O.T.J de Heres The Battery maintainers on sale.

JDe. H.freight has them on sale Lot # 99857 1.5 amp 3 stage ON board Batt charger/maintainer.$19.99. automatic float charger Lot #42292= $4.99 ea. Gonna get the $4.99 items (at least 5) of em. Thought you were looking for em to come on sale. Warmest regards, LOU& VICTOR

If you do get the $4.99 ones....plug them in and get ready to watch them 24/7. I had two of them melt, luckily I was walking by and smell the burning plastic. I threw the other two away. I wouldn't even give them to anyone. Bought the ones from Walmart for $20 each.
You can get pizza delivered while you watch your
cheap HF ones.

I got two of the HF cheap ones and have not had any problem with them. This is the third winter I've used them. I switch them around between idle tractors and motorcycles I don't use in the winter and my RV deep cycle batts. I also have a couple of higher priced ones I use and they all seem to work the same.

I've got great insurance. A fire in my detached garage would be my salvation. Bring it on!

Thanks. But, seems they've jacked up those prices. The ones you just mentioned at $19.99 were $12.99 early last year. Back at the end of December they were $15.99.

Sounds like HF is playing with the term "on sale" a bit.

You dont need them,Check your batteries monthly with an 89 cent hydrometer.my tractors sit Jan thru march and start right up.Send me 19.95 Ill spend it on beer,

Harbor freight does play games with sale items to get you to check every page of each catalog or online catalog site.
It's not uncommon to find the same item in 2 or 3 different places in a catalog with a different price and catalog number on each listing.
Sometimes the online price is better, sometimes the paper catalog. fortunatly they allow you to do an online order and add an item from a catalog to it, at the catalog price.

Not that uncommon to see the listing in a catalog with 50% difference for the same item on different pages.

Jde. Probably run up the prices. I'll hold off . Thanks for the reply.
LOU

If I were you and wanted a fire the garage,Gas and matches are way cheaper.Not in an arguing mood,and besides I'm not as intelligent as Jde.I Know My place. DO YOU???

Jon Thanks/ I've noticed that from time to time when we get their fliers. I'm holding off on em till the price comes down. If they don't I won't worry .Have battery chargers the son uses from month to month during cold snaps .
Regards, LOU .

Well, I THOUGHT I knew my place. . .

But now, I'm not so sure. . .

Its all just so complicated!

It's a lot easier on the maintainer if you make sure the battery is fully charged with a larger charger first, and that the battery does not have a shorted cell.
A lot less work for the little maintainer if it only has to maintain instead or recharging a low or defective(shorted cell) battery.

May be a room with quiet time lol. LOU

Right. I'm sure that . . . because a few of your tractors sit and still start well, that proves 100% that everybody else will have exactly the same success. Anecdotal events always disprove science?

Note that all lead-acid batteries self-discharge - even if hooked to nothing. Have you magically found a way around that?

An "alternative-battery universe" maybe?

And how about modern cars and trucks that have build in vehicle-draw on top of the battery self-discharge?

Most battery makers even post their montly self-discharge rates if you look hard enough.

And yes, anybody can check their batteries once in awhile - with a hydrometer. I don't know why you'd want to, since a voltmeter is much quicker and easier. Or, do you frown on volt-meters too?

Regardless of how checked, the battery will always NOT be at full charge after one month. NO exceptions if it's had no charge. Then . . you can just leave it alone, or lug out a battery charger and top it off.

Seems at least for some people with many batteries, maintainers save a lot of work and have to extend battery life.

For me, I've got two backhoes, three bull-dozers, eight farm tractors two diesel trucks, and four cars sitting outside or in barns. 26 batteries in total. So yes, according to you it makes MUCH more sense to go out in the cold, pull the battery covers off, wip out a hydrometer, and check 156 cells, one by one. Or even if I want to take s short-cut and check only only one cell per battery - 26 checks?

Hey do it your way. But to tell others they should follow you, is a little silly.

I know I've had problems with batteries being too far down to start tractors after sitting from November to March. Even starting with new fully charged batteries in the fall...

After putting battery maintainers on everything, no more problems. My Super A cranks over like summer on the original 6V system with SAE30 oil on the coldest day of winter.

Fewer and fewer batteries have removable caps anymore.

Jde. I'm in the same boat (not as much machinery as you have) and the batterys still require a top off charge. 1. O.c.46
2.3 For trucks
3.706 I.H (gas model)
4. 722 Bobcat
5. G.M.C. (2) Yukon 1999-1995 1/2ton.
6. Honda tri motor.
7.Sear tractor mower
Now that's a total of 9 battery's.Nothing like you said ,to wake a person up is to go out in -o temps and pull a hyd check on em. Yep your right again. Volt ohm meter does the trick . BuTTTTT a maintainer keeps em and you both healthy & warm.
You'll NOT CONVINCE SOME people who have a mind set that there is a better way to accomplish this task. Now that I'm 75 and not in great health. that chore falls to My son .Gonna do what I can to alleviate that situation,POST HASTE!!!!. Don't you feel as though your wasting your knowledge trying to forge ahead with sound judgment???
Still waiting for H.F to drop the price some.
Thanks again. WARMEST REGARDS !!!!! LOU & VICTOR

OPPS Look like I mis counted lol. LOU.

Hey Lou,
Gasoline and matches? A friend of mine (former police chief) told me once if you"re goin" to burn your house, bring a gas can in, along with a lawn mower and spill some gas around as if you were trying to fill the gas tank. Then get it to take off; helps if you"re a smoker. He says it would then be a "stupid" accident and there is no charge for "stupidity". LOL

Brian. EXACTLY.Can't cure stupid. Thanks for the post.
LOU.

I wont buy sealed batteries.Hydrometer checks let you know when a battery is near failure.

A voltmeter can fool you because batteries take on a surface charge.I bought an old Eico VTVM.The ohms battery said best used before 1954.just a cheap zinc cell, no leakage.I clipped a voltmeter on it, read 1.5 volts.When I shorted the Ohms lead to gether the battery voltage dropped to zero.Voltage check said battery was good, load test proved it was shot.If you want proof take a lead acid battery that wont crank a tractor.Charge it for 10 minutes and check with voltmeter. meter reading will look good but battery wont crank the tractor.Check with a hydrometer battery still dead.I find time to check my batteries, have 2 in tractors 1 sawmill, 2 on shop bench.1 truck.26 china battery maintainers are a fire risk.How can you think a 4.99 Harbor Fright battery maintainer can be well made.

I've never bought, nor have I owned a 4.99 battery maintainer sold by anybody.

The ones that DO sell in that price range are usually very low output - in milliamps instead of amps.

In regard to fire-risk? On a relative scale that is pure nonsense.

Most "fire risks" from electrical appliances are from improper use and installation.

If your maintainers are causing fire risks - I suspect that risk is you.

Show us one verified case, anywhere, where . . . a battery maintainer - designed for full time use - actually caused a fire WHEN used and installed properly. Specifics pleaes. Not some BS generic news-story somewhere that lacks details.

This argument is getting old, redundant. and superfluous.

If you have actuall discovered some specific model of battery maintainer that has a design flaw and IT unsafe - fine. Post the specs on that specific model and what makes it unsafe.

Again you show that you are a boulder head ie a closed mind.One day you will have a battery maintainer catch fire.fellow brought in a weed chopper type fence charger he bought at auction.It was working ok.I told him they were a fire hazard.He said he couldnt see why.He came into the shop a year later looking for a fence charger.His barn burnt down because the charger arced at some old tar paper.I went on a fire call where a chicken coop was on fire.We got it out easy.The coop wasnt in use,no electric in it.I had to make the report.I found a electric fence wire running along the side of the coop.It was plain that the fire started along the wall at the wire and burned the tar paper right up to the eaves.I followed the wire to a shed on the back of the house.There was a weed chopper type charger buzzing away.I unplugged it. I have plenty of farmers tell me they have had fires started with this type of charger.Ive had one start a grass fire.