OK thankyou. Any advice on a few different makes/types that are good,would be greatly appreciated,thanks

 

Also,any advice on how to use them will be appreciated too. Like how long to put them on for. Could i hook it up on a morning,and take it off later the same day,after say 8-10 hours? And do they tell you if the battery is at full charge? Thankyou,kind regards

 

The CTEK line of chargers/battery maintenance units are heavily favored by Jaguar forum members in GB. "Worth every penny" was one of the quotes from a stingy old git from Yorkhire...

 

Thanks for the tip,greatly appreciated. Must be good,if a Yorkshire man has said they're worth every 1 of his tightly gripped pennies 😁 cheers

 

When I was growing up, we didn't have any pennies. We had to make our own, and were darn glad to have them.

Didn't have any electricity, either, unless we made our own...

 

Quality,love it👌

 

What is your parking situation? Is the car in a garage or a fixed location close to an outlet? Or is this something like an apartment parking lot, with no convenient access to household power?

I have two Schumacher battery maintainers. Sorry, I forget the model number. I keep them connected all the time on two of my weekend fun vehicles. Okay, technically, I do disconnect them while driving, but you know what I meant...

The key thing is to avoid a trickle charger. Those seem similar to a tender/maintainer, but only at first glance. A trickle charger puts out a fixed charge at a low rate. It's not powerful enough for charging a run-down battery. If used to keep a charged battery topped off, it will eventually overcharge and cook it. It's a bad choice for either task.

A proper tender/maintainer (two terms for the same thing) can be left full time unattended. They monitor the battery voltage and only apply a charge as needed. It's all fully automatic. A happy little green light illuminates to indicate the battery is fully charged.

If your parking situation doesn't allow you to leave the tender connected full time, yes, you could connect once a week or so. But if at all possible, leaving it connected all the time is the way to go.

 

My car is parked on my drive,outdoors. I do have gates,but Let's just say my area is going through a bit of a challenging time of late,with youths upto no good. So basically,leaving anything unmonitored is not good. It's good to know that,in between drives,i could hook it up 1st thing on a morning,and take it off of an evening. Maybe i could do that a couple of times a week,just to keep the battery topped up.
i know what you're saying about the difference between a charger and a tender. I remembered you saying that in the beginning of this thread. I checked my battery charger,and it's gotta switch on it,that's got trickle and fast. So i know that's not the way to go.
I'll be honest,I've had a look on amazon and eBay,and my brain is swimming. Please excuse my ignorance,this is all new to me,about these tenders. Basically,on amazon they are all advertised as chargers. But on ebay,they do say tenders/maintainers. There's some that are around £300 and i think them ones had PRO on them. Then there's ones priced at £70-£90, and others that are say £120 ish.
when you have time,i would be really grateful,if you could give me as much info i need in choosing the right one for me. It's not so much the cost that's bothering me,it's just all the different models and what they do that's got my brain swimming. If it's any use,my battery is an EXIDE EXCELL 95Ah (12v)
Your help,and others,is greatly appreciated,thankyou

 

Hi,further to my last post,about being unsure on exactly which battery maintainer would be best suited to my needs. I've been online quite a lot,looking at different ones,and I'll be honest,I'm more confused than i already was. It's all the different amps and multi functions they have that's got me lost. I've taken some screen shots of some that I've looked at,and would be ever so grateful for any opinions and further advice,on which would be a good choice as a battery maintainer for needs. Thankyou

 

So I gets to thinking. Since you already have a charger with trickle mode, I think you'd be fine to use that as you have mentioned. My main beef with trickle chargers is how they can cook a battery if left unattended for days, but you won't be doing that. I had been suggesting a maintainer so you could connect it and walk away, but that's not practical in your situation with all those rapscallion whippersnappers roaming around looking for trouble.

Given the chance to spend your time and money, I'd go with what you have. Maybe 8 hours every other week should be plenty. Just a guess on the time, but I think that would be a good baseline.

 

Oh great,music to my ears. And with the money I'd of spent on a maintainer,I'll get the grand kids a little treat. I'll be popular for an extra half hour 😁 I'll upload a pic of my charger,just so you can see exactly what it is I'm using. Your help and advice is so appreciated. Thankyou for taking time to help me👍

 

And will it still be ok to hook it up whilst battery is in situ in car? Thanks

 

If it's OK to hook it up to battery whilst it's in situ in car,will all the car electrics be ok? I'll obviously be keeping an eye on the charge state lights,and each time i use it,I'll judge how many hours it needs each time,in between my drives out. Thanks again

 

Another thought. Do i hook both charger clips directly onto battery? Reason i ask that,is because in my drivers handbook,it says about when jump starting these cars,place the positive clip on battery,and the negative on the spare wheel holder bracket. Because if both clips are on battery when jumping it,you could blow some of the electrics. But is that only for when you're actually jump starting it from another car? Just want to be sure.
Thanks again

 

It's better to put the -ve well away from the battery.

You could get gases during charging and a spark when you disconnect. The idea is the spark would be further from the battery I think.

 

Do like I do. When the little rugrats ask for a hug, I put up a big Shatner-esque overacting scene of how I have to stop what I'm doing just to hug them back. Of course they love irritating me, even if only pretend, and I end up with more precious hugs than a cranky old man could ever hope for.


Do you have a model number? I was hoping to find a manual online and read up a little on it.

 

Thanks for the tip on scoring more hugs,quality👌 and I've looked at my charger,and it's gotta few stickers on back. 1 of which is a very small 1,but i would presume it's maybe the model number. I'll include a pic for you to check out.
And would you also think it wise,when putting it on trickle charge,to put the negative lead on the spare wheel holding bracket? Would the battery still be taking the charge hooked up that way? Thanks

 

But as the advice sticker says,basically,switch off power at plug whilst connecting and disconnecting the leads. But if it'd do the same job,with the negative on spare wheel bracket,then obviously that would be safer all round hey? Thanks

 

Couldn’t find any details for your charger.

As far as connecting and disconnecting, here’s what I was taught years ago. It’s perfectly fine to charge with the cables still connected.

1) Be mindful of the explosive hydrogen gas created when a battery is charged. Before doing anything with a battery, blow on it for several seconds to disperse any hydrogen.

2) Make sure the charger is unplugged from household power.

3) Connect the red charger cable to the positive battery terminal.

4) Connect the black charger cable to the negative battery terminal. If you want to use the spare tire retainer bolt instead, go ahead but it’s not necessary.

5) If the charger is equipped with reverse polarity protection, make sure the warning light is off.

6) Stand clear of the battery on the slim chance of an explosion with the next step. Don’t ask how I learned this.

7) Plug the charger’s input cord into household power. Make this connection away from the vehicle, as opposed to leaning over the battery while holding an extension cord. (See step #6)


Disconnect in reverse order.

When connecting, plugging into household power is the last thing you do. When disconnecting, it is first. The important thing is to have the charger unpowered when dealing with the connections at the battery.

Back to connecting the black cable to the spare tire retainer bolt: With the charger unpowered, this isn’t an issue. No spark is generated if the charger is not powered. If using jumper cables, that’s a different story. There’s almost always a spark when making the last connection, so always do that away from the battery. Don’t forget to blow away any accumulated hydrogen gas before any action that could create a spark.

 

Sound advice,and I'll be sure to follow it all to the letter,thanks. Even though you couldn't find any details on my charger,I'm presuming your advice would still be that I'm OK to use it,for what I'm gonna be needing it for?
Regarding the hydrogen gas possibility,whilst dealing with the battery. As I've stated,I'm in ill health(lung disease) so I've not gotta great deal of puff to try blow any gasses away. But,with my car being outdoors on my drive,would it be sufficient,to open boot,lift back the boot carpet lid to expose battery,and leave it to kinda air for a little while,before starting to attach charger cables?
Also,i was thinking of maybe purchasing a battery tester. Just a kinda beginners/DIY'ERS one. To use in conjunction with the charger I've already got. So that i can test the battery first,to see where it's at,and give me a rough idea of how long I'll need to put it on trickle charger. I would appreciate your thoughts on that idea please. I'll include a couple of pics of testers I've looked at,which are priced at £20-£30 each. On some of them,it says you need to input the CCA value of the battery first. I think I've worked out what this is,but would like to know if I've got it right please. I'll include a pic of my battery,which I've put a blue circle round what I'm presuming is the CCA value of battery. I'd appreciate it if you can tell me if I've got that right.
Thankyou in advance for your time,and appreciate all advice given.