Battery Tender

I went ahead and purchased two battery tender jrs, one for each battery.

Lynnmor wrote:
If you have a name brand Battery Tender, they can be left on the battery full time. You don't want a battery in a closet whether you are charging or not, because they will out gas during charging and could leak at any time.

Batteries last longer if kept fully charged. It is usually recommended to charge monthly. I connect my 1.25 amp Battery Tender for three days each month.

Yes that is a great product and use it on my quads and bikes :)

I just leave mine on a battery tender jr. If I have more than one that needs to be maintained then I'll wire them in parallel and let the one tender maintain them all.

I store my boat battery in my shop. All the others stay put. When it’s first put up, it has a full charge of 12.7 volts. I check it periodically and when it goes back it is still fully charged 6 months later. Been doing this for 6 years now. Only put a charger on it at the beginning.

centerline wrote:
as long as the batteries are good, and they are fully charged, there is no need to keep them indoors, because you dont have to worry about a fully charged battery freezing until you get down around -60 degreesF.... but a dead battery that may otherwise be able to be recharged and used can freeze at about +30degreesF, and kill it forever.

True, but a battery that is continuously float charged will have more longevity. Storing LA batteries in cold weather slows the chemical reaction so depletes a battery less. I've stored AGM's outside with no charging through -15f and, in the Spring, they only lost .10 volts.

I have 4 12V LA starting batteries that I'm tending in the heated garage. I put a 12V power supply on them a few times over the Winter. They are allowed to discharge to 12.5V and then charged with the power supply, it reaches up to 14V before the charge cycle is ended.

as long as the batteries are good, and they are fully charged, there is no need to keep them indoors, because you dont have to worry about a fully charged battery freezing until you get down around -60 degreesF.... but a dead battery that may otherwise be able to be recharged and used can freeze at about +30degreesF, and kill it forever.

and even a wet cell battery, fully charged and disconnected, should have plenty enough voltage left in it after setting dormant for at least a year... if it self discharges faster than that, its not really a "good" battery and wont last long when put back into service...

a battery that is kept fully charged with very little draw down when used, will age slowly... as opposed to a battery that gets abused, drawn too far down and is slow to be recharged will age extremely fast...

whenever i was deployed, i connected battery tenders to my vehicles. using a weekly lamp timer inline with the tender.. the tinders were basic, so no adjustments were required, each time the power was restored... the tenders were powered up for 6 hrs a week. i came home after each deployment with fully charged and healthy batteries...

I have had mixed results leaving the battery tender Jr (750ma version) on my travel trailer batteries. Some have required Distilled water refills mid way through the winter when the BT jr is left on the battery full time.

When considering putting the BT JRs on a couple batteries that were located an hour away, I consulted Deltran (BT mfgr). They advised not to leave the BT connected for long periods of time when you can't inspect it periodically. The engr's response was that "anything can happen to a battery while charging".

My point--if leaving the BT on full time, make sure and check on the battery periodically. For me its not worth the risk of a fire or battery exploding while my RV or boats are in storage.

When leaving my group 24/27 batteries for long periods (3-4 mo). I have had good results with the following;
-Top off w/distilled water
-charge them before storage
-disconnect them
-charge once or twice during the period for a few hours
-charge them when taking them out of storage

Get an automatic battery tender. It will go into float mode once the batteries are up to charge. It will periodically check and top them off. I have them on my trailer battery, my Excursion, snowmobile and lawnmower.

And yes, pull them from the closet and keep them in the open.

I pulled 4 batteries for the winter and store them in the garage. I put a battery tender on each for a week then move to the next one. That way each gets a charge once a month.