Battery tender amperage guidance

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. For a battery maintainer, the 1.25A unit is fine.

 

Modern, or semi-modern cars like a 456 or 550s have more parasitic losses than older cars. This is a very general statement. Immobilizer receiver, sitting at ready, etc. I believe your tech thinks the smaller charger is marginal as far as overcoming these losses. I sometimes use a smaller or "trickle charger" on my 308, but mostly a 3 or 4 amp on everything. You could of course take a terminal off your battery and measure with a meter what that particular vehicle uses at rest. The side benefit of larger chargers is the newer generations mostly have more smarts as far as managing the general battery health. I have used Battery Saver and PulseTech and they both have high-tech chargers.

 

This and other forums are full of threads & posts about owners who have faithfully maintained their batteries with trickle chargers, smart chargers, etc. but age & heat take their toll and eventually the car is gonna leave you on the side of the road.

One way to avoid this is to have your battery load tested periodically and any NAPA, Autozone, O'Reilly, etc. can do this with the battery still in the car. You can also take your chances and buy your own load tester from Amazon, but I have no experience with these and can't make a recommendation.

So even if you put your battery on charge as soon as you park the car, have it load tested periodically also - it's the only true way of knowing it'll be there for you when you really need it.

 

I have used Deltran battery maintainers for about 13 years now. They maintain 5 car batteries and the 4 batteries on my boat. I have been getting between 8 and 11 years of life from my batteries. Current battery in 575 is almost 8 years old and going strong. The chargers themselves have worked flawlessly.
Very happy with this product.

 

I’ve used mine for about 15 years without any issue Also, if your a
Member of the automobile club they will come out and check your battery they won’t change the battery in my Ferrari but I have used them for my Range Rover and wife’s hummer They come to where you are replace the battery you get the same warranty. They use interstate batteries

 

I did some research on this and asked dealer here the same questions. The Ferrari's do well with low amps but 3 amps is also fine. The Ferrari maintainers are ,8 amps and the Schumacher ones that are hightly rated (Right with CTEK) are 1.5 amps. CTEK makes a .8 amp one that is exactly the same unit that Ferrari uses and buys from CTEK for the Ferrari 360 and 575M. I think lower amps just make sense and protects the electronics. I bought 2 CTEK units to preserve my sleds factory units.

Hope that helps.

 

My 2005 575M has been on a Deltran 3A, sometimes for extended periods. Never an issue.

 

I agree, Carl. I currently have this Schumacher SC1300 1.5 Amp Maintainer in my 550...


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Barry