Awakence

For those of you that store your G37 for the winter, (about 6 months for mine) which battery tenders do you use and what would you recommend? I am tempted to order the NOCO Genius G7200 which is a 7.2 amp (too much?). Currently running the new infiniti oem battery upgrade that i just got a couple months ago.

Landshark

i have a (Deltran) Battery Tender that's 15 years old and still works great.

COBRA ESQ

+1


I have been using a Deltran Battery Tender Plus for over 10 years when I store my Cobra through the 5 months of winter and never an issue.

http://www.batterytender.com/

Ca428

I would think the normal Batter Tender Junior is fine if your battery is in good condition. I'm not sure if you can store the car, plug in the tender and it floats the charge at top level indefinitely. THere is some conflicting info on their site and I've shot them an e-mail. They do mention an auto timer at 80 hours but I've left mine plugged in for days and it still shows a green LED, but I'm not sure if it's doing anything after 80 hours straight. My car is mainly weekends in the summer and limited winter use.

A friend has one for his Honda S2000, he only plugs it in for a few hours once a week but the car is tucked in the garage for the winter, never starts it or anything, hasn't had an issue.

Ca428

Sort of replying to everyone as well as myself. The Deltran Battery Tender site has a live chat so I asked them and he recommended the 1.25 A Battery Tender Plus. I was able to buy one locally, they make a few different models of this particular type.

ILM-NC G37S

iTrader: (3)

Whilst I am not one to bump dead threads I did not really know where to post this charger that I came across while initiating a warranty claim for one of my (wired) Battery Tender Jr.'s. Somewhere on one of the sedan threads it was mentioned if there were any solar maintainers out there as not many folks have to ability to run a drop cord. Well, apparently, Battery Tender does have a few solar options and this unit seems to be the most reasonable and at ≈$50 not a bad alternative.

For the record, I did not research this in depth so I have no idea how the install works nor how efficient it is. I just wanted to point out that there are solar options available for those cars that sit for extended periods of time without access to a power outlet.

Mods, plz move this post if warranted.

BULL

I'm a believer of solar up until a point.

Quality should be the direction. Quality with the right size of power delivery should be the aim.

In my experience with cheap panels I've learned that some of these panels are not meant for hours sitting in hot cabin heat + direct sunlight which is the biggest of conundrums.

You want something simple, efficient, cost effective, reliable. This would put the panel at a disadvantage. An external battery tender might outlive the main car it supports however solar panel might not.

One of those pro's for this panel is the ability to hard wire the panel in a spot you dont use like the sunroof shade panel or one of the small windows. Hardwiring would ALWAYS keep the battery charged up.


As I say this my opinion is mixed. I have a german, tender that allows full cranks/tending/slowcharging/agm/6v etc. $20 that I've ran over and put through hell. Many times I just dont have the patience to wait.
If you dont then solar might not be for you however, taking some math into the equation you could calculate how much of an amperage YOUR car pulls on a daily and maybe get a panel smaller than ILM listed to keep it connected to the car.

Let's say a 1-2 watt panel will be quite smaller and just add 1-2% of charge per day, depending on your car this might just buy you about a year of more out of your battery.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

None of these things are really expensive. So if you want a solar-powered battery tender, get one and done and enjoy using it.

If it breaks down after a few years, then get a different one.