Battery Tender plus failures???
 

A bit of searching came up with this thread on a Corvette forum, after a mustang board member posted a vdieo of his smoking like crazy...

2nd Battery Tender in Two Years goes up in Smoke - Corvette Forum

On this thread, a Corvette guy mentions losing his garage to fire, fire dept. telling him it was probably a tender catching fire.

So, anybody here had problems with theirs?

Interesting.
Ive recently had two crap out on me . The one for my bike and the one for my waverunner. Both were less then a year old.

I've never had any sort of tender/trickle charger have a problem. I've never used a Battery Tender, though.

I use this one from Schumacher. $20 and works as well (if not better) than the ones costing several times more. It charges my bike battery up to 14.7 or 14.8 peak volts. Then floats it back down to 13.4 to 13.8 volts. Other chargers don't seem to get the battery up to those peak levels. Supposedly charging a battery up to that higher level increases the longevity of the battery. (I'll let you know in a few years what I've experienced.)

Walmart.com: Schumacher SpeedCharge Battery Maintainer and Charger: Automotive

Anybody have the CTEK brand the 'vette guys mentioned?

Have/use the Deltran model for my motorcycle while it's in hibernation. Never had an issue.

Ive used a couple dozen of the Barrery Tender Juniors over the last 10 years with no issues. Never used any other brand.

JR

I have a CTEK I used on my Bronco for a while. One day my dad when out to the garage and heard noise coming from under the hood and it was the battery boiling. I honestly don't know if it was an issue with the battery or the charger but I can say I haven't attached it to my new Odyssey yet.

I have a CTEK that I've used for several years and I've never had a problem. It will charge both traditional and gel batteries properly.

Made in USA Rizk never had a problem and they're cheap.

My optima goes in the winter car, so I know it's always charged. I use my ATV for plowing snow (and winter fun) so I know it's OK. That leaves my garden tractor, I take it out, put it on the bench in my heated shop and charge it (low, 2 amp) the first of every month.

I've used the Deltran tender on my car and motorcycle for over 10 years, no issues.

Harbor Freight for a battery maintainer.

Out of parts made in the pacific rim

I had a battery tender hooked up to a lawn tractor for one night. Next day went to start it and the battery exploded, literally. Pieces went every where, ears were ringing, burned holes in my clothes. Now I use those float chargers from harbor freight but those make me nervous as well. Heck any charging or maintaining of batteries makes me jumpy now.

I have a HF one hooked up to the Jeep which gets driven 2-3 times a year. I think I'll unplug it as it's fairly old. I don't mind going out and hooking up the bigger charger at 2 amps twice a month.

BTW, the Jeep draws zero sitting. No electronics. The (modern) radio is hooked to the key side of the ignition.

That may be but a battery will self-discharge on it's own, at about 1% per day. Add a little dirt, acid and corrosion to the terminials and that number can go up a little.

JR

That usually happens when the water/electrolyte level in the battery drops below the tops of the plates. A battery can spark internally and a really loud explosion is the result. Once you've witnessed one, you won't want another...

Keep an eye on the fluid level in any wet cell battery, especially if you use any kind of charger.

JR

I have a car that I keep in a storage unit for about three years now..I went to my battery only store and asked the clerk what was my best option for the car; he said just unhook the negative cable while its in storage..So far after three years and a junkyard battery, it starts up first try every time.....

That may be the safest method..I'm beginning to think that with these chargers, any brand can fail...I'm not going to toss my battery tender plus, but I'm sure going to keep an eye on things...

Before I learned of these problems, I assumed these were great things to have & use with zero downside.

my friend screwed one of those lightbulb socket adapters into the lightbulb fixture of his garage door opener. he then put the bulb back, and plugs an extension cord into the socket part. ran it down the wall to his regular battery charge that is hooked to his hotrod. every time the garage door opens, the light circuit gets energized, which in turns powers the charger. he has been doing this for years.

when he needs a charger, he unplugges it and and uses it on the dead battery. when done he puts it back onto the hotrod and plugs it back into his garage door opener.

this only works with an active garage door. his wife is always coming and going. it works perfectly. i would do this, but my garage door lightbulb circuit is not functioning.

I have Paul's old Deltran and I bought another work fine. Both are hooked up to gel cells.