I asked a question awhile back about a '98 Ram that gets very little use mainly due to the poor gas mileage and high gas prices. I'm looking for a "maintenance" type of battery charger that can be wired to the battery and mounted to the fender well or other place under the hood with a cord coming out through the grill similar to a block heater. It would be left plugged in to maintain the battery except when I actually took the truck out for use.
On a recent "My Classic Car" they featured a brand of charger called a "Battery Tender" that looked like exactly what I think I need. I went to their website and was surprised at the price of about $ 100. On a recent trip to Wal-mart, they had a very similar looking charger by Schumacher for around $ 20. Is there THAT much difference in the two brands?
Does anyone have any comments pro or con? If the more expensive charger is actually that much better, I'll bite the bullet and get one, but if the $ 20 one will do the job, I'll save the extra 80 bucks for something else.
i didn't see that episode of Classic Car so I don't know what if any special features it might have to warrant a $100 price.
My opinion is that any 12 volt trickle charger will be sufficient for your needs, and there are a lot of them around for $20-$30. Rather than having one permanently installed you might be interested in some that plug into the lighter socket, or you could add a lighter plug to any of them.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Simpilot,
Posts: 1398 | Location: Fenton, Mo USA | Registered: Feb 18, 2004
I have a $15 float charger that I've been using for a couple of years. It keeps the battery charged and hasn't blown up yet. The "Battery Tenders" are good chargers, but a little pricy for me.
