Quote:
Originally Posted by somms
I'm routinely deployed for three-four month stretches every year. The idea of a battery tender when I'm not there to make sure everything is functioning as it should makes me nervous. I don't want to come back to a burnt out car/garage/home because something malfunctioned and went unnoticed for three months.
I've been using a portable car jumper twice a year for the past five years without issue. $100 from Amazon. The battery gets low enough after three months that it can't turn over the engine, but not so low all of the electronics lose their memory (clocks, radio settings etc all remain). Quick jump, drive the car for a half hour, and everything is back to normal. Still using the original battery that came from the factory.
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Grab a good name-brand battery tender and you should be fine. Don't go the cheap route as some of them don't know when the battery is fully charged and won't stop charging them leading to damage.
I got the 4-bay battery tender from Amazon on my Muscle Car, both of my motorcycles, and my 4-wheeler. My muscle car alone is worth more than twice what a 370Z cost brand new and I've been using it for more than a year now without any issues. If I use it on my collector car, then it's pretty safe. I'm extremely OCD about it...
Also: While you are deployed, it'd probably give you some peace of mind to invest on a $50.00 wifi or ip camera as well. It can be focused on your car and you can view it anytime you want. For extra precaution, give the login info to a local friend as well so they can view it on their phones as well.
Hope this helps...