AnotherOldJeepGuy Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 My 40 year old Sear Diehard finally did die, so I would like to get a replacement. It looks like most of the chargers similar to what I had, go for $50 and up. In my browsing, I see a lot of "mini chargers" out there that according to the words, work essentially as good as the old personal style, and at half or less the cost. It sounds like these small chargers are actually better (better controlled charging, protection, etc.) than the old style with the exception that they don't include the full current needed to start the vehicle with the charger. Any experience with these $20 chargers you would like to share? If providing start current is not a feature needed, what else might be a reason to spend 2x-3x to charge a battery? Example of what I call old style: Example of mini-charger from Walmart: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Longevity. I’m not saying that another Diehard will live 40 years, but I’d bet one of the small, cheap ones definitely wouldn’t live that long. I know several people with the modern Diehards and I’m yet to hear of an issue with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff351 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 I'm a fan of these battery tenders/maintainers. I have one plugged into my Optima for my Torino at the moment. Noco Genius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 my only big grip about modern chargers is that if your battery is seriously dead, it might not recognize it as a battery and turn on. safety I guess. I've found I can cheat the system with mine by making it run through a bunch of "engine start" cycles until it's high enough to see the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 42 minutes ago, Pete M said: I've found I can cheat the system with mine by making it run through a bunch of "engine start" cycles until it's high enough to see the battery. I’ve daisy chained one once just to get it to charge. Take a good battery and then have it be charged by the charger and hook another set of jumpers to the bad from the good and it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokeyyank Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 I got this one on sale for $25 after mine bit the dust. No complaints has charged my Odyssey from being completely dead and another basic battery. Ive used it a good amount this winter to keep my WJ charged for snow storms. https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/battery-tools-accessories/battery-chargers-maintainers/4amp-fully-automatic-microprocessor-controlled-battery-chargermaintainer-63350.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherOldJeepGuy Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 Thanks for all the info! I think I'll watch for a good sale on a new die hard for a bit and see if I can get lucky. But if that doesn't come around I will probably give one of the newer cheaper ones a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Some of the new ones will 'recondition' batteries. I bought 2 from NAPA. Two different brands. I liked the Yellow one the sell. It was on sale at the time. The other is Blue. Both sort of automatically recondition the battery. I think $80 though. I have another one I like a bit better. I borrowed my neighbors and liked it. I had to search Ebay for one like it. Seems more control over what mode I want. And your previous one, looks way more modern than the steel Sears one I still have. Yeah, good to pump some juice straight into a dead battery. I fly RC, some lithium batteries. One guys Transmitter pack was dead. I used a regular field charger to get it up to 10 volts. Then finished it on a LiPo charger. Yeah, on top of my cars engine. I was worried about a LiPo fire at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherOldJeepGuy Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 Yeah I saw that "recondition" mention and wondered what that was, different from recharging I mean. Can you post the make/model of the one you liked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Everstart Maxx. Mine is the 50 amp model. There is a specific 'reconditioning' mode. It does have a start engine button. I looked on Ebay. I didn't find one. I didn't search for it specifically. The Dewalt looked like it. Also, there is a US manufacture in the NAPA book. Looks just like it. $700 though. I also have a SOLAR 'triangle' one , and a Carlise. Both automatically recondition the batteries. They also charge AMG batteries. The Everstart doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 This is what I have: Everstart Maxx BC50BE 15 Amp Automatic Battery Charger | eBay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherOldJeepGuy Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Thanks @75sv1, I'll put that on the watch list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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