997 2005-2012 911 C2, C2S, C4, C4S, GTS, Targa and Cabriolet Model Discussion.

Battery 'Maintainer' VS. 'Tender'?

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Old 08-04-2009, 12:32 PM
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Battery 'Maintainer' VS. 'Tender'?

Hey guys!
Will be leaving the 911S undriven for a few weeks... which do you recommend and what exactly is the difference between a Tender and a Maintainer?

My local stealer has the Maintainer. Should I hunt for the Tender?

Many thanks!
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 12:40 PM
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Interested to know as well.

On a similar note, can anybody tell me how long it is ok to leave the car undriven before you need to hook a mantainer/tender to it? I know that it may depend on how old the battery is, outside air temperature, etc. but on average, how many weeks before I'll run into trouble.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 01:08 PM
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Six of one, half a dozen of the other. I have used for years a Battery Tender Jr. (about $25 at Amazon).

If you keep the car parked for 10 days you should condition the battery with one of these units.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 01:32 PM
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42292

$5 and work great. I have them all over my garage.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 01:59 PM
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The best battery charger IMHO is the Yuasa Smartshot 1.5 amp by far! It is way more robustly built than the others, don't forget Yuasa makes batteries.

They cost around 50 bucks. I use one with a cigarette lighter attachment and it works great.

Do the research and you will see that I am right.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 02:14 PM
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I know that it is more money, but the Porsche (CCTEK) unit is easy to use.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 02:23 PM
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Originally Posted by adias
If you keep the car parked for 10 days you should condition the battery with one of these units.
Wow, really? 10 days of not driving and I probably need to plug her in? I better get one pretty soon. Thanks for the info.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeShark
Wow, really? 10 days of not driving and I probably need to plug her in? I better get one pretty soon. Thanks for the info.
I plug mine in for the weekends, it is amazing that it needs to be charged longer then one would imagine.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeShark
Wow, really? 10 days of not driving and I probably need to plug her in? I better get one pretty soon. Thanks for the info.
If you're going to wait longer, leave your hood popped.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 06:38 PM
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So I picked up a Ctek 3600 and charged up my battery... Do you guys leave it connected? The warnings in the manual about hydrogen gas, well ventilated area, etc... kinda freaked me out. Now I feel like I don't want to leave it connected while I'm out of town.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by mrdonut
So I picked up a Ctek 3600 and charged up my battery... Do you guys leave it connected? The warnings in the manual about hydrogen gas, well ventilated area, etc... kinda freaked me out. Now I feel like I don't want to leave it connected while I'm out of town.
Read up on what these maintainers do - after battery reaches charged state, maintainer cycles on and off to trickle state to keep charged up. I've used on bikes, and 3 different P-cars in a closed garage - never an issue with venting.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 06:50 PM
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Originally Posted by jhbrennan
If you're going to wait longer, leave your hood popped.
Can you explain this one a bit more. Sorry, a little lost here.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeShark
Can you explain this one a bit more. Sorry, a little lost here.
If you waited too long to hook up the battery mainitainer and the battery dies with the hood closed you have to use an alternative method to pop the hood and get to the battery.
 
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Old 08-04-2009, 09:45 PM
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Ironically, it was the fact that I was reading up on them that led me to my concern, but yes, I get that despite the warnings from Ctek, the manufacturer also claims that it will pulse after it detects that charge is complete
 
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Old 08-05-2009, 11:16 AM
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I use the Porsche one just plug it in the cig lighter and go..
 


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