Battery Tender Jr. POS!


BlackICE

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
I bought 4 of these about 8 to 9 years ago, with 2 of them always use, with 2 spares. The last of the 4 just bit the dust. All died by not keeping the batteries fully charged. The LED lights would stay on RED, or cycle show Green, but the battery voltage is still too low. Unless you are checking the battery's voltage you would never know the Tender has failed. The last failure cause my BMW to give a dynamic stability error. People on forums said a weak battery is often the cause. How can the be with the Tender hookedup 7/24 with a green LED showing? What good is a LED when it is lying?

I trashed the last one and will never buy another Deltran product again. Switched to CTek MUS 4.3 on all the cars. I took the Ctek off of my FGT and put in on rejuvenate mode, presto the dynamic stability error is gone.
 
Ice,

I've had terrible luck with those as well. With no moving parts you would think they would be pretty reliable but I've trashed over half a dozen of them in the last two years.

Chip
 
I have had very good service from the Autometer product.
Best,
Mark
 
Same experience with my Battery Tenders. I've gone 100% C-TEK with no problems on cars (12v and 6v) or motorcycles. Significantly, all of them are used in uncontrolled temperature environments; hot summers and frigid winters. Never had a problem with either the maintainers or the batteries.

Howard
 
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I bought 5 Battery Tender Juniors 2-3 years ago based on a lot of good reviews from multiple people, forums, etc. They all are dead. Could be because they ran 24/7/365 which included very cold winters but still, I will never buy one again.
 
I've had CTEK's for 12 years. My original, even after being semi-crushed by my lift, is still working. Heartily endorse.
 
The original USA made Deltran battery tenders were great. I have some old ones still in use. The newer ones made in China are garbage.
 
I use the Schumacher maintainer. I have a dozen of these for around 5-6 years and have yet to have a failure or battery issue.They can be found at Car Quest for under $30

http://www.batterychargers.com/sem-1562a/
 
I've had the same Jr for 5 years no problem but did have 2 regular tenders go bad.
 
With boat, pontoon, tractor, mowers, and many cars, I probably have over 20 tenders. I have been replacing all with the CTec MUS 4.3. The led's seem to show the battery condition quite accurately.
 
+1 for CTEK!! Have several CTEK tenders & have used them on various batteries/vehicles successfully for 10+ years. No CTEK failures.
 
20160816_133332.jpgI have this one from interstate recommended by a friend. It's been on one car or another since 2008. I don't know who makes it for them though.
 
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Been using the Battery Tender Jr since 2007, zero issues (knock on wood), maybe the earlier versions were made better ? Have the C-Tek 3300 as well on the Alfa, zero issues.
 
junior said:
Been using the Battery Tender Jr since 2007, zero issues (knock on wood), maybe the earlier versions were made better ? Have the C-Tek 3300 as well on the Alfa, zero issues.
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I just replaced the 6 volt Battery Tender on my '37 Chrys yesterday because of fears it might not be doing its job regardless of what its "green light" was telling me (the unit was at least 10-years-old, and other B.T.s units as old or younger have died on me).

To my surprise, the new CTek 6V unit 'reported' that said battery was in fact fully charged...just as the green light on the B.T. had been telling me it was.

Oh well, now I have a spare!

(I have 2 other B.T.s 'tending' two other 12 volt batteries. Every now and then, I have connected one of my 12V CTek 7002s to each of them for a bit just to make sure the green lights on those two units aren't lying to me. So far, so good. ;-) )
 
Empty Pockets said:
I just replaced the 6 volt Battery Tender on my '37 Chrys yesterday because of fears it might not be doing its job regardless of what its "green light" was telling me (the unit was at least 10-years-old, and other B.T.s units as old or younger have died on me).

To my surprise, the new CTek 6V unit 'reported' that said battery was in fact fully charged...just as the green light on the B.T. had been telling me it was.

Oh well, now I have a spare!

(I have 2 other B.T.s 'tending' two other 12 volt batteries. Every now and then, I have connected one of my 12V CTek 7002s to each of them for a bit just to make sure the green lights on those two units aren't lying to me. So far, so good. ;-) )
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Cars only need batteries if you intend to "start them". You only need to "start them", if you intend to drive them. Why bother?
 
RPM217 said:
Cars only need batteries if you intend to "start them". You only need to "start them", if you intend to drive them. Why bother?
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May you be French kissed by a diseased Yak.
 
From what I understand, its a "dumb" circuit board that requires periodic disconnection to cycle.

ie, you have to drive your car

Mine will die sooner or later....3yrs so far
 
CTek 4.3 currently on sale until Aug 21 $64.99cdn on line at Princess Auto
 
Ordered and received a CTek 4.3.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L83FI6E/ref=sr_ph_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471645050&sr=sr-1&keywords=ctek+4.3

I got this Barrett Jackson branded one, with Prime cheaper, faster and free shipping.
 
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