Car & Driver Tested Battery Chargers

[Mark S.]

Car & Driver tested battery testers chargers. Here're their top picks.

https://www.caranddriver.com/car-accessories/g44712080/best-car-battery-chargers-maintainers-tested/

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[Uncle Buck]

Thanks, Mark! Interesting article.

It seems they are aiming this review primarily to those who have a good battery and need to keep it that way. Seems to me that comparing the Schumacher to the NOCO Genius 1 is a bit of apples and oranges, but they do point out that they are really for two different purposes.

I have bought multiple Schumacher maintainers (much smaller than the one in this C&D review) for the UTVs and tractors where I work, and I have a NOCO Genius10 at home, but my personal application is more as a charger rather than a maintainer. I have a lot of electrical gee-gaws on my Expedition, so when I travel, I carry the NOCO just in case of a problem. It eats batteries for some reason, but I have never been able to identify any parasitic drain. I just replaced an AGM in that truck that failed at 35 months - thankful for the 36 month replacement at O'Reilly's!

I honestly don't think current batteries are built very well, regardless of brand; I know there are only a few actual manufacturers. In 13 years of ownership of my '03 SuperDuty (7.3 diesel, so two batteries) I went through 14 of WalMart's "top of the line" MAXX batteries. Again with 36 month replacement, so I only paid for the first two. One of them would consistently fail annually, the drivers side in even years, passenger side in odd years. The stack of receipts became comical.

We have not had any problems (yet!) with the battery in the BS and I think we drive it enough to keep the battery charged. I was a little disappointed that we got one with a Lead-Acid battery, but I guess I will just be prepared to pay for an AGM when this one starts acting up. I sure hope to avoid the need to keep a maintainer hooked up to the BS all the time as has been discussed in other threads.

 

[sajohnson]

Thanks, Mark! Interesting article.

It seems they are aiming this review primarily to those who have a good battery and need to keep it that way. Seems to me that comparing the Schumacher to the NOCO Genius 1 is a bit of apples and oranges, but they do point out that they are really for two different purposes.

I have bought multiple Schumacher maintainers (much smaller than the one in this C&D review) for the UTVs and tractors where I work, and I have a NOCO Genius10 at home, but my personal application is more as a charger rather than a maintainer. I have a lot of electrical gee-gaws on my Expedition, so when I travel, I carry the NOCO just in case of a problem. It eats batteries for some reason, but I have never been able to identify any parasitic drain. I just replaced an AGM in that truck that failed at 35 months - thankful for the 36 month replacement at O'Reilly's!

I honestly don't think current batteries are built very well, regardless of brand; I know there are only a few actual manufacturers. In 13 years of ownership of my '03 SuperDuty (7.3 diesel, so two batteries) I went through 14 of WalMart's "top of the line" MAXX batteries. Again with 36 month replacement, so I only paid for the first two. One of them would consistently fail annually, the drivers side in even years, passenger side in odd years. The stack of receipts became comical.

We have not had any problems (yet!) with the battery in the BS and I think we drive it enough to keep the battery charged. I was a little disappointed that we got one with a Lead-Acid battery, but I guess I will just be prepared to pay for an AGM when this one starts acting up. I sure hope to avoid the need to keep a maintainer hooked up to the BS all the time as has been discussed in other threads.

I don't know that it's truly necessary, but I keep a Battery Tender on the battery in the BS BL (when I remember). It's really my wife's vehicle, and she doesn't drive it much, so it's not a problem.

If it was being driven every day a) discharge would not be an issue, and b) constantly connecting and disconnecting the BT would get old.

What concerns me a bit is all of the seemingly random 'activity' that goes on under the hood. I've checked the voltage after the BS was driven a long distance and then sat overnight and it was low -- about 12.3V, IIRC.

That said, I've checked it other times under similar circumstances and it was ~12.8V.

In any case, since we're retired it's no big deal to just hook up the BT. Can't hurt, might help.

 

[NMhunter]

Definitely helps. My old '95 F-150's battery lasted ten years with mostly sitting because I put a 5w solar panel on the dash and plugged it into the cigarette lighter. My superduty (with 2 batteries) is rarely driven, so I have a solar panel and charge controller on the dash.

A battery has only so many discharge cycles in it, and the more it is kept fully charged, the less it is discharged, and the sooner it is recharged, the longer it lasts.

Our BS's use an inordinate amout of electricity, mostly for silly things like lighting up everything every time the vehicle is touched. The first sign your battery is low is when the Auto Stop/Start quits working. For those of you who don't like that feature, I'd recommend getting a scangauge or some other method to show you the voltage.

 

[sajohnson]

Definitely helps. My old '95 F-150's battery lasted ten years with mostly sitting because I put a 5w solar panel on the dash and plugged it into the cigarette lighter. My superduty (with 2 batteries) is rarely driven, so I have a solar panel and charge controller on the dash.

A battery has only so many discharge cycles in it, and the more it is kept fully charged, the less it is discharged, and the sooner it is recharged, the longer it lasts.

Our BS's use an inordinate amout of electricity, mostly for silly things like lighting up everything every time the vehicle is touched. The first sign your battery is low is when the Auto Stop/Start quits working. For those of you who don't like that feature, I'd recommend getting a scangauge or some other method to show you the voltage.

Exactly.

The OE chassis battery in our RV (an AGM) lasted about 11 years and could have gone longer. We had been having intermittent no-start episodes (no solenoid click, nothing) and we were on the road. We had the battery tested at 3 different places and got 3 different results, so due the uncertainty -- and the fact that having an RV refuse to start in the middle of nowhere is not happy fun time -- we replaced it.

Then -- D'oh! -- the intermittent no-start continued -- so it wasn't the battery. For all I know that OE battery could have lasted another 3-4 years.

I leave a Battery Tender connected 24/7. It's plugged into an outlet inside the RV, and the 12V output is connected to an always hot (unswitched) 12V outlet.

The OE battery on our Suzuki DRZ-400 lasted over 6 years (motorcycle batteries usually last 1-2 years).

 

[sajohnson]

The BT I mentioned in post #5 -- the one on the RV chassis battery -- is the first one I purchased (actually 'won' at an RV show). It is about 15 years old and has a steel case. Vintage dude!

Anyway, it has been in use almost constantly that entire time. It's rated at 1.25A

The 2nd BT I bought is the "Junior" model. It is rated at 0.75A and has been connected to our Suzuki DRZ-400 for 10 years. It will maintain auto batteries if the phantom load is not excessive. It's still working fine, but the black plastic 'cube' came partially loose from the base a few years ago -- I just wrapped electrical tape around it.

We also have 2 of the "Battery Tender 3-Amp Battery Chargers" shown in the C&D article -- although they cost $30 at Costco, not $69 as C&D indicates. At $30 they were a great deal. IDK if Costco still runs that sale. IIRC, I paid $40 (also Costco) for the Junior model. The 3A model is waterproof and will charge both 6V and 12V batteries. I've had one connected to our old NX2000 for years now. The other one circulates between the BS BL and 2 other cars.

In short, since my anecdotal evidence is so positive, everyone should buy BT maintainers and ignore all others.

 

[kshaw]

I am a big fan of the Battery Minder maintainers because of their automatic desulphation mode which can make the battery last longer. I have both the aviation version and the automobile version because they use different algorithms for the charging. The Battery Minder's are often more expensive than the other ones, but it my option, are worth it. https://www.batteryminders.com/

 

[sajohnson]

I am a big fan of the Battery Minder maintainers because of their automatic desulphation mode which can make the battery last longer. I have both the aviation version and the automobile version because they use different algorithms for the charging. The Battery Minder's are often more expensive than the other ones, but it my option, are worth it. https://www.batteryminders.com/

I've never owned a Battery Minder, but I've heard nothing but good things about them.

If I was buying another maintainer I'd compare specs, features, and price of both it and the Battery Tender.

A desulphation function certainly doesn't hurt. If sulphation is caught early enough it can be reversed, but keeping lead-acid batteries charged to avoid sulphation is best:
https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/what-is-a-sulfated-battery-and-how-do-you-prevent-it/

That's why I'm a bit concerned about the relatively low voltages I've seen after our BS BL has sat for just a couple days. It's not an issue for people who drive daily -- or at least a couple times a week -- but the battery gets significantly discharged after a few days. I've seen it drop from 12.7V to ~12.4V after just 48 hours. That's with the hood already open (no need to open driver's door).

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