DODGE Challenger 2008-Current
Battery Charger & Tender PLUS
PICTURES and Information
Battery Tender PLUS©
Device
Details |
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Product Details
Battery Tender PLUS is lightweight, compact size
makes it ideal for those hard-to-fit spots. The trickled
charger with a brain will assure batteries are
maintained after charging and allows ready to go!
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Fully
automatic two-stage lead-acid battery charger.
Perfect for all lead-acid, sealed maintenance free
and gel cell batteries.
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SuperSmart™
Charging
Technology.
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After
reaching peak 14.4 VDC, charger automatically
switches to 13.2 VDC float voltage.
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When
voltage drops below 12.6 VDC, charger resumes
charging back to 14.4 VDC.
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Solid
state two color LED indicates stage of charger.
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Spark
proof.
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Reverse
polarity protected.
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12'
output cord.
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5 year
warranty.
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3-Step
Charging (Initialization, Bulk, Float)
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Short
Circuit Protected.
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You will
never have a dead or weak battery because your car was
sitting too long!
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It's so
EASY! The connector cord and female connector head
simply connect to your battery and stay connected. Plug
it in to the charger connector and keep it plugged in
for a constant trickle charge. It will only come on
when your battery starts to get low. When not in use it
simply tuck the connector cord (yellow Arrow) up inside
the engine compartment. Start your car and drive away.
You never have to open the hood.
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1.
How can I tell if my battery is charged or not?
Lead acid batteries are made up of cells. Each cell is
approximately 2 volts, so a 12-volt battery has 6
individual cells. It turns out that a fully charged
2-volt cell has a voltage of approximately 2.15 volts.
Oddly enough, a fully discharged 2-volt cell has a
voltage of 1.9 volts. That’s only a difference of 0.25
volts on each cell from fully charged to fully
discharged. So a 12-volt battery will measure at about
12.9 volts when it’s fully charged and about 11.4 volts
when it is fully discharged. That’s a total of 1.5 volts
that represents the full range of charge on a 12-volt
battery. To make a good guess at how much charge your
battery has left, you can assign a percentage of charge
remaining that is directly proportional to the battery
voltage. Let’s see how we can do that. If the battery
voltage is 12.15 volts, how much charge is left?
Beginning with 11.4 volts representing no charge or 0%
charge available, subtract 11.4 volts from the voltage
that you read. So 12.15 – 11.4 = 0.75 volts. Since there
are only 1.5 volts above 11.4 volts that represents the
full range of charge, we can divide the difference that
we just calculated by 1.5 volts to get the percentage of
charge remaining. 0.75 volts / 1.5 volts = 0.5 or when
expressed as a percentage, multiply by 100 and get 50%.
Here’s the procedure written as a formula that is
applicable to 12 Volt Batteries:
OPEN CIRCUIT BATTERY STATE OF CHARGE CALCULATION
% Charge = SOC
% Charge = ((Measured Battery Voltage – 11.4 volts) /
1.5 volts) x 100
Equation 1
That seems easy enough. So what’s the catch? In order
for this formula to work, the battery must be in a rest
state. In other words, the battery should not be
supplying power to any type of load. The experts say
that the battery should remain at rest for at least 24
hours to get an accurate measurement, but in a pinch a
couple of hours are good enough to make a reasonable
guess. Even if the battery is connected to a load, as
long as the load current is less than 1% of the battery
capacity in amp-hours, then this method is probably good
enough in most cases. It’s all a matter of how accurate
you want to be. If you’re a scientist or engineer trying
to develop a battery powered product, then you probably
want a more accurate measurement than if you’re going
fishing for the weekend and you just want to know if you
need to take the time to charge your battery before you
use it. There is one more thing to keep in mind. The
only way to be absolutely sure that your battery is
fully charged is to do a load test. It is best to have
the battery dealer do this for you. We only mention it
here because it is possible for a battery to indicate a
good voltage, but then immediately when you try to use
it, it acts like it’s dead. This doesn’t happen very
often, but it’s good to know that it is a possibility.
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2.
How long will it take to charge a battery?
We can make a pretty good guess by just dividing two
numbers:
Approximate Recharge Time Calculations
(Battery Capacity) / (Charger Current) = Hours
(Amp-Hours) / (Amps) = Hours
Equation 2
Suppose I have a 50 Amp-Hour battery. That’s a fairly
typical size for an automotive engine start type
battery. Now let’s say I have a 10 Amp charger. (50
Amp-Hours) divided by (10 Amps) = 5 Hours. So we would
estimate that it will take a good 10 Amp charger about 5
Hours to recharge a 50 Amp-Hour battery. Actually this
rough estimate usually tells us how long it takes to
recharge the battery to about 80% of its capacity. To
complete the recharge of a battery to 100% with a 3-step
charger, it turns out that it will probably take an
equal amount of time, or another 5 hours to recharge the
last 20% of the battery capacity. To complete the
recharge of a battery to 100% with a 4 step charger, in
most cases it will take less time than with a 3 Step
Charger to recharge the last 20% of the battery
capacity. These times are different for all of the
software versions.
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3. Is the Battery
Tender
PLUS
battery charger more expensive than a trickle charger?
The Battery Tender
PLUS Device will do a
much better job in maintaining the charge on a battery
than a typical trickle charger. The Battery Tender
PLUS Device will provide more long-term value and
hence a significant improvement in the total cost of
ownership. The initial price may be higher than trickle
chargers with comparable output power capability, but
like the ad says, "The Battery Tender Device is like a
trickle charger with a brain." That added measure of
on-board intelligence provides the means for the Battery
Tender PLUS Device to more safely and effectively
maintain the charge on a battery much larger than its
competitor’s in the same power range. A trickle charger
simply cannot regulate its output voltage to
consistently safe levels over extended periods of time
as the battery characteristics change.
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4. How is the
Battery Tender
PLUS
Device battery charger different from a trickle charger?
The Battery Tender
PLUS
Device employs a higher level
of sophistication in its use of electronic control to
maintain a battery in a full state of charge over
extended periods of time. The Battery Tender
PLUS Device
employs a charge control method to keep the battery at
full charge while minimizing the long-term risk of
overcharge and premature capacity loss. Trickle chargers
are simply not capable of regulating the output voltage
applied to a battery as the battery ages, or if a
different battery with different characteristics is
connected to the trickle charger’s output terminals. The
Battery Tender PLUS Device is capable of charge
maintenance on all lead acid battery types, including
both AGM and GEL cells.
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