-
Battery Tender — Buyer Beware
I’ve used 12V Battery Tenders for years to maintain car and motorcycle batteries and really liked the product.
The previous owner of my coach installed a 24V Battery Tender for the chassis batteries. It was not plugged in when I bought the coach, so I plugged it in when I was going to be parked for a while. Even though the battery was fully charged the Battery Tender ramped up to 29.8V! I left it that way for a couple hours and it never came down from that voltage. I disconnected it given I’m not comfortable with more than 28.5V going into a good battery.
I raised this issue with Deltran, the manufacturer of the Battery Tender. They said it’s working correctly and it’s maximum voltage is 29.8V. Check most other smart chargers and you’ll find they’re maximum output voltage to a good battery is less than 29V.
I assumed the PO installed the Battery Tender because the original equipped charger was a dumb charger. As it turns out the original charger is a smart charger made by IOTA. So, I think I’ll just deep-six the Battery Tender. BTW, maybe unrelated, the PO had at least one of the batteries in the chassis bank explode. Long term over voltage charging could have been the cause.
-
2 Replies
-
One of the most expensive replacement items is batteries. Yet despite their cost owners still insist on ignoring the advice about how they are to be charged and maintained.
If the inverters are correctly programmed for the type of house batteries then the continuous use of inverters to maintain those batteries is the best thing an owner can do for the house batteries.
Chassis batteries are usually never an issue because with the key off and no loads the chassis batteries should maintain their charge for months without the need to charge. But over the years owners have continued to keep a charger on the chassis batteries with predictable results.
Batteries in the chassis running down?????? Find and remove the load. There is a valuable use for a chassis battery charger and that is to allow an owner to put loads on the coach electrical system such as running the parking lights, or working on the coach, and then using the charger to top off the charge.
Gil nailed it when he said the charge going into the batteries at 29.8 or even anything more than 28.5 is not good. In fact 28.5 is excessive and is closer to bulk charge voltage than float.
-
Took the prevost for a ride across America on June 20 Returned on Oct 28 upon our return found one of my Battery tenders and a fairly new (1.5 years old) motorcycle battery toast. I know warrenty is only good for 1 year but I usually get several (3,to,5,) years out of them.
Log in to reply.