Can someone give me good suggestion of trickle chargers/battery tenders. My battery is 2 years old and I still have a year left of the warranty. But since winter is coming up and the weather forecast says it is about to snow, ice, rain tomorrow, I might as well invest in one before it is too late.

 

Brand Battery Tender
Model 022-0157-1

I got mine thru Amazon. It's upwards of 5 amps and is a maintainer. It works like a champ and will only charge when it needs to as opposed to a battery charger that stays on or is on a timer which drains the battery when it turns off. (At least mine did anyways)

 

I've had the Battery Tender, and now have a NOCO Genius 1100 and 3500. They all work fine, but the Genius 3500 has the most different colored flashing lights. What else can I say.

 

Looking into the solar options here.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tende.../dp/B004Q83TGO

 

'Trickle chargers' are next to useless on a battery the size used in our Jaguars.
Buy yourself a proper fully automatic 6 stage charger will have a 'de-sulphation' stage on it and tell the difference between normal, Gel and Calcium batteries.
These batteries come under some severe abuse and neglect and whether the battery is 2 or 12 years old , a good battery charger will keep it in top condition and it should remain connected throughout the year, not just in winter months.
Modern cars with all their electronic systems will continually have a quiescent drain all the time the car is not used.
95% of today's problems are caused by battery neglect.
Amazon is a good source ....just type in '6 stage automatic battery charger and pick a good one that will charge up to 16-20 amps.
Most smaller chargers will just leave a surface charge and are not capable of deep charging a 100 amp hour battery....if you're using anything less, you have the wrong battery in these cars ;o]

 

I kind of disagree with you.
First, do not use a "trickle charger" but rather a "float charger"
Difference being that a trickle will put out the same voltage/amps all the time and can "dry" the battery whereas a float will vary the voltage/amps based on the battery state of charge
Beside that, a float charger is not designed to "deep charge" a battery but simply to maintain it,assuming the battery is already charged
Its not a battery charger
We have 2 different products here with different goals

 

I agree with the comment about trickle chargers. They can actually damage the battery by overcharging it. However, I'm not even sure that you can buy them any more. Both the products mentioned above, Battery Tender and the NOCO range, are proper multi-stage charger / maintainers, not trickle chargers, an can safely be left connected indefinitely. The difference between them and a larger 6-stage charger is :

1) Maximum charging current

2) The 6 stage adds conditioning features

The former is only useful if you need to charge a fully discharged battery. The smaller maintainers can't do this.

The latter is useful for restoring batteries damaged by sulfation.

So if you just want to maintain a good battery in a good state of charge, the maintainer products I mentioned are an excellent choice.

The 6 stage claim is marketing BS as they charge with 4 steps, same as the maintainers, but have a couple of extra manually-initiated conditioning features.

"Most smaller chargers will just leave a surface charge" - this comment is nonsense. There is no difference in state-of-charge between a battery that has been fully charged at 750 mA, and one charged at 20A. The main reason for wanting higher charging current is to reach a fully charged state, more quickly.

 

And stay away from the Sears Diehard brand of chargers. The first float chargers I got from Sears back in the 90s, were and still are good ones. In 2008 I bought a couple of Corvettes and got a couple more float chargers from Sears that looked outwardly the same but were different. The originals weighed as much as a brick. The newer ones were light as a feather. I'm lucky they didn't burn the shop down or do other serious damage. I happened out in the shop one quiet evening and heard a battery boiling. It was failing to shut off. I unplugged it and took it back to Sears for an exchange. A few weeks later, while I was working in the shop, the other one started humming rather loudly. I unplugged it and took both of them back to Sears for a REFUND this time. I replaced them with Battery Tenders, but I've even had one of those just plain stop working (but at least it didn't overcharge the battery or anything terrible). On the plus side, the cars are always ready to go and I've gotten typically 9 or 10 years out of batteries that are maintained. But I guess the moral to the story is that good ones are kind of expensive and its not a product you want to try and save money on, not if your prized Jaguar is going to be plugged into it and left unattended.

 

hm, this is confusing, I need a charger that would maintain the battery but not over maintain (over-charge) the battery. I think the float charger can do that?

 

Hi I have been using CTEK brand battery minder and swear by them. Swedish made and sold in the US and Canada. Had 2 Jags stored for winter , used them on both cars. One plugged into my XFRS right now. Just connect to battery terminals . No need to disconnect battery cables just attach CTEK cables direct to the battery cables at battery terminals. Left on for 4 months . Only charges when level drops to 96% and tops up. No battery freezing due to dead battery. Good luck

 

If you go to your Jaguar Dealer for a charger they will happily sell you a CTEK with a Jaguar logo. Safe to assume this is the recommended battery tender:



Is is manufactured by CTEK. You can buy the same unit direct without the Jaguar logo from a CTEK distributor or aftermarket suppliers for around half the cost from Jaguar.

You can buy equivalent tenders for less but the majority of forum members have gone for the CTEK.

A lot of people have put a lot of thought into this already .......

Graham

 

Contrary to a statement made above, most battery chargers with a
trickle charge or maintenance function do not charge at the
"same voltage/amps all the time".

Just walk into a store and read the user manual or read the
application notes for the charge controller in the charger.
There are not an unlimited number of choices for these
solid state controllers so many chargers/tenders actually
have the same charging strategies and the rest is packaging
and marketing.

As for amperage, there is a point to a charger that has a
healthy ampacity. It has the needed punch to desulphate.
Then again, remedying anything more than minor sulphation
seem pointless. A new battery seems more sensible at that
point.

The best thing you can do for a battery is to fully charge it
on the bench before installation. With a 12A auto charger
set to full range this took over three days before I was
happy with the final SOC. With a 750ma tender, I'd still
be waiting and that was three years ago.

Never be in a hurry to install a new battery without first
giving it a full charge.

BTW, prefer devices with metal cases. If it smokes, you'll
be glad you bought the metal case.

 

Sorry, but no. Swedish marketing company with Asian
suppliers.

Previously verified at their site and on Amazon under
"country of origin" labelling. Amazon is rather good
at insisting on correct information in that category.

 

I have to somewhat respectfully disagree with your xjay8. These are not trickle chargers solely, they maintain battery voltage like the alternator does. But these bring the battery to max storage (not over) and maintains it until disconnected. When first hooked up (even after just shutting off the car), the tender will go into Charge mode, because the battery is depleted somewhat. Depending on the battery condition, usually in a few hours it will go into Storage mode and maintain that level without overcharging. It takes awhile to bring the battery to peak storage because it isn't over boosting the cells and burning them out like a battery charger does, trickle charge if you will. A tender will not overheat the battery, if it is warm, get the battery checked, its probably a bad cell, check for swelling also.
The tenders also are built to match motorcycle, car, etc.... so buyer needs to read what they are buying for. The size of the battery in our vehicles is irrelevant, they are still 12vdc based (like all of todays autos), its the amps they generate that is the difference and is in the cells. I've been using the Battery Tender Plus for 9 yrs now on 3 different type vehicles (Corvette 9 yrs, Jag 7 yrs and Expedition 7yrs, recently given away) and have had no issues whatsoever and highly recommend them. My Corvette sits the longest, months, and she starts right up as new and if you've ever had a Corvette, you know they are horrid on batteries.
Connections/neglect are ultra important also. Don't expect a new battery or Battery Tender to fix a problem with cable corrosion, lose/worn connections, poor ground or the like. Now we're getting into Ohms Law and you can read up on that yourselves. This is where I wholeheartedly agree with xjay8, battery neglect is so overlooked and if your battery and its connections aren't being looked at every 6 months minimum, your neglecting it. Any Jag being stored over 2 weeks should be on a tender.
A tender also prevents that surge after the starter gets through eating up those amps and smacking power onto everything calling for it afterward ...from the clock to the ECU when the alternator starts charging....the battery is at full storage as if just shut off. The alternator doesn't have to push all that voltage to the battery to recharge it from being low and still run the car and its accessories. Its just taking over from where the tender left off. Tenders also prevent corrosion because they maintain proper storage voltage which prevents hydrogen venting.
Two causes of corrosion, undercharging (- terminal corrosion) and overcharging (+ terminal corrosion).
Todays batteries really are outdated (modified 60's tech) and I expect microcell batteries to be implemented in due time. These I expect to come with plug ins to maintain them like battery tenders do and for more and more hybrids. I can start my Jag (battery disconnected) at least 10 times using my XP10 (microcell battery) directly and it doesn't get hot and its roughly the size of my wallet folded out. The XP10 also has a safety stop to prevent it from overheating the in car battery if the vehicle doesn't start and a no start if connected incorrectly.
Sorry if I've run on too long, but I hope this helps you out with a proper decision.

 

Terminology can be confusing. Floater charger/tender/maintenance/storage/smart chargers are different names for pretty much the same thing. You want one that shuts off when the battery is fully charged and monitors from that point onwards.

CTEK is a very good brand as is Battery Tender.

Home | Deltran Battery Tender

Trickle chargers do not shut off, they are 'on' at all times.

 

Contrary to a statement made above, most battery chargers with a
trickle charge or maintenance function do not charge at the
"same voltage/amps all the time".

Reread my statement, I was not talking about battery charger with a "trickle" function but rather about a trickle charger.
Not the same at all

 

And what the heck would that be?

Almost anything on the shelves these days in consumer
grade devices aimed at charging a battery has maintenance
function. The solid state controller chips are so cheap and
ubiquitous that there is no point in removing the function.
A unit on sale at Walmart for $20 is going to have it.

Now, if you have an antique trickle charger made with
a transformer and diode bridge, or bodged up from a
surplus wall wart then okay ... otherwise no.

++

 

Appreciate your answer! That's the answer I needed!

 

Yeah, Overcharging is one of my fears when buying a device like this.

 

Just to let you know I live in Calgary where it can get to -40C in the winter . We just had a couple of weeks at -25C to -30C. So you can see why i am a CTEK fan.
I have used them now for 8 years. I bought 2 more since the XFRS has 2 batteries for the stop start function which I never use , EVER. One is a boat size for the small battery but don't use it any more since the 2 batteries are interconnected and I just connect the larger CTEK and it minds both batteries without disconnecting either battery . I sold my 2008 Jag this summer with an 8 year old battery that was still in great condition.