Battery Maintenance "Chargers" Battery Tender vs Battery Minder vs ?

I'm trying to decide on a trickle charger with a brain after just having to replace my 12 volt battery. My car sits in a garage for the winter months. Primary candidates are Battery Tender (12V 1.25 Amp) versus BatteryMinder (12 V 1 Amp) versus Battery Sentinel (12 volt 3 amp); Only Sentinel & Minder have "desulfination" features, but most good press found was for Tender. They're all within the same $50 to $60 price range. Anyone know of any good reasons to use one of these three or a good reason why any of these should not be considered ?

 

I'm using battery tenders on 4 of my cars. Lawn mower and ATV batteries are removed and stored in a dry place and recharged in the spring. My wife uses a golf cart to get around on the property (I was going to say estate, but would be pegged as a "gold chainer") and she plugs it into the automatic charger every other day.

 

I use the Battery Butler on my motor home (engine battery) for around $16.00 and have never had a problem.

Whatever you decide, just make sure you use a "float charger" and not a "trickle charger."

 

I got a more expensive Battery Minder that puts out either 2 or 8 amps and it has the desulphation feature. It has different settings for wet cell, gel cell, and AGM (like Optima) batteries. It seemed to work great every time I used it.

I had a really old battery that was completely dead and I couldn't get it to take a charge at all with a normal battery charger, and I left that Battery Minder hooked up in the desulphation mode at 2 amps for three days, and suddenly it came back to life. Not as much kick as a brand new battery, but better than a completely useless dead battery.

 

battery tender at harbor freight 6.99 plug in 24-7 during winter works well imo.

 

i've been using several of these for the last 2-3 years with no complaints. just plug 'em in in the fall and everything starts the next spring.

 

not trying to jump ship here but which is best for a optima battery.....thanks

 

I've been using a Battery Tender on the Optima battery in my '40 Coupe for quite a few years ( I have trouble remembering just how many). Works great and just "monitors" the charge and keeps it at optimum level.....Don.

 

Have 4 battery tenders (6Volt variety) and they work great. I bought 2 of the 12V floating chargers from Harbor Freight. One of them almost distroyed my
motorcycle battery. I checked it and it was shorted across the output clips, the other seems to work on the bench, but have not tried on a battery yet.

My money is on tenders. The others not familiar with, but if they have desulf features then it might be worth getting. Price vs features needed!

 

I've also been using them for several years with no problems. Imagine, something from HF that actually WORKS !!

 

An Optima battery is considered an AGM battery. I think that stands for "absorbed glass mat". So you should get a charger that says it's made for AGM batteries. On my Battery Minder, you push a button to select between wet cell, gel cell, and AGM. The voltages for those different types of batteries are slightly different in the charged and uncharged states, so the little brain in the charger needs to know which type of battery it is so it won't overcharge or undercharge the battery.

 

One other word of warning ...
IF you ever need a "boost" and you have a Optima battery; don't keep the boosting - other vehicle - hooked on for very long; the charging system of the other vehicle may not know it's a AGM battery and COULD cause damage. (especially if your Optima was "stone dead" )

The vehicle doing the charging - assuming it's NOT another Optima - can introduce TOO HIGH of a charge rate.

 

I have boosted my Optima battery (6V) with another 6V car and didn't seem to have any problem. But the Optima had a charge on it, but not enough to start the one car.

Good to know about AGM batteries and their issues.

 

This post is good timing. Big Olds battery went dead and won't hold a charge so now I'm deciding on whether to buy another normal battery or spend the extra and buy an Optima. Advantages? Disadvantages?

 

I use both the Battery Tender brand and the cheap ones from Harbor Freight. They all work fine for me. The only difference I see is that one costs a lot more.

I've also used Optima red top batteries for years. My experience is that I get twice the life span out of the Optimas compared to a normal battery. Keeping a battery tender on them during storage helps prolong battery life too.

 

Go with Optima, you WON'T be dissappointed. Had mine (6V) for over 10 years and no problem. Don't even charge it much, it holds charge for a long time, just keep it disconnected from vehicle.

 

been using red top optima in my zephyr for years no problems.

 

Whats the difference between the red topped and yellow topped?

 

I believe the yellow top is a deep cycle battery, which is intended more for trolling motors, etc. I guess it could be used in a car, but they're more expensive, so I don't know why you'd want to.

 

Bought a red top one for my 39 on tuesday, getting ready to actually start it. The tender/minder idea seems to be a good one.

 

Denise -- I bought a red Optima for the rpu, so I could measure it up to fab a battery box. It then sat for over two years while I diddled around finishing up the car. When I went to fire the engine, I dropped in the Optima, then cranked awhile to build oil pressure. I then cranked some more to get the engine fired. That two-year-old Optima acted like it was brand new. I'm sold on 'em.

Dave

 

I've got a red top in my 65 and one in the Bronco. I've had the one in the Bronco for close to 5 years now, its starting to cave in to the abuse (1KW stereo) I give it. The 65 isn't on the road yet, and down at my dads shop. I make down there about once a month and it cranks the truck on the first try all the time.

 

i believe the red top is 12v and the yellow top is 6v. as far as the tenders go, i had a battery tender let my bike battery die over 4 months, had another one on a customers car been working fine for years. i now have the battery minder on my bike and it works great.

 

I've had 3 optimas, and they are great until they go dead. I put them on the charger, and they heat up and stink up the garage, and are still dead.

Maybe a regular charger is not good for them?

 

How does the alternator in the car the battery is in know it is an AGM? Is there anything that needs to be changed to run one?

 

Denise, have a red top about 5 yrs old sat in cold barns all winter for the last 4 yrs Starts like a new batt as its been stated. PS Still in AZ for another 3 wks

 

You at the libaray or you finally bite the bullet and get internet service at the house???

Careful driving back and I hope to see you around this summer sweetie!

Thanks for all the advice regarding the red top. Will probably purchase on this weekend......boy are they expensive

 

Yellow tops are deep cycle, we use them on drag cars that get started many times during a day without a lot of running time to recharge them.

 

red tops come in 6V too! Yellow tops are for deep cycle use.

 

I know this thread is from the dead, but I have what I consider significant experience with this question.

Important differences between the Battery Minder and Battery Tender.

When I bought my first AGM battery, it lasted about 5 months and then died. The problem was I had an aux. computer in the car and it had a bug that did not turn itself off when the ignition was turned off. The screen went blank, but the computer itself stayed on. If I drove the car about every 3 days it was fine, but on the 4th day it'd drain the battery enough to kill it. So after finding this out, at first I just drove the car or at least started it every other day. But then I got sidetracked and after about a week it was dead. I jumped the car and it recharged the battery. So it was fine. But then I decided to get one of those "battery maintainers."

I choose the Battery Minder. I put it on the car and didn't worry about it. A month later imagine my surprise when I went to start the car and it was dead. I checked the cord the charger was plugged into and all seemed to be fine. But this time it would not take a jump. So I called Deka the people that make the AGM battery I use. I explained the situation to them. They said the Battery Minder can't be used on AGM batteries. And that I should use a Battery Tender instead and to use the Plus model. They were very nice and even replaced the battery for me at NC.

So I bought the Battery Tender and put it on the new AGM battery and it's been 100% fine since. That was 2 years ago.

Now I notice the Batteryminder websites sells a special version for AGM batteries. (12118 and 12248) Their website http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...-Maintenance-Charger-Desulfator--p-16151.html

states

The 12248 is okay for lead batteries, but not PLT batteries:

from (http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...-8-Amp-Charger-Maintainer-Desulf-p-16133.html)

Now to Battery Tender, they now show their jr. model as okay to use with the AGM batteries, as well as lead acid and sealed batteries. I do not know why they (Deka) told me to use the Plus model only, but they were giving me a free replacement battery so I did not argue.

I still have the Batteryminder and use it on my other cars with lead batteries and it works great. However, I only use the BatteryTender on the AGM batteries.

One other thing (and this might be a good thing) The two devices use a similiar plug to hook up the charger to the battery. However, the polarity is reversed. So you have to use the same harness that came with the charger and don't mix them. One time I did accidently put the Batteryminder on a vehicle with the Batterytender O-ring harness but the light didn't go on and after a few minutes I figured out why. Nothing was damaged, but it did teach me a lesson.

I"m about to buy 3 more of these, but I'm going to buy the Battery Tender Jr models. They are cheap and their website shows the Jrs. will work on all batteries, not just AGM. I still have my Batteryminder to desulphate any of the lead batteries that needs it.

Hope this helps with the "Battery Minder vs Battery Tender" question.