If your vehicle is stored for long, the battery will lose power and die. All you need is a battery maintainer to solve all your problems. Read on to learn all there is to know about them.
What is a Battery Maintainer?
Battery maintainers are small chargers that send small amounts of energy to a battery, thus enabling a battery to maintain full charge despite being inactive for a long period.
A battery maintainer sends a trickle charge to the battery and can sense when the battery is at full charge. Once the battery is at full charge, the device turns off to prevent it from overcharging the battery.
When the battery begins losing power, your maintainer will kick in and recharge the battery back to full capacity.
For a battery maintainer to work, it needs to be plugged into a wall socket, or you could use a solar panel.
Battery Maintainer vs Battery Charger
Some of you might wonder why not just use a battery charger. However, it’s important to highlight the keys between the two before answering that question.
Keys | Battery Maintainer | Battery Charger |
Similarities | Both charge the battery to full capacity | |
Differences | Unlike battery chargers, battery maintainers turn off once fully charged. However, once the battery begins losing power, your maintainer will kick in and recharge the battery back to full capacity. | Battery chargers don’t stop charging the battery until it reaches full capacity. However, over time, this becomes detrimental to your battery’s health, and if left for too long, it could kill the battery. |
Application | This is a great addition to your tool set, especially if you live in an area that experiences long winters. Also, if you tend to leave your car unattended for prolonged periods, getting yourself one is a good idea. For the battery maintainer to function properly, ensure that all the electrical components in your car are off. If you fail to do so, you might end up with a dead battery. | If you drive your car for 30 minutes at least once a month, you should be fine with a battery charger. You can spare yourself the extra cost of getting a battery maintainer. Battery chargers are ideal, especially when the battery has suffered significant loss. |
Conclusion | Battery maintainers are the ideal long-term solution for always charging your battery. | Battery chargers, however, are ideal for situations where the battery is in critical condition or completely dead. |
Benefits of Using a Battery Maintainer
It helps extend your battery’s life by preventing the following damage.
Prevent Parasitic Drains
Today, vehicles are integrating technology (diagnostics, alarm systems, GPS) more and more.
Most people are unaware that such systems still drain some voltage from the battery even when the ignition key is off.
If left unchecked for a long period, this could leave you with a dead battery.
The battery maintainer will detect that the battery level has dropped from full charge and immediately charge it back to full capacity.
Once the battery is fully charged, the maintainer will automatically turn off.
Also, you don’t have to worry about turning on the battery maintainer again, as it automatically turns on and off accordingly.
Prevent Sulfation
If you live in an area where driving is highly affected by weather, you’ll sometimes have to keep your car parked in the garage for a while, causing your battery to naturally lose power.
This shouldn’t be a shock since all lead acid batteries lose power over time.
Therefore, if you leave your car idle for over two months, it will likely self-discharge to the point that sulfation builds up on some of the internal plates, resulting in a significant loss in capacity and cracking amps.
If you use a battery maintainer, you will prevent your battery from losing power, thus preventing sulfation from ever occurring.
How to Choose the Best Battery Maintainer
Below are some of the considerations to keep in mind when choosing a battery maintainer.
Amperage Selection
In simple terms, amperage refers to the flow rate of electricity to the battery. Most battery maintainers will allow you to choose from various amperage selections.
Some might have a set amperage or an automatic amperage setting. Opting for one with the automatic setting is best unless you know your stuff.
A battery maintainer that allows you to choose between different amperage selections allows you to charge your battery faster.
However, this isn’t the best option to keep your battery in good health.
Since the battery maintainer’s main function is to keep the battery charged, you don’t need one with an extremely high amperage.
Often, you should be just fine with the device set to automatic setting.
Basic Safety Features You Should Look For
Below are some safety considerations you should look for when buying a battery maintainer.
- Voltage regulation – to ensure your battery doesn’t get overcharged, as this reduces its lifespan and could potentially damage the battery.
- Quick connect – a good battery maintainer should feature a quick connect pigtail that connects to the battery terminal. Thus making it easier to plug in your battery once you get home.
- Spark-resistant clamps – in case you need to directly connect to your battery terminals it’s best to have spark-resistant clamps.
- Reverse polarity protection – if you don’t have a quick connect pigtail and have to use clamps, reverse polarity protection will help prevent damage to your battery if you connect the clamps on the wrong terminals.
- Short circuit protection
Other Features To Look For
- Visual indicator lights – opt for a battery maintainer with LED indicator lights that allow you to easily determine the status of your device. Often, the lights are red, yellow, and green.
- Lightweight plastic construction – you want a battery maintainer with a lightweight design that allows you to easily carry it around or move it according to your needs.
- Constant charging – if the AC line is low, your battery maintainer should provide full output power and low AC line voltage.
- Battery tester – a good battery maintainer should come equipped with a battery tester that you can use to check the condition of your battery.
Caption: Battery Tester
- Charge time – the average charge time is between 2 and 10 hours, depending on how strong your battery maintainers are. Therefore, make sure your battery maintainers match your needs. You can expect a higher price for a battery maintainer with a quick charge time. Some chargers might have the option to choose between fast and slow charging, and often, you’ll just be fine on the slow setting.
Battery Type
There are various types of batteries, like AGM, gel, and lead acid batteries.
Therefore, confirming its compatibility with your battery is important before buying are battery maintainers.
If you’re not sure the type of battery you have, try checking the top or side of your battery.
Cord Length
You’ll need an external source of power to charge the battery. When choosing what battery maintainers to buy, keep in mind the availability of power sources in that the cord can get from your battery terminals to a 120V outlet.
Conclusion
There, you have all you need to know about battery maintainers. Now, you can safely and properly buy one to prevent the hassle of dealing with a dead battery.
For all your battery maintainers cable needs, contact Cloom Tech.