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Harbor Freight gives away a 4" round magnetic parts tray. Look for a coupon in their flier. The rubber-wrapped magnet is held on to the tray with hot-melt adhesive. I glue the magnets to the back of the maintainers, so I can stick them to lift columns when they are used. Or to a radiator support when used with the hood open on other cars. Also glue the magnets to power outlet boxes that dangle from the ceiling over the lift columns. Handy.
Ok, now that's a useful trick.
I've usually skipped the parts trays, since the magnet is fairly loosely stuck onto the one that I did get, and enough of my vehicles are aluminum or composite around the engine and engine bay that they don't have much to stick to.
I'll have to point this out to a few local friends as well.
I charge/maintain a boat load of batteries. I've got 15 of my own and depending on what is happening at the shop, somewhere between 20 -40 there.
And, of course, the battery conditions vary from close to/already junk to brand new.
I've got dozens of chargers....literally dozens.
Currently, I've got five chargers waiting for me to have time to look at which are non functional, in a box. Three Deltran, one expensive Schumacher, and one Bosch that never worked.
I'm tired of buying "expensive" chargers that don't work or quit working.
So, now I'm trying Harbor Freight chargers (and I'm not a Harbor Freight "guy".) I waited until they were on sale and bought six of the tiny ones and six of the bigger ones. I bought two extended warranties for each of the two sizes....just in case.
Until we moved five years ago and the glovebox door was left ajar by my construction contractor while it was sitting in the garage here, and the battery was drawn down to about zero. I ended up using a conventional charger to get the terminal voltage up enough for the maintainer to take over, but the little Schumacher worked its little heart out for days trying to bring the battery back to full.
I've had that happen a couple of times over the years, use a big charger to get some voltage in the battery then turn it over to the Interstate one. 4-6 days later light is green, and I've figured out resetting the charger and seeing how long it goes green again tells me if the battery is any good. A good battery will go "green" in less then a day.
Really scientific I know, but I've got a couple batteries over 10 years old. I could use another one, planning to try the CTEK.
I have the 1510 model with a y-cable to maintain the batteries on my 928 and 968. Excellent product, I highly recommend it.
Hugo
With the optional ring terminal connector included you can have a connection that sits in the cargo area and can be easily hooked up through the window. The cable could be longer, but I have an outlet right by the drivers side door. I first tried to use the jump post in the engine compartment, but the pulse never makes it to the battery or at least not with my wiring. Stupid simple to use. Mine is always plugged in and ready to be connected when needed. I hit the other cars with the standard terminal clamps once in a while to top them off and desulfate.
Thank you everyone for the recommendations. Seems like many good options. I've decided the one recommended below is a good fit for my needs.
Well, due to some impaired ordering from Amazon when I put this thread up, I'll be trying the NOCO Genius G4 unit. It had shipped before I could cancel it and order another unit.
With all the great input, it should be very sufficient for my needs as it sounds like Bertrand and YardPro have had good experiences!
With the optional ring terminal connector included you can have a connection that sits in the cargo area and can be easily hooked up through the window. The cable could be longer, but I have an outlet right by the drivers side door. I first tried to use the jump post in the engine compartment, but the pulse never makes it to the battery or at least not with my wiring. Stupid simple to use. Mine is always plugged in and ready to be connected when needed. I hit the other cars with the standard terminal clamps once in a while to top them off and desulfate.
Mine works from the underhood connections, but I've considered doing what you recommened to make it neater.
One thing I neglected to mention is that the Batterminder can bring batteries back from the dead (simular to what Dr Bob describes for the CTEK). I was skeptical at first but bought one to try and now I'm a believer.
So, I upgraded to the CTEK Multi US 7002, and now have several of them for stored cars and toys. At that time, the recommendations here included a highly-rated Bosch unit, but it needed a manual reset following any power interruption. I still have several Schumachers, but they are relegated to placeholders in the battery charger drawer at this point. They were perfect for the small gelled batteries in water toys and motorcycles, but we don't have any of those these days.
I have a couple of the CTEK ones. One 3600 I bought years ago, and a MXS-7000 (ROW version of Bob's 7002) which I bought when I wanted something which charged a bit faster and had the recovery funciton.
The Porsche branded battery maintainer is a CTEK too - identical in size/buttons to my CTEK 3600, just more $$ as it says Porsche on it
I just connect to the jump post on the cars to maintain them - with the hood up, so I don't drive off forgetting its connected
My connection options include a dedicated Molex plug that's wired to the battery itself, plug normally hidden under a corner of the tool panel. I lift the ground strap and the dedicated wiring direct to the battery allows the maintainer to do its job. Wiring through the gap between the hatch and the bumper-- I put a towel over the top of the bumper to protect things, and it also holds the hatch open very slightly since it blocks the latch from dropping in.
In the front, there's another Molex connector that sits under the front edge of the fender where it meets the bumper shell. It's wired to the jump post and to the ground point that's forward and under the jump post. Good for connecting the maintainer while the battery ground strap is connected.
I've been using the small cheap HF maintainers for over a decade. I've had 2 out of 6 fail.I use them hard,a lot of times to save zero volt dead Gel Cell batteries out of new cars that have lot rot.So cheap,that I cut the red and black clamps off of them for another project and toss them away.
So, this is how I charge my cars while in storage:
1.) Disconnect the battery. I always do this because actually I am fire paranoid.
2.) About once a week, put the battery on a trickle charger for a couple hours.
My last 928 battery lasted over 10 years. Other batteries have lasted a long time too. My father does the exact same with his batteries. I don't even remember what brand of charger I have... That too is over 15 years old I think.
Happy with the purchase! Here are a few pictures. I plugged two of the 10 foot extensions into each other to make a 20 footer to comfortably reach across the garage....
Hi Guys/Gals: may be applicable if you're using Lead-Calcium batteries - often promoted as Calcium batteries (= containing a poofteenth of Calcium (tech term)).
Makes a difference re re-charge voltage:
Conventional 12V lead-acid battery re-charge range: 12.9 - 14.1 V
12V Lead Acid-Calcium (Ag) battery re-charge range: 14.2 - 14.4 V
Means if you're using an AGM battery then it will never be recharged during normal driving, and your typical tender (max 14.1V charge) will barely top up your battery between runs, but YMMV.
All adds up to your battery slowly dying over a year or three. :-(
Good news: alternator regulators for AGM batteries are available (and now in both my cars).
04-23-2019, 01:20 PM
from Amazon when I put this thread up, I'll be trying the NOCO Genius G4 unit. It had shipped before I could cancel it and order another unit.
