Do Trickle Chargers Really work....

[check]

Is your power outlet powered when the key is off? If it isn't, that charger won't do anything. I have a Battery Tender Plus for gel cell batteries: Amazon.com: Battery Tender 021-0156 Battery Tender Plus 12V Battery Charger True Gel Cell Model: Automotive If I park the Lotus for more than a few weeks and I've forgotten to plug it in, I'll have a dead battery. If I have the tender hooked up, it's ready to roll anytime. I didn't have a tender for the first few years I had the car and I replaced the battery every spring because it was dead and I couldn't resurrect it. Now, the battery seems to last forever.

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

 

[k0ua]

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

The Battery Tender Juniors seem to be good, and they do have a 5 year warranty.

 

[skyhook]

Here's a link to the one I have, works great, its priced at 29.98, WallMart.

Walmart Canada

 

[Parkanzky]

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

I just looked, and there are 285 total reviews. 267 of them are four or five stars. 11 are one star. The average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars. That's pretty fantastic. Online reviews tend to skew negative, because there's a much greater probability of someone taking the time to write a review if they're upset about something. Most satisfied customers don't bother to tell anybody.

 

[check]

I just looked, and there are 285 total reviews. 267 of them are four or five stars. 11 are one star. The average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars. That's pretty fantastic. Online reviews tend to skew negative, because there's a much greater probability of someone taking the time to write a review if they're upset about something. Most satisfied customers don't bother to tell anybody.

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

 

[Parkanzky]

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

I'm still not seeing it. I sorted all the reviews by "most recent first" and 44 of the last 50 reviews are five stars. Five are four stars. One is one star. Those reviews were submitted between August 30 2014 and today.

I hear what you're saying, but the data doesn't back it up.

 

[DFB]

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

That seems to be a common trend in many online product reviews as of late. A once good product seemingly becoming inferior. Very seldom do you read the opposite..past negatives superseded with glowing new reviews.

 

[Parkanzky]

That seems to be a common trend in many online product reviews as of late. A once good product seemingly becoming inferior. Very seldom do you read the opposite..past negatives superseded with glowing new reviews.

I'm a scientist, and I'm always wary of sentiment trumping data. This seems like a good example.

Check posted a statement about there being a lot of negative reviews, especially lately. Let's look at the data:

There are 268 reviews, with 11 total one star reviews. That means that a bit over 4% of the total reviews have been negative. One out of the last fifty has been negative, or 2%.

The data does not support the idea that the product reviews have gotten worse, but we're still talking about the phenomenon as though it's fact. Confirmation bias in action!

 

[DFB]

Confirmation bias in action!

I did read your analysis when you first posted and I agree

First thing I do is try to weed out the poor reviews from other factors beyond a defined failure of the product itself. Some purchasers many have a wrong expectation of performance or limitations of the item or just don't understand how to use it. Clamp on multi-meter reviews for reading current amperage, laser temp guns, and digital RPM meters all come to mind to me. People's dissatisfaction with the seller/packaging or shipping performance also sometimes skews reviews

I do see a bias in a lot reviews simply anti Chinese rants

 

[TomSeller]

I would be afraid to put a battery tender in my barn with a 1000 round bales, all the tractors and equipment and have the cheap battery tender go poof. Just too much to lose if something caught fire. As it is, I cut power to the barn most of the year. I use deep cycle yellow top Optimas and don't worry about sitting for a few months. If I had parasitic drain I could not find and fix, I would disconnect the battery while it sat.

 

[GManBart]

I would be afraid to put a battery tender in my barn with a 1000 round bales, all the tractors and equipment and have the cheap battery tender go poof. Just too much to lose if something caught fire. As it is, I cut power to the barn most of the year. I use deep cycle yellow top Optimas and don't worry about sitting for a few months. If I had parasitic drain I could not find and fix, I would disconnect the battery while it sat.

That's an understandable concern, for sure.

There are some of the more expensive tenders that say they're certified to be spark and fire proof...mostly the ones that are popular for use on boats (trolling motors, etc). For whatever reason, spilled fuel, open fueling dockside, etc causes quite a few fires on boats, and anything that can cause a spark is avoided. I know the Noco Genius chargers we have are 100% waterproof, spark proof, overheat proof, and automatically shut down if any irregularity is sensed (among other things). They list this on the spec page...I'm guessing this means they aren't an ignition source:

*Meets ISO 8846 Marine standards and Ignition protected (US Coast Guard 33 CFR 183.410)

 

[DFB]

I would be afraid to put a battery tender in my barn with a 1000 round bales, all the tractors and equipment and have the cheap battery tender go poof. Just too much to lose if something caught fire. As it is, I cut power to the barn most of the year.

That's the reason I have so many battery operated tools for my work. About 30 years ago the business had a bad fire. The farm house, a 3 stall garage and then a good part of the warehouse all burned to the ground. And it was all blamed on a battery charger hooked to tractor in one of the garage stalls. To this day the old owner wont allow any electric to be reinstalled in the big barn, horse barn, hayloft, or corn crib. Personally I think there is more of hazard stringing extension cords all around though. I just go cordless for most everything even the lights

 

[check]

I'm a scientist, and I'm always wary of sentiment trumping data. This seems like a good example. Check posted a statement about there being a lot of negative reviews, especially lately. Let's look at the data: There are 268 reviews, with 11 total one star reviews. That means that a bit over 4% of the total reviews have been negative. One out of the last fifty has been negative, or 2%. The data does not support the idea that the product reviews have gotten worse, but we're still talking about the phenomenon as though it's fact. Confirmation bias in action!

Well, here is some data that gave me paise. I looked at the last 30 reviews of the Battery Tender Plus, and eight out of the 30 were three stars or less, five of these being one star.

 

[check]

Well, here is some data that gave me paise. I looked at the last 30 reviews of the Battery Tender Plus, and eight out of the 30 were three stars or less, five of these being one star.

Sorry, I meant "pause".. I also just now looked up the last 30 reviews of the Battery Tender Junior, and 13 of those 30 reviews were three or less, and 10 of those 13 were one star.

Doesn't look like confirmation bias to me!

 

[TomSeller]

That's the reason I have so many battery operated tools for my work. About 30 years ago the business had a bad fire. The farm house, a 3 stall garage and then a good part of the warehouse all burned to the ground. And it was all blamed on a battery charger hooked to tractor in one of the garage stalls. To this day the old owner wont allow any electric to be reinstalled in the big barn, horse barn, hayloft, or corn crib. Personally I think there is more of hazard stringing extension cords all around though. I just go cordless for most everything even the lights

Yep. Extension cords, electricity, mice, fuel and hay don't mix well

 

[Parkanzky]

Sorry, I meant "pause".. I also just now looked up the last 30 reviews of the Battery Tender Junior, and 13 of those 30 reviews were three or less, and 10 of those 13 were one star.

Doesn't look like confirmation bias to me!

I do not believe that you are sorting them correctly. Out of the most recent thirty reviews (Click where it says "285 Customer Reviews" and then click "See all 285 Reviews," and finally click "Newest First"), 28 are five stars and two are four stars. There are none in the most recent thirty that are three stars or fewer.

Look at the dates of the reviews you're looking at and if they're not in chronological order, going back in time, then you've sorted them wrong.

 

[RalphVa]

I used a trickle charger (before I knew about battery tenders) to keep the battery on our Benz 220D up for 9 months while we lived in Singapore. I removed the battery and put it in the basement. Then I connected the trickle charger through 2 timers in series. Think I turned both timers on for about an hour each. So, about once every 23 days, the 2nd timer would work for an hour on the battery.

Came home, put battery into car, did the glow plugs for about 30 seconds (these were the really old ones that took that long), turned to start, kicked off with the usual about 1/2 turn of the crankshaft on any diesel I've ever owned.

This was one of those monstrous ($200 ones) 12v batteries that Mercedes put into their 220 and 240D cars.

Ralph

 

[check]

I do not believe that you are sorting them correctly. Out of the most recent thirty reviews (Click where it says "285 Customer Reviews" and then click "See all 285 Reviews," and finally click "Newest First"), 28 are five stars and two are four stars. There are none in the most recent thirty that are three stars or fewer. Look at the dates of the reviews you're looking at and if they're not in chronological order, going back in time, then you've sorted them wrong.

Actually, when I went to the site that shows the reviews, I didn't ask it to sort anything. I just picked the first 30 reviews that popped up, naturally assuming that they would be the most recent reviews.. And, you are absolutely right, they are not sorted by time. They are sorted by "helpfulness". So, the numbers that I reported earlier were of the 30 most "helpful" reviews, where "helpfulness" was self rated by the people like me who had been reading the reviews. Presumably, these were the reviews that were the most thoughtful, informative, and well reasoned, which of course is exactly what I would prefer to read. Comments like "excellent", "no good", or "wow it came right away when I ordered it" are not helpful to me when making my judgment and/or decision about buying a product. So now I am even more skeptical about the Battery Tender brand, because it seems that it is the most helpful reviews that are the most negative. And indeed, after reading these various negative reviews, I went out and bought a different brand. I need to have reliability so that my toys will start when I get to the cottage at 30 below, and the reviews of the Battery Tender that I have seen suggest that I'm not going to get it with that brand.

 

[J_J]

I think the original question has been answered.

The thread has deviated to who makes the best.

The simple answer is, are you going to take someones word for the product or go and buy one and try it.

 

[Parkanzky]

Actually, when I went to the site that shows the reviews, I didn't ask it to sort anything. I just picked the first 30 reviews that popped up, naturally assuming that they would be the most recent reviews.. And, you are absolutely right, they are not sorted by time. They are sorted by "helpfulness". So, the numbers that I reported earlier were of the 30 most "helpful" reviews, where "helpfulness" was self rated by the people like me who had been reading the reviews. Presumably, these were the reviews that were the most thoughtful, informative, and well reasoned, which of course is exactly what I would prefer to read. Comments like "excellent", "no good", or "wow it came right away when I ordered it" are not helpful to me when making my judgment and/or decision about buying a product. So now I am even more skeptical about the Battery Tender brand, because it seems that it is the most helpful reviews that are the most negative. And indeed, after reading these various negative reviews, I went out and bought a different brand. I need to have reliability so that my toys will start when I get to the cottage at 30 below, and the reviews of the Battery Tender that I have seen suggest that I'm not going to get it with that brand.

The most "helpful" reviews are almost invariably among the oldest. That is because the default sorting is by "most helpful," so those are the first people see. More people read those, so they get more "helpful" clicks. It's a self-perpetuating condition.

If I were to do a carefully detailed review of the product, tear it apart and document the quality of the internal components, test every function and measure the deviation from specifications, etc, then I'd have just written an extremely helpful review. However, if I submitted that review today it would have no "helpful" votes. So it would appear somewhere near the end of the list (20+ pages in) to the reviews. Most people would never get that far reading the reviews, so it would not earn any helpful votes and move up the list.

Your purchase decision is your own, but I recommend that you think more carefully about how you analyze product reviews in the future. FYI, the Battery Tender Plus has built-in temperature compensation, which is useful for maintaining batteries in the conditions you're describing.

Out of curiosity, which maintainer do you use?