Battery Tender/Maintainer

[Kendrix]

I am looking for everyone's setups for battery tendering/maintaining. What do you use, and how are you setup? I saw older posts where they drilled and mounted a plug. What are your recommendations? This will be my first winter and will be using my bx23s with the snow blower attachment and I want to try to set it up with the best option to quickly attach, and remove when needed for use during the winter months.

Show me your setup, and provide links to where you purchased your items, and explain why you chose the option.

I do greatly appreciate your feedback.

 

[Roadworthy]

I suspect many people do use a battery maintainer. I'm not one of them. My tractor charges when it's running and doesn't seem to lose its charge when parked. I think my last battery lasted about twelve years that way. The only time it ran flat was when I had starter problems. I replaced the starter, charged the battery, and all was well.

 

[RonBoyBX25D]

I don***8217;t have pix, but went with a Noco Genius 750 for mine. Wired in the terminal rings and ran it out the side next to the block heater. I doubt I really need it, but my experience is the battery will last longer with a trickle charger on it. And you don***8217;t ever have to, worry of the battery is low and now start with a big snowstorm.

 

[Lil Foot]

On my full size batteries, (toy hauler, golf cart, Rhino) I use these, with excellent results:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumach...MI147JnuXe5AIVyiCtBh1wJQRPEAQYASABEgLa8vD_BwE

On my motorcycle, one of these:
https://www.cyclegear.com/accessories/megaboost-pro-series-4000-charger-and-maintainer

And on the B7100 tractor, one of these:
https://www.cyclegear.com/accessories/duraboost-battery-maintainer-750

My motorcycle stays in the Phoenix area, (lots of heat) and the tractor (which has a motorcycle size battery) stays in the high country, much cooler.
All tenders are connected with a two wire polarized plug like the one that comes with the last tender shown.

 

[bearbait]

I don***8217;t have pix, but went with a Noco Genius 750 for mine. Wired in the terminal rings and ran it out the side next to the block heater. I doubt I really need it, but my experience is the battery will last longer with a trickle charger on it. And you don***8217;t ever have to, worry of the battery is low and now start with a big snowstorm.

Keep a close eye on them, I had to return 2 of them now. The problem I had was where the wire goes into and out of the charger split on both of them leaving bare wires. I would have thought a bad batch maybe but they were bought at 2 different stores. This is what I use on all my batteries now and they seem to work well.

https://www.amazon.ca/Mroinge-Autom...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[skeets]

I tied right to yj terminals and snaked the lead out the side of the side panels,, I cant say how good it worked as I only got 10 years out of the OEM Deka battery

 

[dirtydeed]

ditto what skeets said.

battery tender juniors on all my stuff. Pigtail should be long enough to make it between the air screen and the dash. That's what I did on my BX as well. I do believe that there is also a plug in type socket if you want to get creative.

 

[johnjk]

I went with a Battery Tender Plus for mine. Instead of the clamps, I wired in a weatherproof connector and mounted on the side panel up front. The Tender sits on the hood or a shelf next to the B and has plenty of length to connect. I initially wanted to run it up to the console but had issues with removing the plastic and went with plan B. There is enough slack to remove the side panel without disconnecting the pigtail if needed.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[troverman]

I suspect many people do use a battery maintainer. I'm not one of them. My tractor charges when it's running and doesn't seem to lose its charge when parked. I think my last battery lasted about twelve years that way. The only time it ran flat was when I had starter problems. I replaced the starter, charged the battery, and all was well.

I agree. I never use a maintainer; there really is no reason to. My 2002 L4310 had it's original battery until I replaced it early in 2018. That's 16 years. Never went dead until 2018 and I replaced it.

My 2013 B2920 - traded it this spring, original battery, never ever charged or maintained.

My current 2018 MX and 2019 L2501 will never see a tender either. I live in NH and the tractors sit outside or in unheated spaces. One of the two tractors sits completely unused from November 1st until May...not even started...and always starts up.

If it makes you feel better, than do it, but you really aren't gaining a thing.

 

[Lil Foot]

Probably depends on your time between uses and the weather it lives in. I'm in Arizona, arguably the hardest climate for batteries on the planet. And I sometimes have to go 2 months without starting some of my vehicles due to family obligations.
In my situation, I know for a fact I'm gaining battery life & reliability.

Found a pic of the tender connector on the tractor:

 

[troverman]

Hot weather tends to kill batteries, but you don't notice until the cold.

I'm surprised though...hot weather boils electrolytes out of batteries. How will a tender prevent this?

 

[SidecarFlip]

It won't. Only visual checking of the levels will. Even 'maintenance free' batteries can be checked by removing the plastic cell caps.

I don't use a battery tender on mine at all and both reside in an unheated barn all winter. I make sure the batteries are fully charged (14.2-14.5 volts) and then I break the circuit with a battery post knife switch and let them sit. Flooded cell batteries lose very little charge while sitting idle for long periods.

What I do works fine on the pre 4 engines I have, may not work at all on a post 4 electronically controlled engine though.

 

[johnjk]

Hot weather tends to kill batteries, but you don't notice until the cold.

I'm surprised though...hot weather boils electrolytes out of batteries. How will a tender prevent this?

Good question, I never use mine in the warm months. I use it in the winter when it will set for weeks at a time. If I don't get snow or need to cut wood, she rests. The original battery died and was replaced this past spring so I may just be more for my piece of mind at this point. There never was a starting issue in the winter without it, just looking to keep it topped off and ready to go.

I have one on my quad as well year round. It doesn't get ridden that much and it tends to die if not on a tender. Probably need to look at replacing that battery here as well

 

[Freeheeler]

Personally, I don't use one on the tractor. It gets used often enough to not need it most of the time. If I know it's gonna sit for more than a month I just disconnect a terminal. I have not added anything so unless there is a starter or alternator problem, it should be good. If you've added extra lights, radio, winch, backup cam, etc, then you might want to consider a tender.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Personally, I don't use one on the tractor. It gets used often enough to not need it most of the time. If I know it's gonna sit for more than a month I just disconnect a terminal. I have not added anything so unless there is a starter or alternator problem, it should be good. If you've added extra lights, radio, winch, backup cam, etc, then you might want to consider a tender.

I think you'll find a knife disconnect switch is a lot easier than taking off the battery terminal all the time. You are removing the negative one correct? Kike 22 bucks at Autozone and Amazon.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: How will a tender prevent this?

'tenders' use a small microcomputer and test the batteries voltage, then use 3 'modes' to top up the battery, once 'full' it shuts off the charging power, so it cannot 'boil away' the electrolyte.
Regular 'old school' battery chargers always pump power into a battery, SCR based ones do shut off, 'tenders' or 'maintainers' have smarts in them BUT they are 'trickle' chargers ( low current..usually 2 amps or less )

 

[John T]

I don’t use my tractor as much in the winter as I do in the summer.

And there is no electricity in my storage shed.... yet

So I use a small 30 watt Solar panel with a battery tender solar controller.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[degoniaorange82]

I'll have to agree with a few, but I have never owned a battery tender, and probably never will. being in the car industry, I do have a jump start box for my job. I use it year around, and properly maintained, it is still on the job six years later. I get 90 degrees plus in the summer, and 10 degrees in the winter. not the worst, but a good spread of temp. a properly maintained battery can handle that temperature spread no problem...but I wonder about our Alaskan friends...

 

[Freeheeler]

I think you'll find a knife disconnect switch is a lot easier than taking off the battery terminal all the time. You are removing the negative one correct? Kike 22 bucks at Autozone and Amazon.

I don't actually undo the connection, I use a disconnect switch.
https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Disconnect-Terminal-Isolator

I only takes a few seconds and it's cheap insurance against and errant draw on the battery

 

[William1]

I went with a Battery Tender Plus for mine. Instead of the clamps, I wired in a weatherproof connector and mounted on the side panel up front. The Tender sits on the hood or a shelf next to the B and has plenty of length to connect. I initially wanted to run it up to the console but had issues with removing the plastic and went with plan B. There is enough slack to remove the side panel without disconnecting the pigtail if needed.

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I did similar, except mine is in the side of the dash and not in the hood. I got mine from Amazon - Tecmate.
https://www.amazon.com/Tecmate-Opti...s=gateway&sprefix=techmate+SAE,aps,162&sr=8-1
You will also need:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...817Z660CRWS&psc=1&refRID=V9D163Z79817Z660CRWS

I have a pickup I do not drive much (2,000 miles a year.) I had the battery go dead a few times (Alarm, ecu-vehicles do not truly shut off 100% anymore) so I installed one these on t as well, in the bumper in a cavity. Battery is 100% every time now.
My tractor does not get as much use as I'd like, last year, just ten run time hours. Also, I do not have power where it is stored so... no ability to plug it in to a maintainer. I did install a voltmeter on it. Over the last year, the voltage has dropped to under 12 volts. 11.8 yesterday and I could noticably tell it was not a happy camper, it just started. It will not start once it gets cold. New battery in the next thirty days. The existing one is just three years old.