What trickle charger NOT to use!

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Barrett50

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Barrett50
My exotic car came with a trickle charger, and it has a dual 'smart' type for lead-acid and also for Li type. I thought it would be a good choice for my wet cell lead acid batteries in the planes. I bought a five pack of them about a six months back. In that time, the charger that came with the car failed. Then I set up some utility batts and my two plane batts on the trickle chargers. They were all lead acid except one Li type. Two of the chargers on the lead acid batts died within 3 months. The third one died last week. Hmmmm. I tried to start the plane on Friday morning and it would crank very slow, so I checked the voltage, and then I checked the sp gravity of the fluid with my hydrometer. ALL the batteries that were on these chargers were showing less than 75% SOC!

I was ****ed. I bought a different brand for the car, and I tossed out the other two working units(they were powering up, but would not charge a battery or go into 'smart' mode on the Li batt to cycle it). I tried to return them but the return process requires an RMA! before they will consider a warranty. The model I bought was rated for 2.3A, and I tested it on a 12V lead acid that was fairly new, but depleted around 50%. The most amp draw I could pull was 1.8A on a wet cell.

Based on this experience run - run far away from CTEK or C-TEK. I bought the CT-5 model. Junk, and not returnable. I'm trying to find a good one, but so far all China made, so I don't know.
 
I went with the NOCO GENIUS5: 5A 6V/12V Smart Battery Charger – Automatic Maintainer, Trickle Charger & Desulfator with Overcharge Protection & Temperature Compensation – For Lead-Acid & Lithium Batteries. I keep one on my Porsche Cayenne and on my older Mercedes ML320, while we are in Florida. Our radio club members had great reviews for charging the lithium batteries and a few used them on stored equipment with no problem.
 
You know what I find interesting?

Our aircraft charging systems don't behave like any fancy trickle chargers. They have a set voltage and will float the battery on the bus at that voltage. That happens for 2 hours every week (for the average GA flyer), with a nominal amount of discharge in-between.
Aa long as that charging voltage is set to the correct-ish value and the plane is flown at least once a week, those batteries seem to last for a few years.

I wonder if it would make more sense to have a regular bulk charger on a timer set to a 1-2hr/week schedule, vs "constantly" pushing current into the battery.
 
Seems like the simple, tried and true "Battery Tender Plus" would work just fine. Better yet, as posted above, fly the plane weekly!

www.batterytender.com

Battery Tender Plus 1.25 AMP 12V Battery Charger and Maintainer

The original smart battery charger. Battery Tender® Plus 1.25 Amp — 4-stage ISM charging for cars, motorcycles, boats & RVs. America's #1 since 1965. 10-year warranty.
www.batterytender.com www.batterytender.com
 
Barrett50 said:
I thought it would be a good choice for my wet cell lead acid batteries in the planes.
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Aircraft batteries require a different charge rate and cycle than automotive batteries primarily due to their internal construction. Vehicle chargers are set to charge at a higher voltage and longer cycle which will effectively degrade an aircraft battery. The use of vehicle chargers and below spec aircraft charging system are usually the prime reasons you see some people only get 2-3 years out of their aircraft batteries yet others that follow the proper guidance get 7+ years out of their battery. There have been a couple threads here on this topic but most aircraft OEMs like Gill and Concorde also provide info on this topic. The fact you smoked all your batteries with these chargers is rather telling especially at a 2.3A charge rate, unless all those batteries had other internal issues going on.
 
WDD said:
Seems like the simple, tried and true "Battery Tender Plus" would work just fine. Better yet, as posted above, fly the plane weekly!

www.batterytender.com

Battery Tender Plus 1.25 AMP 12V Battery Charger and Maintainer

The original smart battery charger. Battery Tender® Plus 1.25 Amp — 4-stage ISM charging for cars, motorcycles, boats & RVs. America's #1 since 1965. 10-year warranty.
www.batterytender.com www.batterytender.com
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Work great for my vehicles. Bought at Lowe’s.
 
WDD said:
Seems like the simple, tried and true "Battery Tender Plus" would work just fine. Better yet, as posted above, fly the plane weekly!

www.batterytender.com

Battery Tender Plus 1.25 AMP 12V Battery Charger and Maintainer​

Our iconic Battery Tender® Plus revolutionized battery charging and maintenance through innovation in smart charging technology. This 12V, 1.25 AMP charger extends battery life for motorcycles, ATVs, watercraft, and more. With an industry-leading 10-year warranty, this advanced charger provides...
www.batterytender.com
www.batterytender.com
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I thought Battery Minder's were for aircraft battery's?
 
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FYI, on Battery Tender brand had one of their battery maintainers melt into a puddle. Got exceptionally lucky. Was still plugged in, didn't catch fire or damage anything else. I don't use them any longer.
 
Gary Ward said:
Work great for my vehicles. Bought at Lowe’s.

I thought Battery Minder's were for aircraft battery's?
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Battery Tender is a leading automotive brand name. Had a dead battery in my truck, put on their trickle charger for a day or two, cranked up and drove to AutoZone for a new battery (it was due anyway.) Then I bought a Battery Tender jump starter to avoid having to wait next time. It also can function as slow charger but I guess that can be a fire hazard. Mine did not overheat though. I checked it periodically. Dunno if it works on aircraft batteries.
 
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Bell206 said:
No, they were just a charger OEM who saw a market potential in aircraft batteries.
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Well, the battery manufacturer recommends them, so either there's technical rationale for it or there's a conspiracy between the manufactures of the batteries and the minders.
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Edit: I may have misunderstood @Bell206 's intent in his response. I originally read it as "their 'aviation' battery minders are just the same as all their other devices and are labeled as 'aviation' devices as a marketing gimmick". But re-reading it I realize he may have actually meant "they already knew how to build minders for other types of batteries, and expanded their line to include models designed to work well with aircraft batteries because there was a market for that."
 
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AV8R_87 said:
That happens for 2 hours every week (for the average GA flyer)
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I would guess that both the "average" and the "mean" GA flyer (with "GA flyers" meaning Part 91) flies WAAAY less than 2 hours a week!
 
Jim_R said:
But re-reading it I realize he may have actually meant "they already knew how to build minders for other types of batteries, and expanded their line to include models designed to work well with aircraft batteries because there was a market for that."
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This. Before Battery Minder, Concorde had their own brand of charger which went away after BM started to make Concorde modified chargers. I think Gill still offers their own chargers though.
 
I've used the Concord specific 12 volt Battery Minder for years. The first Concorde sealed battery kept on the BM was replaced after 5 years when it was noticed the starter was turning over a little slow. Checked the draw, and it was time to be replaced. The current one is in the plane at least 4 years and so far doing fine.
 
BatteryMINDer is the go to. I brought my battery back from the dead with it and swear by them for aviation. Worth the money and worth getting the airframe interface kit so its easy to just plug in when needed.
 
Battery tender or minder

Tender for basic 12VDC ground based stuff

Minder for planes and 24VDC


Your exotic car came factory with a charger that normally is sold in a 5 pack?..
 
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