She inherited that Saturn Sky Redline this year & barely drives it, and I know she doesn't like driving it with the top up so now it probably sits until April.
I thought this was the go-to:
But the last few reviews say it has dropped in quality. What do you recommend?
Ctek and NOCO Genius seem to be the current hot tickets.
I've got a fair number of the Ctek units scattered among tractors and the car that goes into winter storage. Ctek also makes some nice accessories and extensions if you want to permanently install a connector on the battery you can just plug the unit into.
I've got a couple of the Battery Minder 1510 units here. They're temperature compensated, come with a permanent connector and their charging profile is good as far as I can determine. I've had good luck with them. The Jeep has been hooked up to one almost continuously for the last 3 years.
On my cars, I've got the connector poking out next to the grille on the Jeep and in the trunk (poking out of the battery compartment) on the BMW. And one sticking out of the wiring harness on the snowblower (which parks next to the BMW, so that charger will reach either one). The charger bricks stay on their respective wall outlets, so usage is as simple as "unplug before driving and put the caps on the connectors" and then "uncap and shove connectors together after parking". If needed, add a warning card to sit on the dash as a reminder to unplug.
The newer NOCO chargers look good to me as well.
I need to see where the battery is in the car, a harness that pokes out of the grille to make it easy would be handy.
I've got several Battery Tenders including some fairly recent ones (like less than 2 years old) and they seem to work OK. Granted, I haven't poked around in them so I probably wouldn't have noticed if they are not as good as my old 1.25A one.
That said, Ctek has a very good reputation among my motorcycling friends.
The Sky battery is hidden and fender removal is required to change the battery. There is a jumper point, with a red plastic cover, at the fuse box, in the area above the battery.
Get the Battery Tender Jr.
Use the little pigtail that they come with. It will all be super easy and take up less space than the regular Battery Tender.
Battery Tender also sells inline extensions if you need one to reach up to the front grill. I'd probably just pop the hood and hook it up near the battery though.
If you're only concerned with the one car, this might be easier for most folks to plug/unplug ... 120V cord only, the charger perma-mounts to the car
https://www.schumacherelectric.com/products/1-5a-6v-12v-fully-automatic-battery-maintainer/
I like/use these, because I have more batteries to maintain than chargers:
I have an older Battery Tender Jr; it died from a blown resistor? capacitor? after about 10 years ... guy at work sourced a replacement from DigiKey or Mauser and soldered it in and it's been working for 3-4 years since.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:Get the Battery Tender Jr.
Use the little pigtail that they come with. It will all be super easy and take up less space than the regular Battery Tender.
This. I have the pigail on my race car and it makes it so simple I have the kids do it.
I have the pigtails on all my motorcycles and most of the project cars.
Which reminds me that I forgot to hook up the Maxton.
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