BCM Community

I used the Battery minder a couple of day a month at first, but everyone said to leave it on all the time, so I did.  After about 6 weeks I opened up the battery box and had corrosion on both terminals and there was dampness around the filler caps although it did not need water.  Do I have a bad charger or am I doing something wrong??

Ray D

I think even the smartest of chargers need to be monitored. I have destroyed quite a few batteries in my time. Problem is we get to confident in them, and poof!! Constant vigilance to the charging process is your best friend IMHO :) When I charge mine, I pull the plug at 12.70VDC. When it reaches down to 12.30 VDC or there abouts ( which usually takes a few months or so) I hook the charger back up.  ;)

    Van

I have heard the maintenance charge issue from both sides.  Some say just leave the charger on all the time and your batteries will always be perfect.  Others say that that is an invitation to ruined batteries.  One battery dealer I spoke to said that a good battery will hold a charge easily for a number of weeks.  He compared leaving the batteries on a charger to topping off a cup of water whenever a little evaporates.  Since then, I have generally topped off the batteries and turned the charger off for a couple of weeks.

I recently boiled one over on a Battery Tender and thought it was odd. I asked my buddy who's a battery guy and said at least one cell was shorted and that's why it boiled.

That's about all I know. I was hoping to leave it one and forget about it as well.
Chaz

Okay, I called the factory, he said if you want to use it 24/7 you need the one with a temperature sensor, so when it gets hot out it lowers the charging voltage and when it gets cold, it raises the charging voltage and that will solve most of the corrosion problem.  Why don't they tell you that in the manual....Can anyone confirm this....I hate relying on the factory, I've gotten just about as much bad info from factory reps as I have got good info.
Ray D