# Solar battery tenders in winter



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Unfortunately, one of my tractors has to sit outside in winter and the batteries really take a beating.
Theres 2 large batteries in her and they're already weakened by the extreme cold were having early this fall.
Anyone use a solar battery tender? I heard they can cause problems with "boiling batteries", but cant imagine how they could with such low output and it being so cold. Frozen batteries are trashed, even when they're new.
Would the tenders help keep them from freezing?
Opinions?


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## NewBerlinBaler (May 30, 2011)

I have a remote gate that I automated back in 2012 using a Mighty Mule brand opener. The unit operates on 12 volts DC and is powered with a medium-size deep-cycle battery. To keep the battery charged, I purchased two 7-watt solar battery maintainers from Northern Tool (much less expensive than the solar panels Mighty Mule offers). I oriented one panel facing south and one facing west so at least one panel is catching direct sunlight from midday to late afternoon.

The instructions that came with the gate opener say to run the solar chargers thru the opener's electronics (a charge controller circuit) as this will prevent over charging - nonsense. Those 7-watt panels produce less than 1 amp of charge current even under ideal conditions. Even on bright sunny days with no clouds, the battery only gets 5 or 6 hours of max charge current. There's very little charge current in the morning or evening hours when the sun is low on the horizon and no charge current at night. I connected the output of the solar panels directly to the battery and that gate is still operating with the original battery 5+ years later.

Solar battery tenders absolutely should keep your tractor's batteries charged thru the winter and thus prevent freezing.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

JD3430 said:


> Unfortunately, one of my tractors has to sit outside in winter and the batteries really take a beating.
> Theres 2 large batteries in her and they're already weakened by the extreme cold were having early this fall.
> Anyone use a solar battery tender? I heard they can cause problems with "boiling batteries", but cant imagine how they could with such low output and it being so cold. Frozen batteries are trashed, even when they're new.
> Would the tenders help keep them from freezing?
> Opinions?


Also an electric battery blanket (warmer) would do.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Just do not charge a cold battery.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Trillium Farm said:


> Also an electric battery blanket (warmer) would do.


Should have said in opening post that there's no electric. Electric tenders not an option.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

I have cooked a few batteries in my day and kinda like the newish smart-chargers as the tend to protect from overcharge. It is almost a unicorn hunt anymore to find a charger that is not a smart charger. Did a quick search and found this one

http://products.batterytender.com/Solar/5-Watt-Solar-Tender-Charger-With-Built-in-Controller.html

It is solar and should not cook your batteries.

As with smart chargers, it will also not charge a DEAD battery either as it cannot sense one is there or doesnt sense polarity...whatever it dont sense, they dont work on DEAD batteries or help ones that have sulfication (or whatever it is called).

I think it would make a good set it and forget it charger for cases such as yours. 
Mark


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## Northeast PA hay and beef (Jan 29, 2017)

Do you use the tractor during the winter? If not just pull the batteries into the garage our basement. It's what we do with our one tractor. Even if you do need it, sometimes it is faster and less of a pain in the ass to hook battery back up then jump or charge one.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

NewBerlinBaler said:


> I have a remote gate that I automated back in 2012 using a Mighty Mule brand opener. The unit operates on 12 volts DC and is powered with a medium-size deep-cycle battery. To keep the battery charged, I purchased two 7-watt solar battery maintainers from Northern Tool (much less expensive than the solar panels Mighty Mule offers). I oriented one panel facing south and one facing west so at least one panel is catching direct sunlight from midday to late afternoon.
> 
> The instructions that came with the gate opener say to run the solar chargers thru the opener's electronics (a charge controller circuit) as this will prevent over charging - nonsense. Those 7-watt panels produce less than 1 amp of charge current even under ideal conditions. Even on bright sunny days with no clouds, the battery only gets 5 or 6 hours of max charge current. There's very little charge current in the morning or evening hours when the sun is low on the horizon and no charge current at night. I connected the output of the solar panels directly to the battery and that gate is still operating with the original battery 5+ years later.
> 
> Solar battery tenders absolutely should keep your tractor's batteries charged thru the winter and thus prevent freezing.


I have 8 "Liftmaster" solar powered gates I've installed for customers over the years and I usually run (2) 5 watt solar panels with only the little "motorcycle" sized gel batteries in them and have had great success.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Northeast PA hay and beef said:


> Do you use the tractor during the winter? If not just pull the batteries into the garage our basement. It's what we do with our one tractor. Even if you do need it, sometimes it is faster and less of a pain in the ass to hook battery back up then jump or charge one.


Yes I am using it, but maybe only once a week. The batteries are getting a little on the weaker side. I had the same thing happen with an older tractor I had. I thought it was time to buy a new set of batteries. $300 later the new batteries were installed and they froze. I figured this time around, just put solar tenders on the older but still working batteries and see what happens. Why replace batteries on an older tractor only to have them freeze?
Hopefully this will no longer be a problem once I get moved onto a farm and get pole barns built. Until then, I have to deal with 1 tractor stored outside.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I know the Battery Tender brand offers solar models. Dad had a Gold Wing and the only way you could get a battery to last more than a year was keep a Battery Tender on it. Came with a cute plug as well you could wire directly to the battery and hide it under a side cover and plug the tender directly into that instead of messing with alligator clamps.

If you already have a solar panel they also offer just a control module to prevent overcharging.

http://products.batterytender.com/Chargers/10-Watt-Solar-Tender-Charger-With-Built-in-Controller.html


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

You have issues if your freezing batteries in Pennsylvania! You better be checking for a draw on your batteries! I'm in Massachusetts and the ponds and lakes are starting to freeze over now and dont have any issues.. 
Pull your positive battery cable and touch it to the battery, if it sparks you have a draw thats pulling down your batteries. Most likely from the altenator (unless its a newer rig that has an ecm..these will kill the battery with out a battery disconnect.) 
The days of freezing batteries are not at all missed.. nothing more frustrating than going out to move something and the battery is leaking juice all over ... nope.. not good at all.. and now they are so damned pricey its crazy..
The Tender will help for sure, but not if there is a draw more than 30 mAh.
Another thing is batteries hooked in series or even parallel will drain each other if not disconnected when stored for prolonged periods.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

skyrydr2,

The batteries arent dead YET. However, they were weak when we had the cold snap fri/sat.
Im anticipating they will go belly-up on me this winter. Thought that if I add 2 $13 solar tenders from HF to each battery, it might keep them alive thru winter.
The (2) batteries are hooked together and they are in a compartment inside the cab of the tractor. They are not directly exposed to the weather outside of the cab.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Usually all but one of my tractors will set all winter long and I don't pull the batteries. I will make sure that batteries are charged up good when the tractor is parked for the winter and then disconnect the battery. I can usually hook it back up in the spring and fire the tractor right up. The one tractor I use in the winter (cleaning driveway, etc.) can set for weeks at a time if we don't get snow and the battery will hold fine, unless there's something wrong with the tractor.

As Shyrydr suggests, check for a low level current draw somewhere. You can also use a test light to check instead of just looking for a spark. Using the test light approach will also let you find whatever is causing the draw on the battery by working your way through the system. You could also put a master switch in to provide a quick and easy disconnect of the batteries.

What make and model tractor are you using, anyway? Some are better than others when it comes to cold weather. I have a JD 4230 that the batteries are getting weak in and it was tough to start in the middle of summer. Were the new batteries that froze fully charged? Usually, a fully charged battery will not freeze.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

I say go for it, they will help, but I would probably fire the tractor up for a bit and run it to charge the batteries up. I use a maintainer on my dump trailer. It helps to resist the natural discharge of a battery, but its not going to charge up a BIG battery that is already partially discharged. The other thing to remember is that with all the modern electrics there will be some very small draw on your battery. That small draw over the long term can have an impact...


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

If you have a cab and the AC works, fire it up and let the AC run for awhile. It will help lube seals and such to prevent leaks.


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## chevytaHOE5674 (Mar 14, 2015)

I agree if you have problems with batteries freezing down there already you have issues. We routinely get -30* and a good battery should have no problem with freezing. If a battery is struggling in November when temps for us are in the low teen's then I retire it and buy a new one. A trickle charger may mask the problem for a while but when you really need the tractor the batteries are sure to give up on you.

Having said that my tractor that I need to start for feeding animals daily I keep a battery tender on 24/7 just to keep the batteries topped off and makes for a little easier starts when its super cold out. But it also has no problems without the trickle charger.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Also, check to make sure the tops of the battery are clean. Had an issue with a combine, pulled the battery cover and was covered in wet bean fuzz, just enough to set a current up between the terminals.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

The batteries still work, but they look like they're fairly old and I noticed when I crank it on cold days it's struggles. They haven't frozen, but I️ had batteries freeze last winter when it went down into the single digits for a full week. 
I thought the solar tenders might help extend the battery life. I've bought 4 rather large batteries in the last two months, and I don't feel like buying two more.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

This has been a year for batteries here as well, If I had known I would have bought stock in Deka last year.


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## chevytaHOE5674 (Mar 14, 2015)

JD3430 said:


> I had batteries freeze last winter when it went down into the single digits for a full week.


Then you have other issues. I can't remember having a battery freeze and a week of single digits would be a warm week up here. Last winter we had like 12 days where the high temp was -5 and I never worried about a charged battery freezing up...

I would be checking for a draw on the battery that is allowing it to go dead and freeze.


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

As a battery discharges the acid turns to water, and of course water freezes. I have replaced combine batteries that have froze without it ever dipping into single digits. The crew opened the cab door and turned on the radio whenever they worked in the shed, when one radio wouldn't make noise they did the same thing with the second combine. Of course they thought that it should be a warranty issue. I know batteries are expensive and I tend to use them as long as possible. It seems like everytime I do replace a battery I have all sorts of cranking speed making me realize that the battery was weaker than I thought, longer than I thought. Makes a guy wonder how much he saves by those few extra months of battery life when he considers the double whammy the starter takes. A volt starved motor isn't prone to long life and lower crank speed usually means it has to crank a little longer.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Wethay said:


> As a battery discharges the acid turns to water, and of course water freezes. I have replaced combine batteries that have froze without it ever dipping into single digits. The crew opened the cab door and turned on the radio whenever they worked in the shed, when one radio wouldn't make noise they did the same thing with the second combine. Of course they thought that it should be a warranty issue. I know batteries are expensive and I tend to use them as long as possible. It seems like everytime I do replace a battery I have all sorts of cranking speed making me realize that the battery was weaker than I thought, longer than I thought. Makes a guy wonder how much he saves by those few extra months of battery life when he considers the double whammy the starter takes. A volt starved motor isn't prone to long life and lower crank speed usually means it has to crank a little longer.


Thats a great point. Starters wear out when they spin slow-they have to strain to turn the cold engine over as it is. Add a weak battery and its even worse.
I will know with the next few uses if the batteries need replacement.
I picked up another solar charger for one of my other single battery tractors and I feel like theres a difference already.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Same goes for starters, put a new one on and geez, makes you wonder how they ever started. Used to get rebuilt, those are hard to find that are actually worth a crap anymore. Last time around I went thru two starters before the third one actually worked correctly on our JD401C, and they absolutely suck to change, whichever engineer came up with the ideal of hiding that back bolt where it is should have his own private corner of hell to roast in.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Glowing review of solar chargers from me. One on tilt deck is semi permanently installed. Have another that floats around to whatever's parked away from power. Both are on charge controllers.

The tilt deck takes about a 3 days of sun to recover from 2 complete tilt cycles and some use of the 8000 lb winch. Nice to never have to worry about it.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Also add I bought 5 of those noco genius chargers on sale last year and leave almost everything on one. 1 battery pays for 3 maintainers and I lost multiple batteries the last couple of years. With the maintainers I’ve ever recusitated a lawn mower battery.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

So if the solar charger is only 1.5 watts, is there any need for the maintainer?
I'm thinking 1.5 watts is about like a popcorn fart in terms of electric current.
Is a 1.5 Watt trinkle charger capable of boiling a battery and thus requiring a maintainer?


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I had one that small but never noticed it did anything. The ones I have now are 25 Watts I think.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Just checked the NOCO website. JACKPOT
Those are really cool.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I'got a pair of the little 37$ G750 trickle chargers on sale for 25$ each roughly. Saved a completely drained and frozen car battery with one of them after a month of charging. Other pair was the G3500's, work just as well but faster and some fancy settings for other batteries. Haven't used anything but the force 13 volts setting to start a completely dead battery charging. Has to be over 6 volts I think for the auto mode to work. I got a sealed gen2mini for a set of dual batteries in the boat. First one worked great until it got wet, supposed to be waterproof, exchanged no trouble.

Thumbs up for the extra leads with loop connectors and quick plug on the things. Also clamp on's in the box so you can leave the loops on a battery that is hard to get to and use the clamps on others.


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