Trickle Charger

[gtolio]

I am looking to buy a trickle charger and am looking for some info from those of you who have used them.

My car sits for long periods of time and I've had trouble keeping the battery charged. I was trying to start it every week or two to let it run for a while, but I let it go too long a couple of times and now it's just been sitting there dead for a while. The battery is less than a year old, but I can't seem to keep it charged from day to day now. I'm sure it's toast.

So, long story short, I know there are several types of trickle chargers. I'm not looking to spend a ton of money. What kind would be best? Any other advice or things I should know? Where to buy?

Thanks in advance.

Grant

[Ba82Ep3]

A company called Schumacher makes a decent trickle charger. I dunno where it would be available to you in your area... but trickle charging is still never good for extended periods of time. While it does depend on the rate of charge and natural discharge, trickle charging can slowly bake the acid out of a standard lead acid battery.

Look into float charging as well as trickle charging. If your battery is bad and you need to get another one, look into getting an AGM battery. They seem more resistant to excessive discharge times (accidental) and per construction are less prone to common trickle charging faults.

Ive had an AGM 220cca battery i have used for over 5 years. Ive used it for emergency jump starts, it has had extended down time stored away and then recharged (8 months), spent time on trickle in my project EJ (almost 10 months), and now serves duty in the Accord for daily use. It just wont die.

[gtolio]

Sorry, I should say float charger. I didn't know or had forgotten which one was which.

From some Googling:

They are different functions.

A FLOAT charger will hold a 12 volt battery at 13.8 volts, no more and reduces the current as the battery reaches full. This is voltage-limited charger, the amperage will drop to about 10-20 mils at 13.8 volts. This is intended for backup power supplies and the like were the battery sits on the float for years.

A trickle charger will take the battery voltage up to 14.2 volts, which is 'fully charged' but if kept on at this voltage will eventually kill the battery. they are designed to top off batteries but not hold them indefinately.

A trickle charger is a slow charger but has no voltage or current limiting to stop it when the battery is full.

This is not so critical on CAR batteries which are big enough to take the abuse.

I'm thinking about doing this one: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0128-Plus-Charger/dp/B00068XCQU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1331316547&sr=8-5

It got some good reviews. Automatically switches from charge to float.

[gtolio]

Ordered that one from Amazon.

I'll try to circle back to this thread once I get it and give a review.

[Ba82Ep3]

This is the one i have...

http://www.batterychargers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductName=94026804ACP

Mine looks a little different because its older (colors changes) but same functions and casing. On the 2 amp setting once it gets to 13.8 you can hear a relay click off inside, once it drops to 11.9, the relay clicks on and the cycle repeats itself.

The 4 and 6 amp settings work really well... but they reach 14.3 and you can actually hear the acid bubble inside the battery before it peaks. A little too much heat IMO, but it works great if youre charging a battery and keeping an eye on it.

All in all for the $ its not a bad product. You can use it for just about any AGM and PB battery on the market. I have specialty chargers for everything else i own... those are the expensive ones.

[Twisted-X]

I've been using a "Battery Tender JR" for 5 years now connected to two batteries in parallel and its works great!
Its about $40, and the amperage is low enough that it won't damage the battery if left on for long periods.

Battery Tender (http://batterytender.com/automotive/battery-tender-junior-12v-at-0-75a.html)

Store locator is on the website.

[gtolio]

I got mine the other day. So far so good. I had to jump the car to get it started (the battery was completely dead and the charger won't work under 3 volts), and then it took a day or two to cycle from charging to fully charged, but it seems to be doing ok. Hopefully this means I won't have to replace the battery.