Battery charger/maintainer

[rbg]

What do you guys use? Something good for both charging and tendering at reasonable price?
Any good? https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GENIUS5-.../dp/B07W8KJH44

[Cubieman]

I use this one for flashing my DME:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/schumacher-10a-6v-12v-fully-automatic-battery-charger-sc1358/11983149-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=11983149-P&adtype=pla&product_channel=online&store_code=&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAjwq832BRA5EiwACvCWseyKGLe6UFzMh0mfG-YfWiiufXtuf-qYRWn4LR41vkWS5pTsDA9MIBoC6JIQAvD_BwE

And this one for long-term (winter) storage:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/battery-tender-plus-12v-battery-charger-021-0128/10421986-p?product_channel=local&store=7685&adtype=pla&product_channel=local&store_code=7685&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAjwq832BRA5EiwACvCWsResAuVC30VLedu0nM73OhgJdiYSlyllIFJQZkRni6errxfv-13FixoCs0kQAvD_BwE

[r4dr]

What do you guys use? Something good for both charging and tendering at reasonable price?
Any good? https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GENIUS5-.../dp/B07W8KJH44

Are you a Costco member? My area's warehouses carry Battery Tender branded battery tenders cheaper than anywhere else I've found and occasionally even go on sale below that price.

They carried a Duracell unit for a minute, I actually like that one more than the 3 Battery Tender units. I think I saw all of them online too.

Edit: though I only use them as trickle chargers. I wouldn't flash your DME relying on one.

[Cubieman]

That Noco 10A looks nice!! But its pricey, looked at one locally and that thing is heavy as hell for the box size, just feels expensive! It all depends what you need it for I guess.
If you need one for maintaining mostly I would find one with the quick disconnect so you can leave the leads attached the battery, no messing with clips that may or may not be making a good contact or come off etc.

[rbg]

I've been lucky enough not having problems with batteries on my cars for like my whole life and in the past 6 months its been a total disaster. Have two cars with dead batteries. So I was thinking if there is anything you can use for both flashing, tendering and charging I would get it...

Yep I am a Costco member.

So this will work for what I need?

https://www.costco.com/battery-tender-4amp-smart-battery-charger-and-maintainer.product.100519712.html

[Epsilon]

There was an old thread on M3F and I believe most folks used CTEK which was what prompted me to get the same.

[bjz!]

Cteks are great.

[MarcoPolo]

I've been lucky enough not having problems with batteries on my cars for like my whole life and in the past 6 months its been a total disaster. Have two cars with dead batteries. So I was thinking if there is anything you can use for both flashing, tendering and charging I would get it...

Yep I am a Costco member.

So this will work for what I need?
https://www.costco.com/battery-tende...100519712.html

that should be more than enough. at the end of the day, the Amps is how quickly or slowly it will charge. once charged up, maintaining doesn't require strong amps. rule of thumb is 1.25 is good for maintaining automotive batteries and also for charging/maintaining motorcycle batteries. 3A or greater is good for charging/maintaining automotive batteries. keep in mind though that a 1.25A isn't bad for charging, it will just take forever (on a dead battery). first time i plugged my 1.25A into my car, it took 6 hours to go from charging to tendering.

this is the one i have and has been fine. not saying to get it, just saying your 4A should be more than enough. i do like how your 4A has more led's to show what's going on. mine is just one LED. always good to know what the system is doing.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-022-0185G-dl-wh-Charger-Maintainer/dp/B00DJ5KEEA/

[Obioban]

CTEK is what you should get. I have 3 of them now... and during quarantine all have been in use, as I'm not driving anywhere very often :P

Note: if you end up getting a lithium battery, you'll need a lithium specific charger/maintainer (which CTEK also makes).

[Shadytype]

Agreed ctek is the way to go.

I have had battery tenders and one of the 800 models break and essentially not go to float on the charge mode. I cant say why, but those are the super sealed impervious ones.

I went to ctek when home depot dropped the line, selling them foe $19.00 on clearence. Scooped up a bunch foe the caes and toys.

The newer models put some diagnostics in the tools that i dont think mine have. But i have had zero complaints on them. Gave away the old battery tenders to my friends. Most have broken.

The other ones the friends got to replace are the noco genius... they go on sale on woot.com every month or so.

[rbg]

Thank you guys. So I guess I am down to 2 options:
Costco battery tender https://www.costco.com/battery-tende...100519712.html
and
CTEK MXS 5.0: https://smartercharger.com/collectio...s/ctek-mxs-5-0

I dont know if CTEK LED's and modes are only marketing and battery tender does all that but without indication :-). Also I do not see that the CTEK can do Li batteries...
Assuming CTEK is better apart from 2x times more money there is total mess with their warranty and dealerships. None of th places that sell them papers to be the approved dealers, hence no warranty. I need to direct order online I guess, but Costco one you can just pick up.

[ATB88]

Are you a Costco member? My area's warehouses carry Battery Tender branded battery tenders cheaper than anywhere else I've found and occasionally even go on sale below that price.

They carried a Duracell unit for a minute, I actually like that one more than the 3 Battery Tender units. I think I saw all of them online too.

Edit: though I only use them as trickle chargers. I wouldn't flash your DME relying on one.

Why not? What would you rely on for flashing your DME?

[e46mpwrd]

CTEK for sure.

[Cubieman]

Why not? What would you rely on for flashing your DME?

You want something with more amperage to flash your DME than most standard trickle charges provide. My trickle charger is 1.25A, my charger is a 10A unit, and that is what I run when flashing the DME.

[Obioban]

Thank you guys. So I guess I am down to 2 options:
Costco battery tender https://www.costco.com/battery-tende...100519712.html
and
CTEK MXS 5.0: https://smartercharger.com/collectio...s/ctek-mxs-5-0

I dont know if CTEK LED's and modes are only marketing and battery tender does all that but without indication :-). Also I do not see that the CTEK can do Li batteries...
Assuming CTEK is better apart from 2x times more money there is total mess with their warranty and dealerships. None of th places that sell them papers to be the approved dealers, hence no warranty. I need to direct order online I guess, but Costco one you can just pick up.

You could buy the CTEK with the BMW or Ferrari logo on it (as they just rebadge them) and have easy dealer access :P
That said, unlike other chargers I've had previously, they seem to pretty much just last forever... so I wouldn't worry a ton about ease of warranty exchanges.

CTEK for lithium batteries: https://www.ctek.com/uk/products/car/lithium-xs-uk

I have two of the MXS 5.0s and and of the Lithium XSs.