trickle vs tender.

[Sloppysod]

I thinking about getting a trickle charger or battery tender to look after my battery this winter. I used to have an optomate when I had a motorcycle, but that went with the bike years ago.
So, what will be best for a lead acid battery, a trickle charger or a battery tender?

[mickthemaverick]

For my lead acid standby battery I have a unit like this which has served me proud for 7 years now!!:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163935807130

[tricoloured]

Hi

I bought one of these from Lidl a few years back and it's served me well, it's my second unit as my first was borrowed and never returned. It says "Long-term connection for improved charge retention without sulphate formation" they are on sale again in the UK on the 2nd November.

They have good long cables too.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/ultimate-speed ... /p10038309

Regards

Bobby

[Sloppysod]

Hi

I bought one of these from Lidl a few years back and it's served me well, it's my second unit as my first was borrowed and never returned. It says "Long-term connection for improved charge retention without sulphate formation" they are on sale again in the UK on the 2nd November.

They have good long cables too.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/ultimate-speed ... /p10038309

Regards

Bobby

I'll have a look in Lidl next weekend. Cheers.

[bobins]

I also bought the precursor to that one several years ago - I actually bought two of them at the time ! One expired after quite a lot of use, and the second one is still doing good - though only occasional - use to this day. Do check whether it's actually sufficient for your battery though, as they're not really up to charging larger batteries.

[PaulC5]

If a car is not going to be used for some time it might be better to disconnect the battery and maybe charge it every month or so. I used a Lidl smart charger for years on our C5 connecting every few days via the tow bar socket (easier than lifting the bonnet/removing the battery cover). The charger design was to go up to about 14 volts at a few amps, stop, the voltage would drop and then do some low amp trickle charging back up to 14.4 volts and stop so most of the charging was at a lower voltage which I think was not good for the battery. When the car is running it would be about 14 volts charging which I think lead acid batteries prefer. Batteries did not last more than a few years but if the car had been used daily it might have been different.