Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/21/how-i-stopped-destroying-car-a.html
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Many thumbs up for this being a real product that a BB person has actually used for a reasonable period of time and likes! 
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A good maintenance charger is a really good thing to have in your garage, or toolbox, or wherever you store things. 
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I have one of these and the only thing I do not like about it is that if the battery is severely discharged (below 7 volts), it lights up the “Bad Battery” light and then nothing happens.
So I still have to keep an old Schumacher charger around “just in case” to jolt a really dead battery back above 7 volts.
Just had a neighbor ask me for a “jump”. She had a couple guys already try with a jumper box and with their truck. Nothing worked. Checked the voltage on her 3 year old car battery and it was 2.5 volts! Removed it, stuck this charger on it and it showed “bad battery”. So I stuck the old Schumacher charger on it for about 4 hours, THEN I could use this charger. Overnight was able to get that battery back to holding 13 volts.
This is my go-to charger for keeping everything topped off because batteries are sized these days to be “just enough” and if you do very little driving you will eventually drain your battery. Get in the car, start it, drive a mile, stop. Repeat, Repeat… you need to drive AT LEAST 3 miles to put back in what you took out starting the vehicle.
I’ve run into so many people at the AutoZone complaining that they have replaced their battery, their alternator, their starter and the battery still dies on them. When I ask them how they drive, they always say “I hardly drive anywhere! I just go to the store and back!”
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Exactly. Ctek chargers have the same low voltage issue. It appears they need a certain level of battery voltage to do their initial analysis. Too low, and it registers as a bad battery. Like the OP, I keep around a dumb charger for just these occasions.
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So does this have a feature that prevents my wife and kids from leaving the dome lights on?
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I’m maintenance charging my batteries right now!
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I solved that problem by having LEDs everywhere, can leave them on for weeks now!
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Sure, in the home. Hell, I’m kind of the worst one in the home what with all of my ambient mood lighting scattered around. In the car, though it would only mean my battery would be dead by March instead of February.
You do know there’s replacement LED bulbs for cars now, right? 
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Yeah, but that’s what I meant. Even at 1/4 the draw, it would just mean it takes a little longer for them to kill the battery… they will find a way.
Certain external LED bulbs may be 1/4, or even the same, if the car has bad bulb detection technology that depends on the load on the circuit, but most interior bulbs have closer to 1/10 the draw. But your point is well taken, if the car is going to sit long enough it will die no matter how low the draw!
Options include buying a car which automatically cuts power to everything (“auto off”) after a period of time, or your own battery saver circuit., also available at your local auto parts store.
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