems the newer mini starters don't mind the lower voltage. One of the Dakotas has a 'reconditioned' battery in it and the other has a really old battery. I'm stinking it's around 10 years old. Sometimes it will be a bit low and I can tell by the way the starter sounds that it's pretty low but it starts up.

 

[YY1]

April 1st question?

 

[Rishi]

Google suggests stored lead acid batteries lose about 5% of their charge per month. More in warmer climates. If you have clocks and automotive electronics running off the battery as it's stored, the loss will be greater so disconnecting them is a good idea.

While I cannot comment on the newer generation of AGM batteries, which I am quite pleased with, flooded lead acid batteries don't hold up well to over-charging. Some battery tenders, operating 24/7, keeping the battery at 100%, can do more harm than good. I'm pretty sure at least once, I experienced a battery tender ruining a battery that I had replaced the previous spring. A Mopar restoration one I went to great effort and expense to acquire. When you check on a car and battery in a cool storage area, and find the battery to be warmer than ambient temperature, this may be a red flag.

Back in the 1990s, I worked as a software engineer for a credit card company, and they had a backup battery supply for their main frame computer. It was essentially a whole room filled with 100s of lead acid batteries connected in series to a transformer. These looked like typical 6-cell lead acid motorcycle batteries. Every month, it was my job to go inspect the fluid levels in each battery, and top them back up to full when below the fill mark.

They found when on a battery tender circuit, to keep them constantly fully charged 24/7, the batteries lasted about 2-3 years. But when they switched the charging cycle to weekly, kicking on one-day a week, and charging until capacity was reached, the batteries starting lasting considerably longer. They were trending to last 8 years when I left.

If I were to require a battery tender again, regardless of it being made in china, or it's cost or quality, I would be inclined to put it on a timer, only to kick on a short time each day. It probably takes 1-2 hours of charging per month, to bring the battery back to full. That's about 5 minutes per day. But I think ideally, kicking on once a month for that 1-2 hours would be even better.

When I store a car I don't even plan to drive in the spring, I've had good results pulling the battery.

 

[6PKRTSE]

I just disconnect them all for the winter. May or may not hook them back up to move car or two depending on whatever side work I have going on. Disconnect them again once done. Everything always starts in the spring. I don't even own any trickle chargers or battery tenders.