Here's the situation...i'm about 2 clicks from ordering a Battery Tender online.....before i do it, i want to ask you guys if you think it's necessary to pay $90 (Canadian) for a battery tender when i can get a trickle charger for $35.....my fear is that i will overcharge the battery if i leave the trickle charger connected and forget about it.....my asumption is that this cannot happen with a battery tender....so first of all, is this fear justified?....will a battery tender prevent this problem?...and would you personally get the trickle charger or the battery tender...and why?..thanks in advance for the help.

 

If it's the old type trickle it could overcharge the battery if you forgot about it.. The battery tender operates at a lower output voltage that balances with the battery at about 12.75 volts, that way it won't over change the battery. I would recomend an automatic charger like is sold at NAPA that is totally automatic. It will charge at up to 10 amps for a dead battery and it will switch to a lower output automatically and act like a battery tender. I leave my trolling motor battery connected for weeks. That's one option. It cost about $70.00 for that setup though.

 

I saw a trickle charger at Walart for $35......it says that when it approaches full charge, the output switches to about 50%....so do you think it would be ok to use this?

 

You will probably need to read the info. on it and see if it can be used for extended periods as a battery tender.
It sounds like it might, but i doubt it unless it says fully automatic. It's hard to say without the product info. It
says it will reduce the output at full charge. It may turn out that even at reduced output the charger charges
to much to be a battery tender, especially on a small battery. I wouldn't use it continuously unless it said fully
automatic like these that i have links to below. I don't know for sure if you can get these where you are but
here are two fully automatic ones at advance auto. I searched walmart but didn't find anything good. There cheap too.


charger

 

Thanks mudrush....looks like those will work fine for me.

 

I just picked up the Chaparral Motorsports catalog and the Battery Tender is on sale for $34.97.

 

Hello,

I just did a lot of research on this for my boat batteries. The Battery Tender switches to zero output when the battery is charged, and then charges it to the correct level again when the battery level drops slightly. A trickle charger will eventually ruin the battery because it keeps charging after the battery has reached the correct level. The trickle charger is OK for a few days, but not for long periods of time.

Good luck,
Lorrin