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Using a battery maintainer

ryoung
Explorer
Explorer
I'm going to store my Ram diesel truck for about 5 months and want to keep the batteries charged with a battery maintainer. Will I need to disconnect the batteries to do this?

ryoung
2018 Ram 3500 SRW Diesel
2019 Wolf Creek 840
17 REPLIES 17

Ski_Pro_3
Explorer
Explorer
I got an LED display that plugs into the cigarette lighter that shows voltage. My phantom load on my Dodge diesel 2006 truck is 35ma and that I confirmed from the factory to be correct. I keep a battery maintainer velcroed to the side of the battery with it's power cord dangling out the front grill. When I leave the truck long enough that the LED display drops to 12.6 volts, I plug in the maintainer and let it run. Usually within a day or 3, the voltage is back to 13.6 or what ever the float voltage is.

A good tip is to check battery water levels and the specific gravity of each cell. Loosing water and low SP are strong indicators the battery is on it's way out and no amount of conditioning or maintaining is really gonna help. Cold weather is harder on these batteries than warmer as well.

Harvey51
Explorer
Explorer
I just disconnect the batteries. No problem even at 55 degrees north. I check the batteries every month or two just to reassure myself. If the voltage got down to 12.4 I would charge.
2004 E350 Adventurer (Canadian) 20 footer - Alberta, Canada
No TV + 100W solar = no generator needed

pauldub
Explorer
Explorer
pnichols wrote:
I keep a battery maintainer hooked up to our RV's engine starting battery 24/7 while the RV is in the backyard being stored.

We're on the RV's 2nd chassis battery in 13 years, and the first OEM chassis battery was still working great when I replaced it just in case.


Similar story for me. I replaced the original battery after 15 years because I was going on a long trip.

pnichols
Explorer II
Explorer II
I keep a battery maintainer hooked up to our RV's engine starting battery 24/7 while the RV is in the backyard being stored.

We're on the RV's 2nd set of chassis batteries in 13 years, and the first OEM chassis battery set was still working great when I replaced it just in case.
2005 E450 Itasca 24V Class C

fj12ryder
Explorer II
Explorer II
"Do not understand ??? Why is this even an issue ???"

No issue, just a difference of opinion.
Howard and Peggy

"Don't Panic"

MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Explorer
Disconnect negative

Connect Battery Maintenance Device

Problem resolved. 100% guaranteed.

Do not understand ??? Why is this even an issue ???

scbwr
Explorer II
Explorer II
Used a Battery Tender with my Tundra without disconnecting the battery and never had a problem.
2012 Newmar Bay Star 3302
Blue Ox Avail
BrakeBuddy Advantage
2015 Malibu

"Get busy living, or get busy dying."
Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
No need to disconnect. the voltages put out by the battery tender are not far removed from teh alternator. May actually be lower
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

Naio
Explorer
Explorer
I've used different maintainers on different vehicles. My advice is to check the battery once a day or so for the first few weeks.

Some vehicles have resting loads that are larger than the output of some trickle chargers. So you have to make sure the charger you have is working on the vehicle you have.

And yes, if the resting load is too high you can deal with that by disconnecting the ground. But you won't necessarily have to.
3/4 timing in a DIY van conversion. Backroads, mountains, boondocking, sometimes big cities for a change of pace.

kellertx5er
Explorer
Explorer
RCMAN46 wrote:
Do not use a GFI outlet. I did this on a car for 6 months and some time during the 5 months the GFI tripped possibly due to a power surg.

The maintainer dropped the battery voltage to about 3 volts which destroyed the battery..


I don't think the maintainer drained the battery. More likely, it was the onboard loads in the truck (radio memory, etc.) that drained it. Chargers have blocking diodes that prevent reverse current flow.
Keller TX
'19 Chevy 2500HD 6.0L
'09 Outback Sydney 321FRL 5er
SUPPORT TEXAS STATE PARKS

C_Schomer
Explorer
Explorer
I have a collection of Battery Tenders. The 3 amp units do a great job on my CTD and single battery cars. I don't disconnect anything on the vehicles because the 3 amp units provide way more than the parasitic loads. Craig
2012 Dodge 3500 DRW CCLB 4wd, custom hauler bed.
2008 Sunnybrook Titan 30 RKFS Morryde and Disc brakes
WILL ROGERS NEVER MET JOE BIDEN!

RCMAN46
Explorer
Explorer
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Peek A Boo spurious loads are about the only thing that can upset the apple cart. That, and as mentioned above -- extended power outages in conjunction with tiny loads that should not be there, anyway.


Not sure what you mean about tiny loads that should not be there. The maintainer that I had was the load that run the battery down.

Some maintainers put a small load on the battery even when they do not have a power input.

MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Explorer
Peek A Boo spurious loads are about the only thing that can upset the apple cart. That, and as mentioned above -- extended power outages in conjunction with tiny loads that should not be there, anyway.

RCMAN46
Explorer
Explorer
Do not use a GFI outlet. I did this on a car for 6 months and some time during the 5 months the GFI tripped possibly due to a power surg.

The maintainer dropped the battery voltage to about 3 volts which destroyed the battery..