Battery Charger/Reconditioner - I Was a Skeptic

MarkF48 · Jan 10, 2021

About a six months ago I replaced an old battery charger with one that has a 'reconditioning' function. I had only used it as a charger occasionally for the lawn tractor battery and once when a dome light in the wife's car got left on overnight. About a month ago the battery in my car started to show signs of weak cranking in colder weather and it was about 4 years old, so figured it was time for replacement. Not using the car much due to retirement and Covid likely didn't help it and driving around for a while didn't get the battery back to where it should be. I replaced it, but rather than return it right away for the core charge refund, I thought I'd try charging on the new charger, but not reconditioning on the first try. The new charger has a meter that shows percent of charge and only indicated 75%, wouldn't go any higher and a load check on the battery after being on charge for a day was showing as 'Weak'. I connected up the battery again, this time putting the charger to recondition mode and left it. The chargers display shows when reconditioning is complete and this time the charger showed 100% charge after about 24 hours. A load test was now in the 'Good' range. Not sure I'd trust the battery for service in the car, but it seems to have gotten a second life to it and I'll use it for a battery to jump start a vehicle if needed. I had believed 'reconditioning' was a gimmick, but not so sure now.

Has good reviews, price reasonable, and as good as I should ever need....
BLACK+DECKER BC15BD Fully Automatic 15 Amp 12V Bench Battery Charger/Maintainer

Roadworthy · Jan 10, 2021

I enjoyed the write up and review, thank you. I'll probably keep using my fifty year old Schauer for a few more years. It's simple enough I can fix it when needed but I'm sure the time will come . . . .

not2old · Jan 11, 2021

A few years back I bought a Noco maintainer and desulfater for my new dirt bike because it specified a very small charge. I still had the old Optima hanging around from when I put a new one in my truck. I had purchased the new one because the old one was noticeably slow in cranking my 7.5 litre truck and I didn't want to get stuck while out sledding. More out of curiosity, I put the Noco on the old one several times over a few months. Four years later, that 13 year old battery cranks and starts my 3 litre Volvo without hesitation. I now put it on each of my batteries for a few days a couple of times each year.

deserteagle71 · Jan 11, 2021

I'm a firm believer in battery maintainer/conditioners - all of my rigs except for my daily driver have one connected. Used to have to replace batteries every couple years on my dirt bike, for instance, until I put a maintainer on it. The battery that's in the bike now has been there for 7 years. The last battery in my old John Deere diesel lasted 13 years. Those maintainer/conditioners make a big difference!

MoKelly · Jan 11, 2021

This has been very helpful. I had no clue about these reconditioners for batteries.

Thanks all.

MoKelly

PILOON · Jan 11, 2021

I believe in those 'intelligent' maintainers.
I have one permanently wired to my generator as well as to my tractor.
So far so good!

Just be sure that any U use are 'intelligent' and not merely a diode and mini transformer.
(An intelligent charger will typically have 2-3 LED's to indicate what they are doing.)

jaxs · Jan 11, 2021

I can't say that my Tenders have brought a battery back from the grave but they certainly have more than doubled life of my batteries during the past 20 years. Like a couple of others above,I leave them on something all the time. I'm suprised the Tenders haven't worn out but they still work fine. I've tried others and Deltran Battery Tenders are far and away most reliable.

MarkF48 · Jan 11, 2021

jaxs said:
I can't say that my Tenders have brought a battery back from the grave but they certainly have more than doubled life of my batteries during the past 20 years. Like a couple of others above,I leave them on something all the time. I'm suprised the Tenders haven't worn out but they still work fine. I've tried others and Deltran Battery Tenders are far and away most reliable.

I keep a Deltran Battery Tender on my Mahindra in the Winter and another for the lawn tractor battery I bring inside for the Winter. I went to buy one for my daughters zero turn mower and the price has gone up quite a bit and out of stock in a number of places. They are a good maintainer and do what they're supposed to.

Alien · Jan 11, 2021

I bought one from ebay after a friend recommended it. The battery in my xuv was about 2 years old but was getting very sluggish even after a charge. It was a gel battery so I wasn't sure if it would respond. However after a night on the recycler it came up to 100% again. I was surprised. The new recyclers have a different pulse rate to the earlier ones and work very well.
Don't expect miracles though. I had a stuffed battery and tried it on that but it was still stuffed at the end of the cycle. Great for rejuvination though. :thumbsup:

I will add that I have 2 workshop load testers that I check my batteries with so no guesswork.

tibadoe · Jan 11, 2021

I'm definitely a believer in the BatteryMINDer maintainer/desulfator. Been using them for too many years to count on everything I own that has a battery.