Question about battery tender

[sixtyseven]

Hey guys and gals I have a question about winter storage. I only have power in my garage when I switch on the back yard lights. That's about 4 to 5 hours nightly. Do you think this could cause any problems using a battery tender hooked up to camaro in winter storage?

[MMC]

I think you will be good to go. Normally the led will turn green in that amount of time and that's when its just maintaining the battery. You will have minimal discharge the remainder of the day.

[sixtyseven]

Thxs!

[DARK AGE 53]

Probably not a problem for the battery tender but sure about the battery, what about adding another switch to run the yard light and the other for your garage?

[camguynj]

Originally Posted by sixtyseven

Hey guys and gals I have a question about winter storage. I only have power in my garage when I switch on the back yard lights. That's about 4 to 5 hours nightly. Do you think this could cause any problems using a battery tender hooked up to camaro in winter storage?

Do yourself a big favor and get a CTEK 4.3 amp charger not a Deltran charger (which are really more for motorcycles as their max amp is only 1.5). With a CTEK 4.3 you'll be charging more amps in those 4/5 hrs ...plus the CTEKs have more features and are easier to read.
I've had both and wouldn't use or trust a Deltran again.

[sixtyseven]

Alright wondering if maybe I did something wrong here. The battery tender jr been connected for seven hours now and the light is still solid red.

I connected under the hood. Used the quick detach clips. Connected the red to the positive post. I have that clip around the nut on the top of this post. Have the negative clip on the silver pin, drivers side next to air filter box. I bought and using a new 14gauge 50' extension cord to reach the battery tender. The solid red light been on since I first plugged in. This is a fairly new battery 2015 Camaro with only 6 to 7 weeks use on it. ???

[sixtyseven]

Green light came on after overnight. It's all good.

[camguynj]

Originally Posted by sixtyseven

Green light came on after overnight. It's all good.

As I said in my other post the Deltran chargers are really meant for motorcycles as the Jr only charges at .75 amps, so it will take a while to charge our size battery ...that's why I don't like or trust Deltran chargers as while they're charging ( and it make take days to get to green as their instructions say) you don't know what's going on as you have to rely on just those silly red /green light reading; compared to the CTEKS which have multiple lights to let you know what stage the charging process is in along with the max hrs for each stage. Another nice CTEK feature is Cold mode for when temp is below 43 which is real good if you don't have a heated garage or the car is outside like mine is.

[Pcschwenke]

CAMGUYNJ, are the CTEK battery tenders meant to be left on for long durations, similar to the Deltran? Or do you periodically use them, say once a month? I'm looking for a battery tender as well.

[camguynj]

Originally Posted by Pcschwenke

CAMGUYNJ, are the CTEK battery tenders meant to be left on for long durations, similar to the Deltran? Or do you periodically use them, say once a month? I'm looking for a battery tender as well.

Long duration. Look up Ctek 4.3 on google and read about it, you'll be blown away when you compare it to a Deltran tender.

[sixtyseven]

Originally Posted by camguynj

Do yourself a big favor and get a CTEK 4.3 amp charger not a Deltran charger (which are really more for motorcycles as their max amp is only 1.5). With a CTEK 4.3 you'll be charging more amps in those 4/5 hrs ...plus the CTEKs have more features and are easier to read.
I've had both and wouldn't use or trust a Deltran again.

I would have considered this if I didn't already buy the Deltran jr.
Im sure the CTEKs are a better battery tender. If I need another tender I'll look at these. Thanks for the advise.

[Russell James]

Originally Posted by camguynj

As I said in my other post the Deltran chargers are really meant for motorcycles as the Jr only charges at .75 amps, so it will take a while to charge our size battery ...that's why I don't like or trust Deltran chargers as while they're charging ( and it make take days to get to green as their instructions say) you don't know what's going on as you have to rely on just those silly red /green light reading; compared to the CTEKS which have multiple lights to let you know what stage the charging process is in along with the max hrs for each stage. Another nice CTEK feature is Cold mode for when temp is below 43 which is real good if you don't have a heated garage or the car is outside like mine is.

Bad information. Deltran makes chargers for many applications.

A 12V car battery or 12V motorcycle battery can be charged by the same charger. Especially when talking the trickle/maintenance chargers. It's the huge chargers you don't want to blast a small capacity battery with.

A .75 max output tender will just take more time to reach the maintenance solid green light phase as a 1.5 amp tender. Twice as long to be exact. So a large capacity automotive battery may take a day or two to reach the solid green status on such a low trickle. But once that battery reaches it's threshold of kicking over to the solid green light... doesn't matter if it's a jr or plus tender on there... it's just getting a minimal trickle charge to maintain it at that level.

I've had a Tender Plus for about 15 years. It is indestructible and has charged and maintained countles 12 volt batteries from race cars, grocery getters, motorcycles, lawn tractors... Works perfect on them all and has bounced off the concrete more than once accidentally pulling out of the garage with it still hooked up.

I like the Tender Plus. The 1.5 amp will charge a bigger battery faster. If it ever dies in the next couple decades, I'll get another one in a heartbeat.

Like any good tender, you plug it in and forget it. Doesn't matter if the switch is turned on/off daily. It will still keep the battery at the same level. I have one Tender Plus and rotate it around a half a dozen toys.

[lbls1]

7+ years with the Deltrans, and never was there a problem with their operation. Please note (I didn't see it discussed in this thread) that the tenders are designed to maintain a partially charged battery, and not a dead battery. Some people have tried this with the battery maintainers with mixed results.