Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | NPike - 4/7/2016 1:57 PM
ESOX Maniac - 4/7/2016 9:45 AM
A. Don't leave the charger plugged in over 24 hours. Even a fully discharged TM battery should be fully recharged in 24hrs.
B. Given your charger is 10 years old, I would not expect much from Minnkota if it is bad.
Concerning A ) If you have a charger that functions as a maintainer there is absolutely no reason to remove the battery from the charger when it’s not in use. I keep mine in the maintainer mode for the entire winter. Have been doing this for 12 years. This extends the life of the battery by preventing self leakage and prevents sulfation. Not all chargers work well as maintainers. You must know your device.
Concerning B ) Of course Minn Kota is not going to make good on the charger after all this time but they know their changers better than you or anybody else. Why not ask?
LOL! I suspect I know more about lead-acid batteries and chargers than anyone in this forum......Your battery maintainer is a risk! Anyone who says they aren't is a fool. 12 years, you're a lucky man!
Guess what? He will probably get same instructions from Minnkota or they may ask him to send it in..
https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-warner-55727952?authType=NAME_SEARCH&...
These folks actually have a lot of factual truth here.
"HOW LONG CAN I LEAVE THE BATTERY TENDER® PLUS BATTERY CHARGER CONNECTED TO A BATTERY?
In theory, you can leave the Battery Tender® Plus battery charger connected to a battery forever. That’s a really long time. Sales people like to say, “Just plug it in and forget about it!” However, practically speaking, it is a good idea to check on the battery at least once every couple of weeks. Strange things can happen. Sometimes a battery can have a weak cell that won’t show up until the worst possible time. Of course, that time is usually when the battery is connected to a charger, and you are out of town on vacation.
If something goes wrong, then you have to deal with the question of the chicken and the egg. Which came first? Did the battery fail because it was connected to the charger or did the charger fail because it was connected to the battery? Good luck sorting that one out.
With a battery and a charger connected together, it’s a much better idea to be proactive and anticipate problems, however unlikely they may be. In more than 99.9% of cases, nothing will go wrong. That still leaves about 0.1% where something might. Learn to respect electricity. A little common sense can go a long way.
Also consider this. No matter how good a product is, anything can break. In fact, everything will break, eventually. There are only 2 questions to be answered. 1) When will it fail? & more importantly 2) How will it fail? If a product is designed and built well, a manufacturer will set a long warranty period, usually several years, to support that notion. Deltran, and other responsible manufacturers, invest a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money to ensure that their products will fail in a relatively safe manner. For electronic products, at the very least that means no electrical shock or fire hazard.
The Battery Tender® Plus battery charger has a 10 year limited warranty, which is unprecedented among battery charger manufacturers. And it is listed with Underwriter’s Laboratories to comply with both US and Canadian electrical product safety standards for battery chargers used with engine start batteries. "
LOL! - a couple of weeks? It doesn't take weeks for strange things to happen. Really, don't you wonder why I don't use one? At the very least, leave your boat outside, that way you won't lose your home too..Oh, yeah I almost forgot, also get a good lightning surge suppressor for your battery charger outlet...
If you want to read the whole FAQ's ->
http://www.batterytender.com/Frequently-Asked-Questions/
Some practical advice about chargers.
http://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-a-Battery-Charger
Have fun!
Al
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