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Battery maintenance

Old Apr 25, 2014 | 12:26 PM
  #1  
Buzz's Avatar
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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.
Attached Thumbnails Battery maintenance-battery-tender.jpg  
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Old Apr 25, 2014 | 01:18 PM
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Bum charger. 1.25 A should be way more than you need.
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Old Apr 25, 2014 | 01:27 PM
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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.
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Old Apr 25, 2014 | 07:02 PM
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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.
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Old Apr 26, 2014 | 12:31 PM
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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!

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!








Originally Posted by tantruck
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.
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Old Apr 28, 2014 | 06:53 PM
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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.
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 12:05 AM
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Thanks. So far, so good. If I get the flashing lights again I'll have my batteries tested.




Originally Posted by kloppk
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.
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 11:08 AM
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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.
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 12:20 PM
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Just to throw it out there, any chance your outlet polarity is reversed?
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