Remote battery maintenance

0.8 Amps is not a lot a power, the CTEK 4.3 is good and it includes a battery conditioning mode. CTEK also makes more powerful models, but the 4.3 is good for maintenance and has enough power to re-charge a drained battery overnight, 0.8 is not going to be able to do that.

CTEK is what Ferrari uses as OEM chargers, but with the Ferrari label they are $400+

I like them, or the Ferrari equivalent, because it is easy to look across the garage and see the status lights to make sure all is OK.

$79 for the entire kit with extension cable and wall mount:
Ctek Bundle Package Mus 4 3 Battery Charger Wall Mounting Bracket 8' Ext Cable | eBay
Alden

 

.8 amps is just fine for maintenance use, which is what these are for. I have personally found little difference amongst all the various brands and types...I have $30 ones and a couple that are close to $180 or so. More features doesn't seen to correlate to better performance or reliability.

Nothing wrong with a basic .8 amp Deltran battery tender (btw, Deltran makes a "wall wart" version for even less, around $30). If you want to spend some $$$, Brian Crall likes the Granite brand...I bought one of those based on his recommendation and it does work well.

I also have a couple I purchased from Griots Garage, they work just fine too.

 

Well I've never purchased the $9 one from Harbor Freight, so no comment there, but I have used the Deltran Battery Tender Jr listed above and they work fine, as does the similar SureCharge IV that I also have. The only one I have not had good luck with is the CTek/Ferrari one that came with my 430 Scuderia...it has a peculiar problem of not always giving the "full charge" indication. Not sure why...but with plenty of alternatives, I just put it away and not worry about it. The dealer said I have the "upgraded one" as the originals had lower output and were troublesome, and were all given warranty replacements.

I've seen a few other threads related to issues with Ctek, so I am hesitant to recommend them...but there seem to be plenty of happy users. I can recommend the following I have actually used: Deltran battery tender (various ones), Griot's Garage battery tenders (various ones), SureCharge IV, Granite Save A Battery 12 Volt Vehicle "All-In-One" Deep Cycler
also used the Yuasa "wall wart" ("wall wart" in that it takes up a lot of space at the outlet, not walmart ) battery tender, which I believe is manufactured by Deltran, as it is physically identical to the Battery Tender Jr.
Ferrari of Seattle installed one of these NAPA on board battery tenders on my F355 spider years, ago, it worked fine, but am not really a fan of having one installed on the car:
https://www.napaonline.com/napa/en/p/NBC85300A/

I note that there are threads of people using and liking the Schumacher 1.5amp battery tender, and they are very inexpensive, maybe $25 or so, and often found at Walmart, Sears and other mass merchants. I think people simply liked the "Schumacher" name, though there is no connection to the famous driver.

Note also that many battery tenders are relabeled and sold under various brands. Ctek, Deltran and the Granite are often found relabeled.

Sulphation is real, but how big a problem? I don't know. I will tell you that some battery types cannot be recharged by tenders with anti sulphation modes, so take that into consideration. I have a Lithium Ion battery in my motorcycle and it can only be recharged by a very basic charger like the Battery Tender Jr or a Lithium ion specific charger, it specifically states NOT to use a tender with sulphation modes, like the Ctek, or Granite.

One suggestion, is have "one of each". In other words, have at least one battery tender that is of the more basic type, without all of the multiple modes. Like a Battery Tender Jr or Schumacher. One thing I learned today, is a fully dead battery cannot always be charged by these super sophisticated chargers...they just alarm and stop. So I am using a Sears "Automatic" charger set on 2amp mode to get things going on a completely dead motorcycle battery right now. (I keep it as an "emergency back up" for charging smart phones and my Surface, if my power goes out). Once it gets an initial charge I will put it on the Griots battery tender or one of my others.

 

Both of the marine batteries on my boat went dead when we got to our vacation home on an island only accessible by boat last week. Not a good thing at all. Luckily, I had power at the dock so I was able to charge them with the on board charger/maintainer. They are always hooked up to the maintainer when docked at home and are four years old, about the best I have ever done with boat batteries.

I have them both on "recondition" mode on two of my CTEK's right now, we'll see if it can bring them back from the dead.

But, I do think the answer is to have several for different purposes, maintenance, charging from low or dead, jump starting, and maybe reconditioning, we'll see how that works.
Alden

 

I have several and one I bought from Sears has the auto charge / auto maintenance mode and I think is 3 amps. It first analyzes the battery and tells you the percentage of charge and then starts charging. Once charged it automatically switches to maintenance mode. I really like it and it seems to be quality made. They have several versions of it and I have two models and really happy with both. By the way resonance priced and at sears you can return if needed etc.
Mark