Battery Tender Plus vs. BatteryMINDer Plus

I've been using my Battery Tender Plus for about 8 years. I've recommended Battery Tenders to a lot of people. It does what it's supposed to do... trickle charges a battery then goes into maintenance mode to safely keep it charged.

http://batterytender.com/motorcycle/battery-tender-plus-12v-at-1-25a.html

So I've been doing some reading about BatteryMINDer Plus chargers and how it not only charges and maintains batteries, but also desulfates them to make them last longer.

http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...-Amp-Charger-Maintainer-Conditio-p-16134.html

So from the little bit of reading I've done, it seems like they actually work. Some people say they can actually bring back dead batteries so you can get another year out of them. Others say they've had motorcycle batteries last 12 years using a BatteryMINDer. Does anyone have any experience with a BatteryMINDer or know of a reason why the Battery Tender is a better for charging batteries?

Hi Travis
Been using an Optimate 1 for years & have just replaced it with an Optimate 4, does same as the batterytender & comes with a nice little connector which you connect to your battery & then just plug your charger to, can be hidden & has a waterproof cover. Saves getting to the battery when charging. Very neat little pieces of kit
Optimate battery charger

Hi Travis, I have both the Battery Tender Junior model 021-0123 and the Battery Minder model 12112 with auto float controll and pulse mode circuitry. Both seem to work at charging and maintaining the many batteries I have on my motorcycles and tractors. The Battery Tender has a red light that turns green when the battery is charged. The Battery Minder has both a red light to show that its charging and a green light that pulsates after the battery is charged and is being desulfated (you can also press the button in the center to start desulfation quicker). 2 years ago my son moved to Michigan and trailered his bike there but left the battery here. The battery was 8 years old at the time so he said just get rid of it. Well it sat for 2 years in my garage (heated just so you know it didnt freeze) and it was completely dead (wouldnt even light a test light). About 2 weeks ago just for shits and giggles I hooked up the Battery Minder to the battery and let it cook for 5 days. Damn if it didnt bring the battery back to life. Its a sealed battery so I have no way of checking the water/acid level and I dont know for how long it will keep a charge but for now it seems to be holding its own. Also I dont know if or how well the desulfation process works on the newer sealed AGM or jelled batteries. Over all I would say the Battery Minder does what it claims to do..............BG

Well, I have 4 float chargers that came with my Harley's. On the '01, I got 25,000 miles on 'er, and the original battery. Had 2 '03s, traded them in for the '09 Screamin Eagle FLH. Thats how I got 4 tenders. Have had one on the XS for 2 years now, & other than using allot of electrolite, the battery has been good. I was going to get the AGM from Mikes, but I've been reading about the problem's that have been with them. So, FT. I got a friend who owns an Interstate franchise, will give him a call IF I need a battery.
The point of all this is to say that a battery charger( a tender that floats when full charge is reached) is the best way to keep a battery fresh. You could go out & buy one from HF, but do you want to chance it?

I guess you can test the float chargers to see if they are working...........both of mine put out about 13.65 volts....is that good or bad.........?...xsjohn

Don't know, never checked.Didn't even think of checking, as long as the battery's have been up to snuff.
Hey, can I start a religious militia, too?

Gordon said:

I was going to get the AGM from Mikes, but I've been reading about the problem's that have been with them.

Click to expand...

Hey Gordon, I bought one of the AGM's from Mikes and it was dead in 3 months. It would charge up but discharge in about 2 days just sitting on the shelf. I e-mailed Mikes explaining the problem and he sent me a replacement in 3 days no problem. So far this replacement battery is holding a good charge. Maybe he initially just got a bad batch of them......BG

BigGeorge and everyone else, thanks for the information!

I was just wondering if it was worth buying a BatteryMINDer when I already have a Battery Tender. Sounds like I'm going to have to pick one up to see if can't revive a couple of dead batteries I have that my battery tender can't bring back from the dead. If I end up getting one, I'll let you guys know the results!

OK BG, I had read that he was replacing them,
Went out to the garage last night & looked at all 4 from Harley. They are all made by battery tender. 12 V., 700 MA.

guess you can test the float chargers to see if they are working...........both of mine put out about 13.65 volts....is that good or bad.........?...xsjohn

Click to expand...

My Minder floats @ 13.05.

So several weeks ago, I got a BatteryMINDer Plus and tested it out on a few batteries. This thing actually works. It brought back a scooter battery that my other chargers wouldn't (Battery tender and larger Schumacher), and also brought back my riding lawn mower battery that the Schumacher wouldn't... Another dead scooter battery that I had remained dead no matter what charger I used.

I think it paid for itself with the lawn mower battery.

One interesting thing about all of my automatic chargers (Auto Schumacher, Battery Tender, and BatteryMINDer) is that once a battery is really low, they think the battery is bad and won't try to charge it. The BatteryMINDer wouldn't charge a battery under 10 volts. After I brought that scooter battery back, I accidentally left the key on and totally drained the battery (down to like 2 volts).. None of the chargers worked except for my manual charger than I use for electrolysis to clean parts. So I guess sometimes it's nice to have a dumb battery charger that will try to charge no matter what.

In the end, I'm happy I bought the BatteryMINDer to add to the charger collection.

I have three of the cheap float chargers from Harbor Freight, they work.

^^ Yeah they probably work as well as a Battery Tender or BatteryMINDer for charging and maintaining batteries, but do they desulfate batteries to make them last longer and have the ability to bring back dead batteries that other chargers can't? Not to sound like an ad for BatteryMINDer, but this thread was basically asking if their desulfation claims were bull shit or not, and not about the maintenance and float functions.

No, the cheap Harbor Freight jobs do the float function OK but that's all. I am in the market for a high tech charger that can do the anti-sulfation cycle though. My brother has one and he says it works.

I have bought a Battery Minder on the advice of a friend who knows a lot and has lots of things on tenders. It works well for me.

This little thing has been great.. It's already paid for itself.. The back-from-the-dead mower battery and the scooter battery I charged are still going strong even when not being used much.

Important differences between the Battery Minder and Battery Tender.

When I bought my first AGM battery, it lasted about 5 months and then died. The problem was I had an aux. computer in the car and it had a bug that did not turn itself off when the ignition was turned off. The screen went blank, but the computer itself stayed on. If I drove the car about every 3 days it was fine, but on the 4th day it'd drain the battery enough to kill it. So after finding this out, at first I just drove the car or at least started it every other day. But then I got sidetracked and after about a week it was dead. I jumped the car and it recharged the battery. So it was fine. But then I decided to get one of those "battery maintainers."

I choose the Battery Minder. I put it on the car and didn't worry about it. A month later imagine my surprise when I went to start the car and it was dead. I checked the cord the charger was plugged into and all seemed to be fine. But this time it would not take a jump. So I called Deka the people that make the AGM battery I use. I explained the situation to them. They said the Battery Minder can't be used on AGM batteries. And that I should use a Battery Tender instead and to use the Plus model. They were very nice and even replaced the battery for me at NC.

So I bought the Battery Tender and put it on the new AGM battery and it's been 100% fine since. That was 2 years ago.

Now I notice the Batteryminder websites sells a special version for AGM batteries. (12118 and 12248) Their website http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...-Maintenance-Charger-Desulfator--p-16151.html

states

NOTE: Model 12118 AGM / OPTIMA BatteryMINDer PLUS® should only be used on AGM type sealed batteries, not "filler cap"liquid batteries, due to its special voltage settings. This unit is designed primarily as a maintenance charger for long term, safe storage charging of Optima and other similar AGM type batteries, not as a primary or general charging source.


Now to Battery Tender, they now show their jr. model as okay to use with the AGM batteries, as well as lead acid and sealed batteries. I do not know why they (Deka) told me to use the Plus model only, but they were giving me a free replacement battery so I did not argue.

I still have the Batteryminder and use it on my other cars with lead batteries and it works great. However, I only use the BatteryTender on the AGM batteries.

One other thing (and this might be a good thing) The two devices use a similiar plug to hook up the charger to the battery. However, the polarity is reversed. So you have to use the same harness that came with the charger and don't mix them. One time I did accidently put the Batteryminder on a vehicle with the Batterytender O-ring harness but the light didn't go on and after a few minutes I figured out why. Nothing was damaged, but it did teach me a lesson.

I"m about to buy 3 more of these, but I'm going to buy the Battery Tender Jr models. They are cheap and their website shows the Jrs. will work on all batteries, not just AGM. I still have my Batteryminder to desulphate any of the lead batteries that needs it.

Hope this helps with the "Battery Minder vs Battery Tender" question.

JUst bought 3 tender type devices from the Black & Decker outlet store . . . $12 each !! We'll see . . . . .

matt621 said:

.... They said the Battery Minder can't be used on AGM batteries. .....

Click to expand...

Matt621, good information in your post but if you'll notice the title of this thread is referring to the plus models of both chargers. The BatteryMinder Plus that this thread is about (model 12117) works on all battery types just like the battery tender plus.

http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...-Amp-Charger-Maintainer-Conditio-p-16134.html

Quick little update. That lawn mower battery is still going strong..