Typerod, how long do you plan on not using the vehicle? if its for only a few days, I would suggest the $5 Harbor fright one that is basically a 12v 500ma wall-wart with a charge controller on it...
Its what I use for short periods of time when its cold out and I know my truck will sit in the garage for several days unused....
I know there will be haters on my suggestion, but it is an inexpensive option...

 

Hi in2pro, maybe 3-5 days of no use, depending. I've been on this battery tending obsession lately, lol. So I was just gonna go all out on a battery tender called the NOCO Genius G26000 or I was thinking of getting their NOCO G4 which is a 4 bank charger. I was going to plan on tending all batteries in all 3 of my vehicles. They are way expensive, but I'm a bells and whistles kinda guy. lol!

 

The Battery Maintainer you mentioned is certainly a good one, but...
If your Vehicles downtimes are just a few days, your Batteries are in good shape to start with, and in full time parallel where applicable, I'd go with in2pro's suggestion, and just get three simple Maintainers.

 

Thanks for the suggestion SWHouston! I just don't know what it is with me, but the more features something has, the more I want it, even if I'll never even use them all, I just like to have them. lol!

SW, did you see my other question/comment in my previous post:

"So since our Tahoes are negative grounded, I think I have two hook up options for battery tending:

1) I can hook up the battery tender positive clamp to positive batt. terminal and negative clamp to negative batt. terminal

OR

2)Battery tender positive clamp to positive batt. terminal and negative battery tender clamp to engine block stud (this option you helped me confirm already)

Is this correct? Thanks in advance!"

 

If I was using a tender, I'd put permanent connections to + and - battery terminals and hard mount the tender in the engine bay, just the plug out of the grill or under the bumper (like a block heater).


I know you like bells and whistles, but have you ever had a no start? How cold is it where you are? With a pair of batteries I would not expect you to need a tender as long as you ran it every couple of weeks, for that matter even a month later it will start fine. If the tender is to combat cold weather I'd recommend a battery blanket (or 2 in your case) as a more effective help for cold starts. Just my 2 cents!

 

Ok cool on the expensive stuff ! :biggrin:

Reply to 1)...
Yes, if you get that Quad Maintainer, you can definitely do that to two of your rides (I'm thinking that only your Hoe has a Supplemental/Auxiliary Battery... Is that right ?

But on your third ride (your Hoe) which has two Batteries...
You need to do that test I mentioned, and see if they are actually separated (that's auxiliary) or connected all the time (that's supplemental)

So, what I'm saying is, that you don't know just yet if you need to hook up two of the Maintainer wire pairs to your Hoe, or just one pair.

Now on the Ground issue...2)
Regardless weather you have Supplemental or Auxiliary on your Hoe, since all your rides are Negative Ground, you could hook the Negative/Ground of any of the Maintainer Pairs up to the Negative Battery terminal of each, or, the Engine of each your rides.

------------------------
Dave,
Ummm, not a good idea to mount a Tender under the hood. Gets real wet and hot under there, and not all Tenders are sealed that well.
I'd make a Permanent Connector on the Vehicle, and mount the Tender in your Garage or somewhere dry, and run a Pair down to your ride, and just plug/unplug it when you needed to drive/park.

 

Hi Dave, with this dual setup, I have not yet experienced a no start. I live in Northern VA, where until recently it doesn't get into the single digit temps very often, and extremely rarely any negative temps w/o wind chill. The tender was just an idea that I got obsessed with recently, due to my battery in my other vehicle getting pretty sulfated and not being able to hold much charge, since I rarely drive it anymore. Which is why I wanted to go with that super expensive batt tender which had a de-sulfation mode that supposedly works well.



[QUOTE=SWHouston;266638]Ok cool on the expensive stuff ! :biggrin:

Reply to 1)...
Yes, if you get that Quad Maintainer, you can definitely do that to two of your rides (I'm thinking that only your Hoe has a Supplemental/Auxiliary Battery... Is that right ?

But on your third ride (your Hoe) which has two Batteries...
You need to do that test I mentioned, and see if they are actually separated (that's axillary) or connected all the time (that's supplemental)

So, what I'm saying is, that you don't know just yet if you need to hook up two of the Maintainer wire pairs to your Hoe, or just one pair.

Now on the Ground issue...2)
Regardless weather you have Supplemental or Auxiliary on your Hoe, since all your rides are Negative Ground, you could hook the Negative/Ground of any of the Maintainer Pairs up to the Negative Battery terminal of each, or, the Engine of each your rides.

Thanks for the info SW! I learned something else new. I didn't know that there was a diff. between an aux. battery and supplemental. I'm going to save up for a good multimeter like I mentioned before and run your test. I will keep this updated, and Thanks again friend! it much appreciated!

 

Typerod,
Just a side comment...

The De-Sulfaction Feature on any of the good Maintainers is not absolute. There's a point in a Batteries condition, where it's just not possible to recover it. This may be the issue with that ride you don't use much, but, give it a try, it may just pull it up into good service.

Additionally, you really don't know by comparison, which (if at all) the condition of the two Batteries are in your Hoe. One may be sulfated and the other not, or not so much. With that Quad Maintainer, you could disconnect the Supplemental Battery (I'm making an assumption it's not Aux) and charge/condition them separately, then reconnect them after a reasonable effort to equalize.

 

Point def. noted! Thanks SW! I'm probably just going to replace that battery in my other vehicle and the single maintainer and call it a day. Thanks so much for all your help and great info!

 

Keep in mind, that if you get a Single Battery Maintainer, having the De-Sulfaction feature on it will be important.

Yes, it will maintain the new Battery, and never let it Sulfate, but...
You then have the option to set one of the other Vehicles aside for a while (read directions) and bring it's Battery(s) up to an extremely functional state.