Battery tenders / Desulfation

[crazyhorsemd]

Hearing more about need / use of battery tenders and desulfation. Have 54 hp diesel use on occasional weekends cut grass... Hobby Farm kind. Anyway, battery sits for some time especially winter months. Needs frequent charging. Is battery tender / desulfation recommended

Thanks

Great forum!!!

 

[fidowanttobe]

Highly recomended. BatteryMinder 1501. EBay for $50 ish. Plug it in and leave it.

 

[JerryK]

I have a whole fleet of Schumachers running in my barn as we speak...

 

[fried1765]

Hearing more about need / use of battery tenders and desulfation. Have 54 hp diesel use on occasional weekends cut grass... Hobby Farm kind. Anyway, battery sits for some time especially winter months. Needs frequent charging. Is battery tender / desulfation recommended

Thanks

Great forum!!!

I spend winters in Florida!
I have a combined group of 15 Battery Minders and Battery Tenders.
I prefer the Battery Minders, but there are other brands available as well.
The NOCO Genius is another highly favored brand, and I plan to buy several of those.
As the Battery Tenders fail I am replacing them with different brands.
The Battery Tenders are OK, but I find their warranty to be basically worthless.
Sometimes you can find good deals if you are patient.

 

[KYErik]

I am also a fan of the BatteryMinder 1510 (I have 2). The small NOCO genius chargers I have (a 1.1 amp and a 3.5 amp) do not have a full time desulfating function like my Battery Minder.

 

[RNeumann]

Yes a fully charged battery lasts much longer- keep it charged! It needs to be automatic i.e. Have the ability to maintain or float the battery instead of throwing a few amps at it continuously.
The desulfation is a separate process- while popular it may or may not make financial sense for your application.

 

[Texasmark]

I'm starting to read up on it. Seems the light current "minder" type devices come with and without high current pulses that are designed to resonate with oxide flakes on the plates and turn them into Pb and H2SO4, causing them to fall to the bottom of the battery.

In reading I find that "fully" charging a battery helps extend the life too and a lot of chargers (not sure where minders fit in) don't fully charge the battery or batteries that get charged overnight don't get fully charged for usage the next day usually....as I read.

I have a large capacity battery I removed from my 6530 after 10 years because it started slowing down on cold starts. For grins, I have been fooling with it somewhat. I have a Schumacher 10A auto/manual charger. I noticed that the charger turned on the "charged condition met" green light when the battery was still drawing around 4 amperes. I left it on for a day and checked again and the amperage was down to 2 amps. Will check again today and see where it is.

In reading on the subject, there are no definite conclusions as to just what happens inside your battery. Lots of theories I read, but nothing set in concrete to be used in all instances. So for now, I just keep the little $10 <1 amp. trickle chargers on my seldom used equipment.

 

[Ford850]

I started a thread 3 years ago reviewing my BatteryMinder 1500. I've updated it over the years, and you can read it here if interested: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/303121-batteryminder-1500-review.html?highlight=
I believe in the desulfation process the BatteryMinder provides. I also believe good battery charging is like good BBQ... low and slow.

 

[crazyhorsemd]

I would really like to thank all for your input. Very helpful Wish you all the best

 

[RNeumann]

Texasmark

You have a good understanding. The problem occurs when the flakes fall to the bottom. The battery can only handle so much of that before the buildup shorts the plates. Some swear by it while others don't feel it's worth the time/effort.
If you spend $100 to condition a battery and it adds 6 months or a year you begin to see the math. Amortize the cost of the battery and the difference with an extra 6 months or whatever and consider how many times you would do that.

 

[IslandTractor]

I own a Battery Minder but use just the cheapo 1amp trickle charger from HF on my tractor battery over the winter. Battery is still going strong after ten years.

 

[DK35vince]

My original tractor battery went 11 years and never had a battery tender on it.
Still not convinced they add battery life.

 

[IslandTractor]

My original tractor battery went 11 years and never had a battery tender on it.
Still not convinced they add battery life.

I have trouble with smaller motorcycle sized batteries in generator and lawn mower. The cheap 1 amp trickle charger from HF that costs about $12 on sale seems to help for over winter charging.

 

[DK35vince]

I have trouble with smaller motorcycle sized batteries in generator and lawn mower. The cheap 1 amp trickle charger from HF that costs about $12 on sale seems to help for over winter charging.

I just recently sold a 2007 Honda dual sport (XR 650L) still had the original battery in it.
My 2009 Kawasaki Versys street bike has original battery.
They set all winter and never had a tender on them.

 

[IslandTractor]

I just recently sold a 2007 Honda dual sport (XR 650L) still had the original battery in it.
My 2009 Kawasaki Versys street bike has original battery.
They set all winter and never had a tender on them.

Maybe I'm just optimistic about the chargers. I've had lawnmower batteries lasting only a couple of season (without charger over winter) and a generator battery that failed after three years (with only infrequent charging). I certainly appreciate your scepticism though as there are lots of devices that become popular via marketing that really have no scientific basis or data to support them.

 

[yomax4]

I use a tender on my tractor and my plow truck. Not so much to make the battery last longer but for piece of mind knowing they will easily start when needed..

 

[Texasmark]

Texasmark

You have a good understanding. The problem occurs when the flakes fall to the bottom. The battery can only handle so much of that before the buildup shorts the plates. Some swear by it while others don't feel it's worth the time/effort.
If you spend $100 to condition a battery and it adds 6 months or a year you begin to see the math. Amortize the cost of the battery and the difference with an extra 6 months or whatever and consider how many times you would do that.

Thanks.

On the flakes falling to the bottom, that's one thing I learned about cheap batteries. For a given case size, the low AH rated batteries have short plates. They can tolerate a lot bigger pile at the bottom before the lead in the pile shorts out the plates. Had a buddy that rounded up old batteries from a used car lot and rejuvenated them, selling as rejuvenated batteries for about half what a new one brought. Some he dissected and told me about his findings on the plates and the piles.

 

[TractorGuy]

My stuff sits outside so I use solar panels. I have a little 10w panel hanging on the lip of my shed in the shade and it keeps my lawn mower battery nice and fresh. Just recently glued another panel on the hood of my backhoe. My JD usually gets used enough to keep it's battery up and ready.