Larry,
Funny you mentioned a drained battery. The wife's car of a neighbor of mine
had what I would call a drained battery. The car had not been started/run in
about 6 months. Before I put one of my Battery Tender Plus' on it, I put a
meter on it and it read about 2.5 volts. In about a day and a half the
Battery Tender Plus showed a green light and 13-14 volts according to my
meter. Be advised this is not the only drained battery (ie 6 volts or less
on a 12v car battery) that one of my BTs has fully charged. The only time
one of my BTs did not charge a battery was a battery that was defective (ie
broken/bad plate). Have you checked each of the cells in your battery to
make sure they are taking a charge (ie specific gravity)? Also, don't forget
that the BT Jr is 12V/.75 amp whereas the BT Plus is 12V/1.25 amp.
FYI, I leave the Battery Tenders on my VWs and other vehicles for months at
a time and have never had a problem in all the years I have used them. I do
not have any of the Battery Tender Jr models. I have the Battery Tender Plus
models and the BT Waterproof model.
Charlie
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Velez
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 6:41 PM
To: Volkswagen a2 16v discussion list
Subject: Re: [a2-16v-list] Battery Chargers and Tenders
Charlie,
I got my hands on a Battery Tender Jr. I am going to use that on the 16V
from now on. I think the battery might be too drained for it to charge it
back up as I have had it on there for a couple of days now and it has not
charged up to 14v yet. It is at about 13v at this point (up from 10v where
it started) but no green light yet - which I think comes on at 14v. I hope
it is not bad to leave it on there for so long. I think the Pro/non-Jr
version is more capable and I might pick one of those up as well.
I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for chargers that will bring a
drained battery up to a good charge (Chad already suggested a hobby charger
which I will look into). I was surprised to read in the documentation for
the Battery Tender Jr. that they consider a battery drained at 11v and
charged at 12.5v - meaning the difference between drained and charged is
only 1.5v
Thanks for the feedback all, as our cars age we will have to use more
techniques from collectors/restorers to keep these cars purring.
And thanks again for all the work you have put into your website, it
continues to be a source of solid factual information - if I can help on
that front in any way, let me know.
Larry
91 GTI 16V
-----Original Message-----
From: a2-16v-list [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Charlie Russo
Sent: Sunday, August 3, 2014 3:09 PM
To: A2 16V List
Subject: Re: [a2-16v-list] Battery Chargers and Tenders
I have been using the "Battery Tender Plus" on my VWs ('80 Rabbit, '81 VW
Pickup, '85 Golf, '87 GTI 16V, '02 New Beetle) over the last 14 years or so.
Have also used them on my Toyota 4Runner, Tundra and Car Trailer. Way back
then the Battery Tender (BT) was one of the few chargers using a
microprocessor controlled power electronic circuitry.
Back in the late 1990s I was restoring my '80 Rabbit and rarely using my '87
GTI 16V. Periodically I connected my traditional battery charger to the GTI
16V to charge the battery which I thought was good enough.
After getting only 2-3 years out of a battery in the GTI 16V I figured there
must be a better way. That is when I found out about the Battery Tender from
Antique Car and Motorcycle owners.
There may be other battery chargers out there that might be similar and less
expensive but I doubt they charge a battery like the BT+ does. For vehicles
that are seldom used or motorcycles that sit over the winter, the BT is the
way to go for a lot of people (including me).
Here is more information:
http://batterytender.com/resources/battery-basics.htm/
http://batterytender.com/resources/frequently-asked-questions/
In case you are wondering, the following are some of my experiences with
battery life using the BT in my various vehicles:
- '80 Rabbit = 10+ years
- '81 VW Pickup = 12+ years & counting
- '87 GTI 16V = 12+ years
- '02 New Beetle = 6+ years & counting
- '04 Toyota 4Runner = 7+ years
- Car Trailer = 5+ years
FYI, if you decide to get a Battery Tender Plus or other BT charger you can
usually find a better price on-line. Some brick & mortar retailers or the BT
web site will sell them to you at MSRP which can be more pricey.
Hope this helps.
Charlie
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Velez
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 7:03 PM
To: A2 16V List
Subject: [a2-16v-list] Battery Chargers and Tenders
Any recommended brands or model battery chargers and tenders which have
worked well for you?
Larry
91 GTI 16v
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