Battery maintenance
 

I often will not drive my truck for months at a time and want to keep my batteries charged.

I recently bought a baterry tender from Costco and it only lasted a week before it quit putting out 12 volts.

Did I get a bum charger or is there too much of a load on it and it just wouldn't hack it? It's a 1.25 amp unit.

Bum charger. 1.25 A should be way more than you need.

I also think bum charger. Battery Tender is one of the best brands out there. I have two of them that kept our motorcycle batteries topped.

I use the same one on my truck. Had it for years.

That being said, Call Deltran, I think they will replace it free.

Deltran Corporation
801 International Speedway Blvd.
DeLand, FL 32724
(386) 736-7900
(877) 456-7901
service@batterytender.com

I had one of the smaller Deltran's, a .75amp, I think and it quit working. I called them and they sent me a new one. Great folks.

Batteries
 

I took it back to Costco and exchanged it for a new one. When I got home I read the entire instruction sheet (I didn't the first time!). It seems the charger doesn't put out voltage until it's hooked up to a battery. That explains why I had no voltage when I checked it with my voltmeter...doh![dummy]

Anyway, the first charger was alternating the red and green lights. A symptom which the instructions says indicates reverse polarity. That was impossible...Red to +, black to -. Hard to screw that up!

Anyway, I'll give this new charger a shot and see what happens. If I get the same alternating flashing lights then I'm going to go and have my batteries tested. They're only 2 1/2 years old....but who know? They may have a bad cell which may have caused the charger to act like the polarity was reversed...I don't know.
Thanks for your input!

The Troubleshooting guide for that charger says that alternating flashing lights indicate either a poor connection to the battery or the battery is defective.

http://batterytender.com/includes/la...ng_BT_Plus.pdf

I've got that one and 5 similar units from Delran.
They've all worked flawlessly for years.

Thanks. So far, so good. If I get the flashing lights again I'll have my batteries tested.

Costco will always exchange or refund. we took back a food proceser after several years and they gave us a full refund. I always save my receipt on items I think may need to be taken back.

Just to throw it out there, any chance your outlet polarity is reversed?