On Sat, 11 Nov 2017 17:12:08 -0600, Ignoramus15309
wrote:

On 2017-11-11, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Fri, 10 Nov 2017 20:56:07 -0600, Ignoramus30995
wrote:

I own a large amount of equipment, and some of it, such as my home
generator, is supported by battery maintainers.

Overall, reliability of those has been pitiful. They are sold by
"features", "microprocessors", "smart charge modes", have numerous LED
status lights, etc.

The reality is that most of them fail in a year, often in moderately
cold weather or for no reason at all. Some stop working, some display
blinking lights and do not do their job, some drain batteries when
they fail etc.

I am personally not even asking for much, just a weatherproof device
that keeps the battery mostly charged and not overcharged.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate anything useful that
could survive being out in the weather.

The one item that I had a lot of success with, is a solar battery
charger that I use on my rough terrain crane, that one seems to be a
champ and the crane is always charged. But the 110v devices are
abysmal.

Would anyone recommend some weatherproof charger, the "dumber" and
less sophisticated, the better. Thanks


Have you used a genuine "battery tender" ?

I had a Guest charger and it failed in a few years. This is what I am
trying to replace right now./
Have not hrard of any issues with them - a lot of friends using them
for years on their "toys" - and they won't boil batteries. Might have
to put them in an enclosure of some sort - other than possibly marine
chargers they ALL need protection, or they WILL fail.

Generalky "the dumber the better"

I lost some batteries to a Guest. Now my onboard charger is a
Minn-Kota. 10A on 3 channels. It's worked well for about 6 years
now, just replaced the start battery last year.