Forum Discussion

oyarsa's avatar
oyarsa
Explorer
Jan 27, 2018

Battery Not Charging on Tender

So I bought two Battery Tender Jrs. I plugged them onto my two batteries and the light turned solid red as it is suppose to. It's been a couple of days, though, and it's still just a solid red. Shouldn't it be charged by now?

27 Replies

  • oyarsa wrote:
    It's been a couple of days, though, and it's still just a solid red. Shouldn't it be charged by now?


    No, it may not be fully charged if the batteries are low.
    Battery tender chargers are low amp chargers.... VERY low amp.
  • Self discharge takes place even when not hooked up to your RV, and temperature and age can excellerate self discharge. Monitor the voltage, don’t guess. It will lengthen your batteries’ life. “Taken out once” could have used 20 to 30 amps on parasitic loads alone depending on how many days you were out.
  • Batteries need to be in "good" condition to begin with. That means at least 12.2 volts for any kind of maintainer.
  • Thanks for the advice. The batteries shouldn't have been THAT low, I wouldn't think. From a new trailer that we had taken out once (so possibly a bit depleted) that have been disconnected from the trailer and stored indoors for about a month and a half - two months.

    I guess I'll give it more time and disconnect it in a few days.
  • Didn’t the instruction booklet cover this? Tender vs. charger?
  • Good maintainer. Too small to actually charge a low battery. I think they time out in 72 hours so on the fourth day disconnect and restart them.
  • That battery tender is only going to put 18 ah max in a battery in 24 hours.
    Give it a week or so and the batterys may be charged.