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What is the best battery tender charger for long term storage of a car?
Having performed lots of in depth testing of chargers in a lab, the best by far were those by Xantrex. We tested the Truecharge 2 which is available with different charge currents.
Its a charger that is fully controllable with temperature compensation. Not a toy like all others.
I bought the orange CTEK MUS 4.3 Polar. I liked that CTEK is the OEM manufacturer of Porsche-branded chargers, and the 4.3 Polar was the fastest consumer charger that CTEK made when I bought mine. Even today, if you compare the spec sheets, it is faster than the higher amp model that is out now. The pulse recondition feature can be switched off, which I also liked. And this can be used all the way down to -22 degrees F. I bought the cigarette lighter adapter and I charge/maintain without opening the front hood.
...4.3 Polar was the fastest consumer charger that CTEK made when I bought mine. Even today, if you compare the spec sheets, it is faster than the higher amp model that is out now.
Faster makes it better? These are usually used to maintain a better in most cases.
4.3 Ah is the charge rate. Nothing faster or slower about it.
Careful what you hook up if your Porsche is under warranty !!!! If an electrical issue occurs and you use a non-Porsche brand tender or a tender not recommended by Porsche the warranty ‘could’ be voided.
Careful what you hook up if your Porsche is under warranty !!!! If an electrical issue occurs and you use a non-Porsche brand tender or a tender not recommended by Porsche the warranty ‘could’ be voided.
I hope you realise the "PORSCHE" on those CTEKs is just the label and that you paid at least twice as much for the label.
I own two of the CTEKs. After the tactile switch failed on one of them, I opened it up. Really poor quality in the way of solder joints. Nothing to write home about.
I also ran it on my data logger. Not as advertised.
IXLR8 - got it and understand. As I mentioned, in the USA things are different than here in Europe so probably not an issue of one connects a tender box from a company other than Porsche, I.e., CTEK.
I have never used anything but these on my cars and bikes, and they always do what they are supposed to and I never had one fail: http://www.batterytender.com/
I have never used anything but these on my cars and bikes, and they always do what they are supposed to and I never had one fail: http://www.batterytender.com/
Maybe Bob, but like I stated above, their BT specs tell me zilch.
If that is their spec, I sure hope it does not charge at 12V (I know it doesn't, but tell me where Absorption cuts off at)
Whereas a company like Xantrex has specs where I am not guessing and we verified them in the lab (amongst so many chargers that promise you the world). But like I said, you need to know something about chargers and batteries. I can understand that many consumers really do not care, which is fine.
And that is the tip of the iceberg when you look at Xantrex specs.
If it matters to someone a call to Battery Tender will provide as much information as one desires...not sure why it is not on their web site.
I tried that Bob. They come back and claim their charge algorithm is proprietary , as if I can't determine it using any data logger which is what I use. There is nothing proprietary about it. You have to follow what a battery manufacture requires.
01-25-2019, 09:57 AM
, as if I can't determine it using any data logger which is what I use. There is nothing proprietary about it. You have to follow what a battery manufacture requires.