has anyone used a http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Cha ... dbs_auto_5 on a Concorde RG35xc ?

thanks

Mine gave the same battery model an extra 2 years of use. Even in cold temps. Paid for itself that first season. Have also used it on solar batteries to knock sulfate off. Great little product. If you are in the mood to waste money, they make an "airplane" model. Same cicuit inside... just a different packaging. Of course the cheap one is for 12 volt batteries only. The process is fairly slow. Hook it up and leave it a couple of weeks. Each day will be a bit better battery.
Best of luck and Merry Christmas.

I use one of these with my 12v Concorde

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-cha ... -0128.html

I installed the ring connectors to the terminals, routed the lead under the left seat, when the plane goes in the hangar I just plug it in and walk away. Great product

I've also used them on cars for sometime with no complaints.

Well worth it. Got eight years on a Concorde RG35xc with the BatteryMinder hooked up whenever it was in the hangar.

Thanks guys. I ordered 1 and hope to have it this week

How did you wire it ? is the lead long enough, or do you have to some how mount the unit also?

thanks

My tender came with 2 plug in adapters one just has leads and you can crimp on the solder-less connectors to fit your terminals. The second set has alligator type bout 2" to clip on batteries. I ditto what others are saying will make your battery last longer.

I would put it another way: they will keep an old sub-standard battery atificially servicable. I think a problem might arise if you've been using a battery minder to keep your old battery up to speed and you go camp out somewhere, and maybe in the morning that old battery's not up to doing it's job without the battery minder's over night help.

Hotrod
You have a good point. I was thinking more on the line of a 2-3x a year rejuvenation so to speak.

I don't see how a sloooow trickle charge 2 or 3x a year is gonna do anything for a battery that a faster charge (2-4 amps) from a normal charger wouldn't do just as well. A friend of mine has "de-sulfated" (?) old batteries & allegedly brought them back into good condition-- some sort of device was involved but I don't know if it was a regular charger of some sort or just what.
A friend of mine used to keep his old battery on a minder all the time, and a couple times he forgot to plug it in when putting the airplane back in the hangar & the next time there wasn't enough juice to turn the engine over. Hence my remark about "artificially servicable".

The idea is to keep the resting "float" voltage of the battery up over a long period of time to prevent sulfation of the plates. Float voltage drifts down slowly between charges and the battery suffers. Like many things, this is less important if the aircraft is flown (battery charged) regularly.

I have battery tenders on several of my seasonal toys and they work awesome. I've having issues with my plane cranking in cold weather and been thinking about adding one to it too. They come with leads that you can put right on the terminal and then just plug and unplug a little directional plastic clip. I perm mounted the leads on my other stuff and hid the plugs. When I want to use it I just unplug the plug and go.

A friend of mine has "de-sulfated" (?) old batteries & allegedly brought them back into good condition-- some sort of device was involved but I don't know if it was a regular charger of some sort or just what.

Hotrod the item I listed is a desulfarator besides a tender.

A friend of mine has "de-sulfated" (?) old batteries & allegedly brought them back into good condition-- some sort of device was involved

I've seen these- some of 'em apply a higher than normal charge voltage for a short period of time, others superimpose an AC voltage onto the normal charging current in the hopes of "punching through" the sulfation layer. I was also told (by a tech rep at Gill batteries, no less) to charge my G35 at a 10 amp rate one time only to reduce sulfation.

I've tried several of these approaches, with mixed success, but have not seen any real science to support any of these methods. I definitely prefer the idea of keeping the battery well maintained in the first place, through electrolyte replenishing and trickle charging (Battery Tender) when not used often.

I know a couple people who will remove their battery & keep it somewhere warm, like in their house, instead of leaving it in a cold hangar or garage if they're not gonna fly (or ride or whatever) all winter.

Gotta be careful here....Battery Tender and Battery Minder are two different animals....and older Minders are different than newer Minders.....latest and greatest is supposed to be the new Minder that has a battery temp sensor that varies the charging output according to temps....and aircraft batteries are different than auto batteries re voltage/current needs.....starting to get like ROP vs LOP......before investing anything or running to NAPA, it might be a good idea to read the fine print on the web sites....then you will wonder how we every kept batteries working without the latest and greatest....sort of like being married, no matter what you do it's gonna be wrong.......

Recombinant gas batteries such as the Concorde RG series have to be kept charged. Once they go dead they will not take a full charge again. Have found this the hard way.