Best vs. cheapest battery maintainers.

[Oldyellr]

I've had a Deltran Battery Tender Plus for years and use it to maintain my show car's battery over the winter. I got it when this was the only well-known and highly respected unit and it has served me well. It maintained the last battery for over 13 years, instead of dying over the winter. Since then there have been many other brands claiming to do the same thing, some costing half the price or less. I've also since bought a couple Battery Tender Juniors, the first a heavy one with a transformer like the old BT+ and later a newer all solid state one as technology evolved. I used these for lawn equipment and a car with a parasitic draw we could not locate. I just bought a MOTOPOWER MP00205A 12V 800mA Fully Automatic Battery Charger/Maintainer off Amazon for half the price I'd pay for a BT Jr because I could not find my others and needed to winterize my riding mower. Checking it out, I see it outputs the same maintaining voltage as my BT+, so I'm happy. With the amount of reverse engineering in electronic devices today, anything is possible. Time will tell.

So my question is, what experiences, good or bad, recommendations, have youall had with different battery maintainers?

 

[JHZR2]

The only battery charger I’ve ever had issues with was the 800mA battery tender waterproof. That one went funny and started to charge batteries >>15V. The vendor offered a free replacement and verified that it was no good.

I have significant long term experience with battery minders being left and running for years without issue.

You can see the charge curves of some units in the sticky at the top of this section. .

 

[Oldyellr]

Which makes me wonder, has Deltran kept up with evolving technology and is a 20-year-old Battery Tender Plus as good as a new one or similar ones on the market.

 

[Reggaemon]

I used the second cheapest battery tender from HF for four winters of outdoor storage on a Miata and it seemed to work ok.

 

[JavierH19]

I bought a cheap $20 3a ever start charger/maintainer from walmart almost 2 years ago and it still works great.

A link to it if you're curious.

Robot or human?

 

[carviewsonic]

I have a Noco 2A, a Battery Tender 1.25A, and an Optimate 0.8A. I couldn't tell you which one is best for extending battery life, they each seem to have their positives and negatives (haha) from the research I've done.

 

[Silver]

I read a lot about tenders and went with a BatteryMinder. It has brought back two low water sulfated deep cycles and a couple car batteries better than I thought possible.

 

[sky jumper]

i've got 6 of these they work great https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804601639125.html

 

[Donald]

I am sold on Battery Minders. The better models have high and low temperature compensation along with a desulfation function.

 

[zzyzzx]

I have a cheap HF one that might have destroyed a battery.
My only issue with my Deltran Battery Tender Jr is that parts of the plastic case broke, and I have some clear tape wrapped around it. Otherwise I like it. My 3A Schumacker with the digital readout I really don't like all that much, and I only use it when I want 3A of charging. My 1A Noco is my newest one, and so far I like it.
I also have a 1.5W HF solar panel maintainer that I really like. I tried to buy more just like it, but the newer ones are broken even when new (they work in the HF parking lot, but not by the time you get them home).

 

[Tdbo]

Ran a CTEK on my Mustang for 11 years.
Had a battery go bad over the winter.
Thought that perhaps it was time to replace the CTEK.
Priced a new one, and was stunned that a new one would be double in price.
So I went looking at other options.
Purchased the NOCO Genius 2 at a really good price during Prime Days.
Have been pleased with it.

 

[Oldyellr]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have to conclude that most of the current battery maintainers out there are knock-offs of the original Deltran Battery Tender and price depends on manufacturing quality and reputation. Everything gets reverse engineered. I have no qualms over buying the Motopower from Amazon, even though I got a defective one 4 years ago, which I returned.

 

[repairman54]

I have 8 BatteryMinders, the newer ones are temp. compensated. All of them desulficating. Most were bought on sale. Northern has had a few at half price in the last year.
No issues with mine. I had a HF one cook out a mower battery so no more of that junk.
They kept cycle and snowmobile batteries going for 10 yrs, and only changed them out for age not for non-starting.
IMO the Noco are not worth the price they want for them and the odd ball connector.

 

[paulo57509]

I have 4 BatteryMINDer brand wall-wart maintainers. Two are the old versions without temperature compensation. The other 2 are newer with temperature compensation. One of the old ones had kept a Die Hard silver series going for 16 years.

They used to throw in a battery condition indicator (bar graph voltmeter) for free.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

I have the Battery minder, battery tender, Noco Genius and Ctek. They all seem to work the same for normal maintenance and none of them have been able to bring back a bad battery. The bigger ones charge faster obviously

 

[webfors]

CTEK 4.3 is my trusted charger.

Motopower is new in my tool belt and it's getting a lot of use. Holds a nice steady 13.6v on float.

https://www.amazon.com/MOTOPOWER-MP00205B-Automatic-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B07TDWJ9VW/ref=sr_1_4?crid=6L8TRW85GTBJ&keywords=motopower&qid=1668696944&sprefix=motopower%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-4

 

[330indy]

CTEK MXS 5.0 is only one that has temp sensor....

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-40-206-5-0-12-Battery-Charger/dp/B00CD44RQO/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm62wjMe1-wIVv3NvBB1KQQklEAAYASAAEgJkb_D_BwE&hvadid=536012160397&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1017385&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2442003376881178224&hvtargid=kwd-28040900560&hydadcr=5742_9590438&keywords=ctek+battery+charger+mxs+5.0&qid=1668699924&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.08f69ac3-fd3d-4b88-bca2-8997e41410bb&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

 

[daman]

I have 3 standard Schumacher maintainer/ chargers 1.5A on my subcompact, lawnmowers and one on a 1000cca battery in my plow truck, been working great for many many years. I can start any of them and they spin over like new

 

[Oldyellr]

CTEK MXS 5.0 is only one that has temp sensor....

The Deltran Battery Tender Plus is temperature compensated, but not the BT Jr. or the Motopower MP00205A. However, I use the BT Plus in my garage and the BT Jr. out in the shed for my mower, where temperature would be a factor with no problems.

 

[webfors]

I have 3 standard Schumacher maintainer/ chargers 1.5A on my subcompact, lawnmowers and one on a 1000cca battery in my plow truck, been working great for many many years. I can start any of them and they spin over like new

I've got their SC1444 and SC3 units. Well built, consistent charging logic. The SC1444 "eco" float logic waits until the battery goes below 12.6v before initiating a charge cycle, unlike the persistent float charge of the SC3. I wouldn't use the SC3 on smaller motorsport batteries.

I need a battery big enough to appreciate the SC3... it doesn't get much use.

Both units were on sale at WM and relatively inexpensive.