Why you might need a battery maintainer for your car

Why you might need a battery maintainer for your car

The pandemic and remote work has changed car driving habits. Many times owners only drive their cars once a week on short trips to the store. That’s really bad for your car battery. In those cases you should really consider buying a battery maintainer to keep your battery fully charged.

A battery maintainer constantly checks battery charge. It charges the battery when needed and shuts off when the battery is fully charged. As the battery discharges, it kicks in again to keep it fully charged.

When to use a maintainer

Use a battery maintainer when you don’t plan on using your vehicle for periods of two weeks or more. All lead-acid batteries self-discharge at the rate of 1-2% per day, depending on ambient temperatures. In addition to self-discharging, vehicle batteries also have a constant drain from the vehicle’s computers. The self-discharge and current drain can cause an unused battery to be almost 50% discharged in a few weeks and dead within a month.

How to buy a battery maintainer

Lots of companies have entered the battery maintainer marketplace and some of them have absolutely no experience, so it pays to avoid the newcomers. Solar, Battery Tender and CTEK are well known companies that have been making battery chargers and battery maintainers for a long time. Their products are well made and are worth the money.

Must-have features for a maintainer

Not all car batteries are standard lighting ignition (SLI) flooded lead acid style. Many newer cars and trucks with start/stop technology use absorbant glass mat (AGM) batteries which require a special charging routine. Plus, if you plan to use your battery maintainer on your gasoline-powered outdoor power equipment equipped with a gel style lead-acid battery, you’ll need a charger equipped with a GEL recharging cycle.

How many amps do you need in a maintainer?

For more car and light truck applications, all you need is a 2 or 4-amp battery maintainer.

It should have multiple charging cycles

A battery maintainers can be used to maintain a battery, but some can also be used to recharge a discharged battery. When a battery is discharged, it requires a multi-phase charging routine to recondition the cells without causing damage.

Clore Manufacturing Solar brand Pro-Logix PL2140 is the brand I recommend

I’ve been using Clore Manufacturing Solar products for years. The Clore Manufacturing Solar Pro-Logix PL2140 Battery maintainer is one of the best on the market. It’s a 4-amp charger that can charge 6 and 12-volt batteries. It can handle SLI flooded, AGM, Spiral wound AGM, Marine, Deep Cycle, and Lithium (LiFeP04).

The Clore PL2140 uses a “soft start” mode to recover severely depleted batteries to avoid overheating the plates. Then it uses a “recondition mode” to bring the battery back to operational condition. In addition, it has temperature compensation so you can charge in all temperature conditions. Plus, it has polarity protection to prevent battery damage due to the cross-connection of cables.

It connects to the battery with standard clamps, ring terminals for marine and deep cycle batteries, and a 12-volt plug for use in a power port. Selling price around $46 at amazon.

Battery Tender brand battery maintainers

Battery Tender makes many different models starting with a 750mA model and up to large commercial units. The Battery Tender® 6V/12V, 4A Selectable Lead Acid & Lithium Battery Charger (022-0209-BT-WH) is comparable to the Solar Pro-Logix unit. Use it to maintain an SLI, AGM, Gel or Lithium (LiFEP04) battery. It uses a fully automatic 4-step charging process that’s microprocessor controlled.

The Battery Tender unit is spark-proof and reverse polarity protected. It includes clamps and ring terminals for marine batteries. Selling price is around $70 at amazon

CTEK Battery Maintainer

CTEK also makes a variety of battery chargers and maintainers. The CTEK Battery Maintainer

CTEK MXS 5.0 is a 4.3-amp model and is comparable to the Solar Pro-Logix. It works with SLI, AGM, Gel, and even the newer Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB). It’s spark-proof, has temperature compensation, a reconditioning phase, and reverse polarity and short-circuit protection. The CTEK Battery Maintainer Selling price is around $80 on amazon.

The unit comes with clamps and ring terminals
©, 2019 Rick Muscoplat