Using battery minder or charger?

[Bluebird]

'72 VW Super Beetle. Bug in great condition, garaged, start weekly, but only drive 1 or 2 times/month. Battery new 9/12/14. Had to jump start today. Replace battery, or use battery minder or charger? Thank Y'all for ideas & experiences.
Blessings, Patrick

 

[Wiredawg]

I keep HD smart battery minders on my 2017 5500 and my MH and SD ones on my wife's Ram 1500, tractor and zero turn. Have AGMs on my 5500 since last year and MH batteries 5 YO, gonna replace them next month before they fail.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Ozymandias]

Simply use battery disconnect switch. Problem solved.
A disconnected battery lasts a year.

 

[AH64ID]

Battery disconnect is a great idea, unless you have modernized some electronics and don’t want to lose presets/time.

A smart trickle charger is also a good idea. Ones like the NOCO genius will stop charging automatically when the battery is full, and then charge again as needed.

Why do you start it weekly but not drive it? That’s generally bad for the engine, as the oil doesn’t get hot and cook off any moisture.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Buy quality batteries and have good clean tight connections.

 

[BigPapa]

Why do you start it weekly but not drive it?

You're doing more harm than good. Besides the oil, you aren't charging the battery as much as you took out of it without driving it. It would be better off to sit until you drive it.

 

[Ozymandias]

You're doing more harm than good. Besides the oil, you aren't charging the battery as much as you took out of it without driving it. It would be better off to sit until you drive it.

Especially because it has a Dynamo and not an Alternator, and is 6V.
If that wasn't upgraded down the road of course.

 

[bcbender]

Due to loosing the batteries in the 20' I finally decided to get the NOCO 5 installed permanently in the RAM. Now I would like to replace some of my old tenders with NOCO units as they seem to be decent quality (I have had Deltran Battery Tenders that are starting to get flaky after almost 2 decades of use). I was looking at the wall mount unit that would work in a parking bay I have, anyone have experience with the 2A units? I can get a 2A 4 channel for the same as a 5A 3 channel, or 2, units to put in the ends of each bay?? Anyway they would be used on vehicles that sit more than drive. My Boat, Chevelle, Camaro, and Bronco are not driven frequently so would like to get them all on units vs moving them around weekly like I do now. Bonus is I could top off my CanAM or Pioneer also. Still need to get a solution for the dump trailer and tractor also... Geesh too darn many batteries...... Probably will buy another Genius 5 or maybe 10 as a portable unit now that the 5 I have will be off the shelf.

 

[AH64ID]

I installed my NOCO Genius 5 on the wall so I can use it for a variety of batteries. I didn’t want it in the truck susceptible to heat and vibration.

I only park my truck in the shop, but if I had more things I’d go with a 5x3 or 10x4.

 

[slowmover]

NOCO 10 underhood looks good to me.
Bumper outlet plate.

Maybe a disconnect also. Don't always have 120V when parked long-term.

Haven’t investigated solar, thus far.

Point is that the subject has first width, then depth.

.

 

[bcbender]

Haven’t investigated solar, thus far.

Yeah, I'm thinking solar on my dump trailer since it's a good distance from the shop and I'd be tripping over a cord.

I installed my NOCO Genius 5 on the wall so I can use it for a variety of batteries. I didn’t want it in the truck susceptible to heat and vibration.

I only park my truck in the shop, but if I had more things I’d go with a 5x3 or 10x4.

Hadn't thought about mounting on the wall but I like it, the bay my truck is going to be in will only fit it, so that would make sense, the other side whey I park 3 or 4 cars is where I was thinking about putting a multi channel unit.

 

[Topzide]

@bcbender, Solar on the dump trailer is the best option. If you can rig a mount that will trickle charge no matter were you are is a good thing. Spend a bit more for a better panel setup then what you see around for $50 and under. A panel and charge controller is what you'll want. If you have the power wire from the 7 pin into dump trailer, you could be trickle charging truck and trailer when connected. Just a thought for you.

Edit: For that fact, put up a panel on the shop and run into bay with charge controller and then split to every bay. Just an option and might come out cheaper then a NOCO multi bank.

 

[slowmover]

https://canadus.com/

 

[mwilson]

I use Schumacher battery tenders and chargers.

Get excellent life out my batteries. Zero turn battery lasted 9 years using a tender year round.

Theres one under the hood of the 2020 out back in storage trickling both batteries.

Camper and mower batteries are removed in the fall and put into my heated garage on tenders.

It makes a difference..

 

[mwilson]

 

[Cummins12V98]

I made it 20years with the “LONG” battery on my 1999 DR mower, never removed it or had a charger on it until the 20th year I needed to bump it.

Replaced with East Penn made labeled Deka. I do disconnect negative but no charging.

 

[mpaulson]

I have a 2A NOCO under the hood of my 3500 and it’s not enough. I have a 10A one that is going to go in its place. I also have a 4 channel 2A one mounted on a shelf in my garage that I maintain 13 batteries through winter with that come out of quads, mowers, tractors, boat and RV’s. I just shuffle the clamps along to the next battery every other week.
I also have a 2A mounted under the hood of my Jeep JL diesel that has two batteries and 2A isn’t enough there either.
Go 10A or you’ll regret it for a dual battery truck.

 

[Ozymandias]

If a 2A charger isn't sufficient to maintain the charge you have deeper problems, the consumption resting should be below 50mA.

 

[mpaulson]

If a 2A charger isn't sufficient to maintain the charge you have deeper problems, the consumption resting should be below 50mA.

-30 to -48 for four days was part of it. 2A wasn’t getting anywhere at topping up the batteries. Put a 10A on then, 3-4 hours fully charged and maintaining.

 

[AH64ID]

-30 to -48 for four days was part of it. 2A wasn’t getting anywhere at topping up the batteries. Put a 10A on then, 3-4 hours fully charged and maintaining.

Temp is definitely an issue, both the 2A and the 10A are only rated to operate down to -4°F.

The 2A should still be plenty for maintaining the battery bank in these trucks, slow to recharge, but plenty to maintain. If it only took 3-4 hours to get to 100% with the 10A charger the batteries were already above 90% charged, so the 2A was likely doing fine given the temps.

On the flip side they are only rated to 104°F, so under hood isn’t a great place to install them, IMO.