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Technical Winter Battery Maintenance

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by jaw22w, Oct 13, 2020.

  1. jaw22w
    Joined: Mar 2, 2013
    Posts: 1,671

    jaw22w
    Member
    from Indiana

    I have 2 hotrods, a small tractor, 2 lawn mowers, and a small self powered bush hog that all have batteries and won't be started until spring. So I have 6 batteries sitting on a bench. I just had to buy 3 batteries and I'm tired of buying batteries. I don't want to buy six battery maintainers either. I have a Battery Tender Plus. I am wondering if all those batteries could be hooked together and charged from one Battery Tender instead of changing the charger from battery to battery all winter long. I'm kind of electrically challenged, but something tells me you can't do that. What do you think?
     
  2. They make 'em that will maintain up to 4 batteries at a time. 10W829_AS01.jpg
     
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  3. jaw22w
    Joined: Mar 2, 2013
    Posts: 1,671

    jaw22w
    Member
    from Indiana

    Yeah, I saw that. $185. Wow!
     
    lothiandon1940 likes this.
  4. ..........It is expensive, but then so are batteries! One year I had to replace 5 Interstate batteries.! :eek:
     
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  5. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    Yes, but only if they are already each and individually fully charged. Not very likely.
     
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  6. Automotive Stud
    Joined: Sep 26, 2004
    Posts: 4,304

    Automotive Stud
    Member

    If you have more time than money to invest into it, buy one battery tender junior for $30 and every week move it onto another of the batteries all winter.
     
  7. jaw22w
    Joined: Mar 2, 2013
    Posts: 1,671

    jaw22w
    Member
    from Indiana


    Battery Tender Juniors are $25 on sale right now on Amazon. I think I will buy 3 for 6 batteries.
     
  8. jaracer
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 2,419

    jaracer
    Member

    Battery Tender's are great products. I worked for Freightliner Training. We had 5 training centers with 5 -6 trucks at each location. The batteries were always going dead because someone left something on or they ran them down and didn't recharge. The big trucks had 4 battery packs while the mid-range had 2. The people at Battery Tender weren't sure about using them on a 4 battery pack, but they worked fine. Low batteries became a thing of the past. Their life was very good also.
     
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  9. goldmountain
    Joined: Jun 12, 2016
    Posts: 4,442

    goldmountain

    Yesterday was the first snowfall so I pulled the battery out of my lawnmower but it is 24 volt. Now how would that work with the multiple battery tender?
     
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  10. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    Is it a single 24 volt battery, or two (2) 12 volt batteries in series?
     
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  11. That reminds me, gotta get the battery out of my boat...
     
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  12. AldeanFan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2014
    Posts: 892

    AldeanFan

    This is what I do but I don’t have time or money ;)
    My batteries all sit on a shelf and I switch the charger between batteries working my way down the shelf.
    Sometimes I forget and leave one on the tender for a month but usually 24 hours tops them up.

    It only takes a minute to move the alligator clips from one battery to the next, and I don’t make $25 a minute so it’s money in the bank.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  13. 24v. Battery Tenders are available...
     
  14. 2OLD2FAST
    Joined: Feb 3, 2010
    Posts: 5,217

    2OLD2FAST
    Member
    from illinois

    Problem for me would be remembering to switch from one to another !
     
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  15. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 8,719

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    For the peace of mind, and saving the hassle of moving mine among 3 cars, I just bought a couple more. Now I can leave one on each car and not mess with it.
     
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  16. jaw22w
    Joined: Mar 2, 2013
    Posts: 1,671

    jaw22w
    Member
    from Indiana

    So it is possible to have the battery tender charge more than one battery at a time. I could hook 2 together and have them all charging full time. Hook 'em pos. to pos. and neg. to neg. and I wouldn't think the connecting wire would need to be any larger than the charger wires. I could be wrong there though. Use regular battery cables?
    Edit: When you hook them together, won't the charges equalize?
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2020
  17. jaracer
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 2,419

    jaracer
    Member

    That's the way they are hooked in a heavy truck. As long as both batteries are good and very near the same capacity, it works fine.
     
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  18. plym_46
    Joined: Sep 8, 2005
    Posts: 4,018

    plym_46
    Member
    from central NY

    We have an older split level house with two furnaces. The furnace for the upper level is in the garage next to my work bench, the batteries for outside stuff get pulled charged to full then put on the work bench shelf. The area hardly ever gets below 40 degrees. They just sit there till spring when they go back on the charger then back into their assigned places.

    The two vintage cars get the same treatment till the tenders go on them when it looks like winter is fixing to leave. Last year I needed to replace my 6v battery and was a bit annoyed but the guy in the shop said the old one was nearly 7 years old.
     
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  19. I use this charger, it has no "brains", outputs 6v/400mA or 12v/500mA. I leave it on for weeks at a time.

    Rune from Norway[​IMG]

    Sent fra min S52 via Tapatalk
     
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  20. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Right there is the best answer if you have a place that doesn't freeze to store the batteries.

    A number of years ago I bought an all wheel drive Grand Caravan for my wife from a couple who lived at a church camp up in the mountains. It was around 0 F when I went up to buy it and the guy had the battery to it and his other car in the laundry room of the house. Carried it out and started the van so we could take a test ride, I paid him and we pulled the battery back out and carried it back in the house. My son and I went up and picked it up the next night an my son didn't tell me he didn't have a working heater in his truck. I've got a couple I need to stick in the cellar for the winter.
     
  21. G-son
    Joined: Dec 19, 2012
    Posts: 1,277

    G-son
    Member
    from Sweden

    You don't need to keep a charger/tender on all the batteries all the time, the constant charging may even reduce their life.
    You want to store the batteries in a relatively cool place (chemical reactions are slower at low temperatures, such as battery aging and self discharge), and you can hook a charger to each battery for a while once every few weeks, or so.

    I've seen several cheap smart chargers for automotive batteries short internally so reverse current from the battery fried the 12V wires to the charger, until the traces on the circuit board inside the charger melted and stopped the current (there was no fuse) and my sisters ex lost his house because of a cell phone charger catching fire. I really, REALLY don't like leaving any kind of charger completely unattended for any length of time, unless they're in a spot where a fire would not do any harm. Putting a tender on a battery and leaving it there for six months may seem simple, but I wouldn't want to take the chance.
     
  22. WDobos
    Joined: Jan 7, 2007
    Posts: 234

    WDobos
    Member

    I have used the Battery Tender brand for over 20 years with on problems. I get at least 10+ years out of a battery. Here in the town I live in we had trouble with the "spare" police cruisers battery going dead from sitting. I installed battery tenders on both cruisers and no more battery problems. Our volinteer fire dept. has them on all their trucks also.
     
    lothiandon1940 likes this.

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