Battery Tender Question

tr7driver

Member
Sep 5, 2006
117
3
19
Illinois
I bought a die hard battery tender at Sears last fall. Hooked it up to my 05 GT. The lights came on and it worked its way up to the carged setting. A few weeks later I went to start the car and the battery was flat dead, not enough power to make the window move when I opened the door. I took it back to sears and exchanged it for a new one. Last week I went to start the car and the same thing happened. Even thougth the tender indicated the battery was charged, it was flat dead.

I jump started the car, drove down to the auto parts store and had them check the battery (its about 2 years old) and it tested fine.

So, what's up with the die hard tender? Is it worth the effort to get a replacement or is there a better alternative out there I need to buy to keep my battery charged?
 
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Not sure about your tender but make sure you use one that monitors the level and will shut off when charged. Also, tenders will dry out a battery.....check the fluid if it is not a maintenance free type. Also, as asked/mentioned....drive the car more...lol I use whatever tender the local parts houses sell.....when I need one which is very seldom.....I use an EverStart on my RV coach battery....been there for three years now.
 
I've also read (in boating circles) that even auto-shutoff tenders don't really do the job super well so the recommendation is to put the auto-shutoff tender on a timer and let it do it's thing only for a few hours a day. This is very non-specific and I've never had to do it so take it for what it's worth. :)
 
Is it worth the effort to get a replacement or is there a better alternative out there I need to buy to keep my battery charged?

A better alternative is to drive the car more. But It could be other things besides the Tender....... Cables, Alternator, parasitic drain..... Electrical
problems can be tough to solve, but really you should try driving it every day
for a week or two and see what happens.
 
I don't drive it in the winter

With all the salt and snow on the roads here I don't drive it much at all between november and march, I have a 4wd truck to get around in. When I drive it regularlly in the summer, it will stay charged fine unless I park it for a couple of weeks. I just wonder why the tender isn't doing the job or if there is something with the car that requires a different tender.
 
I have the same battery tender and it has let me down in the past. You need to make sure your getting a good connection when you use it. Put a volt meter on the battery terminals and you should see aprox. 13.1 volts. When mine failed the green float light was on but the battery was dead. Now for the bad news, every time your battery discharges completely you lose aprox. 25% of the reserve capacity of the battery.
 
I use a Die Hard battery tender on another car that I have and I've never had one issue. How are you hooking the tender into the car? Are you hooking it directly to the battery, or are you using the cigarette lighter adapter?
 
I use the Battery Tender Plus and it works great. I've only used it on my car once to charge the battery from dead. I don't drive my car all that much. I've been using it on my motorcycle for 7 years. I don't ride the bike more than once or twice a month but I keep it on the charger. The charger will shut off when the battery is 100% charged and keep a trickle on it to make sure it stays charged. I have kept the same battery in the bike for 7 years and it tests fine.