Have you ever used a battery tender to prevent a battery from dying, for a car that you don't run too often?

I bought one of those for the first time recently. But when I first tried to use it, I discovered the battery I was hooking it up to was entirely dead.

I shopped around and read reviews and saw there were a few better models than others. I got a recommended “Battery Tender” brand, and it seems pretty good. I liked that it is pretty hard to do anything bad with it, but there were a few possible desirable features, and it didn’t have all of them. Other good features to choose for included more diagnostic detail, and the ability to not just recharge but somewhat repair a messed up battery.

I think it is a reasonable thing to do, but if no one really wants to drive it any time soon, I think I’d consider unplugging the battery altogether until someone wants to drive it.

” If I don’t start it at least once a week, or maybe a week and a half at most, the battery will be dead.” Something is draining our battery down. Modern-ish VW’s have pretty crappy electrical systems so this is not surprising.

But to answer your question, yes. I use them on motorcycles when I park them in the winter months. They work well. I do use “battery tender” brand. They have standard quick connects that you can attach to your battery when you want to get them on charge without removing the battery terminals.

I have my Mini in the garage all winter hooked up to a trickle charge battery. It starts first thing in the Spring when I take it out unless I forgot and turned the power off.

I have a neighbor with a late 1960s Corvette, that he takes to car shows from April to October, doesn’t drive in the winter., It is in a garage on a battery tender year round. Starts every time.

My husband uses one for his Porsche.

I think he has one he was going to sell. Maybe because we used to have two Porsches? I’m not sure, but I can ask him.

Your battery shouldn’t need a jump in a week. It’s either on its way to dying or your alternator might be going bad or some other part that communicates to the battery.

I just asked my husband, we have three. The reason we have three is his newest car can’t use the “old” charger because the new car has a different type of battery, so he was going to sell one of the old battery chargers. They still work fine.

This is my mom’s Passat, and I wish my daughter didn’t want to keep it for sentimental reasons because we don’t take it anywhere and it just takes up space in the driveway, but she does want to keep it so I am trying to accomodate her request.

I had it at the mechanic in the summer (2024) to see if he could find out why the battery dies within a week and a half. He tested it and he said the wires are all fine. I told him to keep it for a month and see if it dies. It didn’t die for him, but I suspect they started it to move it around the yard but I’m not sure. Anyway, he said it’s all fine.

When it dies and AAA comes, they test the alternator and they say it’s fine. Yesterday, the guy said the battery was from 11/2022 and it was dead so he gave me a new battery under warranty (bought from the AAA battery truck).

I told him I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t start so I could tell my daughter it’s totally dead, but it started. It’s registered to my mom and my stepfather pays for the insurance and all that, so I don’t want to spend a lot of money on it, especially since it’s old and we don’t use it. It has new tires.

I think it was my 2014 Honda that had a “battery problem” that wound up being a part that communicates between the computer and battery. It took them three service visits to figure it out. First they changed the battery. Car still wouldn’t always start. Then they changed something else. Car still not starting half the time. Finally, they changed that other part.

@JLeslie It starts right up as long as I don’t let it go more than a week. More than a week, I’m taking my chances. My 2015 CRV, I can go on vacation for two weeks and no problem. Someone said it’s maybe a short but most mechanics are not capable enough to find a short. Like I said, I’m not willing to spend a lot of money diagnosing it but it’s just a real PITA dealing with it.

Plus, you especially don’t want your teenage daughter driving something that might not start.

It’s sweet your daughter wants to keep the car. Maybe she will get over that eventually. Maybe when she goes to college.

I can ask my husband if he remembers the name of the part that had a problem in my Honda.

Someone offered me 500 dollars for the car, even though it’s not mine, and I told my daughter she could keep the 500 dollars but she said she’d rather have the car than the money. The guys at the mechanic are the same guys who have the AAA battery truck that comes out, and they laugh when I say I half wish the car wouldn’t start, so I could just be done with it.

My mom used to wish someone would steal our Ford LTD. Lol.

A bad alternator won’t kill the battery when it is just sitting. There is a parasitic draw somewhere. VWs are notorious for this. It could be a switch not turning off a light that is hard to see like in the glovebox, vanity light on the mirror or trunk etc. You can try removing bulbs for things like that and see if the problem goes away. An alternative to a battery tender is a solar trickle charger. I have used those without issues also. Probably the best option since you said it sits outside.

If you get one like this be sure you also get a charging regulator to go with it. The cheap ones from harbor freight work fine too but you’ll still want the regulator and they don’t come with one.

We had a VW Jetta Sportwagen that we didn’t drive very much anymore. It developed an electrical drain – battery would barely last a week. I got a cheap battery tender for it ( <$20). Car was much happier after I started using it. Engine turned strongly and started nicely every time. We eventually sold it since we were only using it to haul stuff back from Costco. Reduced our car insurance, gas, and maintenance costs as well as my time and attention.

If the daughter wants to keep it, then I would recommend that it become here responsibility, once a week, to go and start it. Part of owning a car is caring for it (just like a cat or dog).