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Charging cables

m in sc

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 2, 2021
Messages
2,435
Location
Rockhill, SC
agreed ^ , i never keep anything on a battery tender for any length of time. it will absolutely decrease the life of the battery if its on all the time. if the electrolyte is active, it will be sulfating the plates faster and continuously. in really really cold situations (we do on occasion get single digit nights here but its rare) , i might leave a bike on one for a day or 2 but honestly, never been an issue. I get 5-7 years out of my bike batteries. and i have a lot to keep up with.
 

Cpd419

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2022
Messages
538
Location
Kentucky
Exactly this^ is the most-likely scenario. Remember, whatever outlet you're plugging into is protected by a Breaker which should trip if anything bad happens. Only have high-amperage Breakers in your garage? (guilty, my welder and machine tools like to eat) there are other options. Personally I don't worry about it.

Here's another thought which will likely blow some minds; I don't leave everything on a Trickle Charger 24/7. For my purposes I have four Battery Tenders which monthly get used to top-off the charge on the batteries in my ATV's, My two classic VW's are the on the same schedule if I haven't run them in a while. I make a point to ride my Street-legal bikes monthly (even if it's just to the store) so they rarely see a battery charger, but all have SAE ports and cables on them if I do need to charge them. FYI Battery Tender makes a neat little digital battery gauge which plugs into those same SAE ports and will tell you the state of your charge. With this set-up I rarely have battery chargers running all night (though it doesn't bother me if they do) and I rarely have to replace a battery (it's not uncommon for me to get 5+ years out of a battery) plus I don't have cords and battery chargers all over the place, all the time.
Pictures of Vw’s?
 

SneakyDingo

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 6, 2021
Messages
1,561
FYI Battery Tender makes a neat little digital battery gauge which plugs into those same SAE ports and will tell you the state of your charge. With this set-up I rarely have battery chargers running all night (though it doesn't bother me if they do) and I rarely have to replace a battery (it's not uncommon for me to get 5+ years out of a battery) plus I don't have cords and battery chargers all over the place, all the time.
That's cool. I didn't know that about the Battery Tender. For all battery chargers except for like... AA and AAA batteries, I never leave them charging overnight, etc. I have a smart plug in the wall, configure the timer to automatically turn it off after a prescribed time period. It's hooked into Alexa so I can do that from anywhere in the world, or set up a smart routine to do it every 2 weeks, but I tend to only do it while I'm physically at home, or about to use the (electric) bicycle.

It's mostly old school reasoning and a little because of differences between countries. The charging systems for various units are not all created equal, some of them have been known in the distant past to start fires if any degradation has occurred, and it degraded battery life to leave them on charging systems constantly. Also in Australia every power outlet has a little switch on it so you can disconnect the power before unplugging, while the USA power outlets do not have the same, so it adds the ability to disconnect power without unplugging the charger.
 

bryanchurch06

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2022
Messages
712
I realize it's a stupid statement but I generally just go by the manufacturer recommended guidelines if it's something I don't have a lot of experience with, can this bite me in the but? I'm sure it can. If I read these guidelines correctly not only is it a good idea to leave the charger on it's actually recommended. What am I missing?
 

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