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Re: [Shop-talk] Solar car battery chargers - Now battery tenders

To: "'Shop Talk List'" <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Solar car battery chargers - Now battery tenders
From: "Randall" <TR3driver@ca.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:10:44 -0700
> I've bought a few of the Harbor Freight Battery tenders ($12 
> or $8 on sale)
> and they seem to check out very well according to my Fluke VOM.  

I've had a few of those myself, and was not impressed.  For one thing, they
just regulate a constant voltage, rather than using a fallback like the
BatteryMinder does.  Over time, that will shorten the life of the battery.
It also doesn't keep the battery fully charged.

But more importantly, they have no current regulation.  If you connect them
to a discharged battery (in violation of the instructions), the wall wart
overheats and fails.  If you then replace the wall wart with one that will
handle the increased current and repeat the experiment, the electronics
module overheats, melts and fails.

I see they do now offer a "3 stage" charger/maintainer, but it's somewhat
more expensive. ($30 list/$15 sale)

Randall
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