CAR BATTER CARE

[Brockett]

Does anyone use a battery tender during the winter?
My cars live outside and sometimes only get a short run once a fortnight during the winter months. I am thinking of plugging them into a charge/ maintainer. Any recommendations?

[cooltshirt]

c-tek products all day long.
They just get on with it and unlike many conditioner type chargers can also charge a flat battery.
This is the cheapest one (don't buy direct, better deals elsewhere) https://www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v/mxs-3-8-uk
My one is much older and more basic.

[Dark-Strom]

A friend of mine uses a solar jobby he leaves on the dash / plugs into ciggy socket?

[Brockett]

er yes I did somehow lose the "Y" and had no intention of giving it a batter.

[vstroman]

I have one I got in Lidl and it seems to work fine, cheap and cheerful,

[kwackboy]

Our car is used once a week at most and to keep the battery fresh we use a 10amp solar panel that sits on the dash that's wired directly to the battery.

It comes in very handy when we travel, leaving our car sometimes for 3 weeks in the airport car park.

[nigel s]

One boatyard I go to use the Ctek motorcycle smart chargers to keep customers batteries OK over winter If they don't have shore power. They WOULD charge a battery from near flat but take days ( we are talking 100 amp hour plus batteries ).
They work fine for maintenance charging and are cheaper than the boat chargers if you have to buy a dozen.
I use an optimate 2 that is 20? years old and still going good.Not tried solar , I like the sound of that.

The only problems I can see is , it has to be a smart charger, suitable for  the sealed batteries/agm that cars have now and how to connect it without it getting wet. The lead from the charger to the battery connector may not be long enough to keep it in the garage with the car outside.

Oh.... and nipping to the shops for milk having forgot to disconnect it 

Ho Hum

[Sir Trev]

Our (useless - long story) local Ford dealer advised us to charge Lady Poppy's car every couple of weeks as its not used as much now she has retired.  At barely two years old it keeps shutting down things like the AC and the infotainment screen at random even after a 200 mile run, which is ridiculous.

I got a 6amp c-Tec smart charger during lockdown as my car barely moved for nearly 18 months so I have bolted the tails to Lady P's car now so we can plug in the charger very quickly. The charger tucks under the bonnet with an extension cable to the garage so weather is not an issue for us. So far so good but car batteries do not last these days it seems.

[StromGeeza]

My long (useless) story- one of our electric vehicles has a nifty solar panel in the rear spoiler. It keeps the 12V battery side of things happy. It's still on the original 12V battery nearly 9 years later. Granted, it doesn't need to supply the mega current to kick a fossil fuel engine into life, just boot up a computer and run low power ancillaries. But still damn fine going. Our other EVs without the solar doodah don't mange this long (but they still last way better than ICE vehicle batteries). Depending on model, they can charge the 12V at the same time as the drive battery is charged up, so they live a pretty healthy life.
Of course the solar gizmo won't be too much use if you use an underground car park or have to endure dark Scottish winters...

[nigel s]

Sir Trev,
I may well be paranoid   ....but the idea of a 240v charger and extension lead tucked  under the bonnet of a ICE engine gives me the collywobbles.
I would have to stand there with an extinguisher in hand the whole time 

Ho Hum

[Brockett]

I have ordered a Ctek 5 amp smart charger.
Thanks for all comments
 

[Sir Trev]

Relax Nigel - it's not as if I'm checking the level in the fuel tank using the light from a match! With the hard wired tails now in place there is no risk of spark, and as its only two years old there are no old connectors or hoses allowing vapours to leak out. And, the car is outside on the drive, not in the garage. All fine. Honest. Probably. Now you've got me worried...

[nigel s]

Sir Trev, no need for worry.......I  admit I AM  very much paranoid about fires.

To be fair , having been through one house fire and one gas explosion at work that was heard 3 miles away  ( thankfully no one was hurt in either, I should add )  I have a pretty good excuse for it 

Ho Hum

[Brockett]

I plan to run a lead from the garage into the car and have the charger and connnections inside the car and then take the battery connection lead out of the car and into the bonnet. I did that when I used my optimate 4 to top up the smallish battery in the Honda Jazz and it managed well. The cars are outside and if they catch fire they won't burn down the garage and the four motorcycle inside which are worth more that the cars. 

[nigel s]

Well  at least seeing the charger on the seat should prevent driving off errors.

Ho Hum

[MartinW]

er yes I did somehow lose the "Y" and had no intention of giving it a batter.

I will leave it as is so that your comment stays in context !