Battery tender, bike/car/watercraft, use them on all. I have 2.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Been using Ctek for 10 years or so and they work great. Pick the model that best suits your needs.

I agree ^

Thanks for all the answers, guys!

It looks like the CTEK got the most votes, but others sound good too. I will look around on-line to see which one seems to be the best bang for the buck.

I use this one a great deal in my work. https://cloreautomotive.com/product/pl2320/ It is often necessary to leave a car on a lift with the steering column unlocked and/or the transmission in neutral for many operations. This leaves the ignition accessory position on, which can and will run down a battery. The only beef I have is the same I have with all "smart" chargers - they don't like to charge totally dead batteries. Sometimes, to "trick" it into charging, I put a jump box on the battery for a while before connecting the charger.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
The only beef I have is the same I have with all "smart" chargers - they don't like to charge totally dead batteries. Sometimes, to "trick" it into charging, I put a jump box on the battery for a while before connecting the charger.

If you have a charger (trickle or otherwise) that will not start the charging process if it does not recognize the connected battery, (happens when the dead battery is really dead, like <10volts), using the jump box is one solution. The older solution is to connect another, good, battery in parallel with the dead one, and then the charger will recognize good voltage and begin the charging process.