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Battery tender Q

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mrv8q

mrv8q

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After 7 years of TR3 ownership, I bought a battery tender for my 7 year old Costco battery, at the beginning of this year. Plugged it in as per instructions, and it seemed fine; couldn't really tell if it was working. probably used the car once every other weekend.

Amazingly, haven't driven the car over most of the summer, it could have been sitting since June. Yesterday, went to start the car: BRZZZUP. Nothing from ignition switch. Would barely turn over from the starter solenoid.

10 minutes on my 30 year old battery charger, car fires to life, and I reacquaint myself with the joys of TR3 motoring.

I would have expected the battery tender to have maintained the battery over those three to four months. The little lights on it said everything normal. From your experience should the battery have kept it's charge, or is that expecting too much for an old battery?

Unfortunately, I added about 3 feet of additional wire to the clamp ends of the wiring, so it's probably not returnable.
 
Have had mine on my Braille battery for over a year.
Started right up when I turned the key
 
Something isn't right with yours. These smart chargers/battery maintainers keep batteries at the ready - even when connected to a vehicle that has considerable "key-off" electrical needs.
 
Perhaps there is a problem but maybe not. If you connected this to a 7 year old battery then there may simply bee too much sulphate on the plates or the electrolyte may be too weak. Your regular charger may have simply been able to overpower these problems since it doesn't have the current limits of the Battery Tender. However, if this were a relatively new battery I would agree that there is something wrong with the Battery Tender.
 
One great thing about Costco is their warranty on what they sell. I'll bet they give you a full refund if you explain exactly why it took so long for you to know there was a problem with the unit.
 
Last time a brought a dead battery back to Costco it was just to hand it to them up front rather than coming back later with the core after installing the new one.

The old one had given years of service and was well used. I was just trying to save a trip and buy a new battery .

They gave me a new one.



pc
 
Brosky said:
One great thing about Costco is their warranty on what they sell. I'll bet they give you a full refund if you explain exactly why it took so long for you to know there was a problem with the unit.
Click to expand...

I agree Paul, but for a different reason. I was just at Costco this weekend to deal with my wife's Saab's dead battery. Costco came through and gave me a new battery in it's place. Costco is great in that they have a record of past transactions. No muss, no fuss exchange.

The battery tender is an Eastwood branded device. I'll talk to them over the next couple days and see what they say...

Thanks to all for the advice.
 
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