Battery tender suggestion?

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mcahn
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:36 pm

Battery tender suggestion?

Post by mcahn »

My son has a 2002 M Coupe which is going to spend most of the school year under a cover in our driveway. I plan to drive it once a week or so to give it some "exercise". One knowledgeable person suggested I put a battery tender on it.

BMW makes one, but it appears to go into the cigarette lighter. I presume there's no path from outside the car to the cigarette lighter without leaving a window open. I see that there are other battery tenders that attach to the battery. That'll be a bit a pain to disconnect and reconnect once a week.

Any suggestions? Will a non-BMW battery tender do any harm?

Thanks,
Matthew

RealM3E30
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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 7:55 pm

Tender

Post by RealM3E30 »

Been using these for years. R

batterytender.com
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RAYADAM
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Post by RAYADAM »

BMW battery tenders now have battery clips. cigarette lighter versions are pretty much useless especially with newer beemers becuase the power supply goes away when vehicles assume full sleep.
I use my BMW tender under the hood on my 1M all the time. very easy to use.
Of course the company that makes BMW charger is the same at this website www.batterytender.com
Ray
2011 X5d
2018 Shelby GT350

RAYADAM
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Re: Tender

Post by RAYADAM »

RealM3E30 wrote:Been using these for years. R

batterytender.com
must of posted while I was typing !!! :lol:
Ray
2011 X5d
2018 Shelby GT350

jtt777
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Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:03 pm

Post by jtt777 »

This is an excellent one i have on my M3 all the time...

http://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Multi-12-Vol ... 863&sr=8-1

mcahn
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:36 pm

Post by mcahn »

Thanks all, I'll get one of those.

Matthew

MrMCoupe
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Post by MrMCoupe »

My BMW chargers have lifetime warranties. I don't know if they still do that but I would consider this before buying one. They do go bad!

Mark

BJerolimic
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Post by BJerolimic »

More than once this cheap $10 one from HF has been recommended to me:

http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic- ... 42292.html




I don't have one though
Image

and gone but not forgotten:
'00 323Ci Steel Grey / Black Dinan & UUC & Schnitzer mods
'89 325iX Diamond Black / Black 4dr 5spd Dinan chip, Ireland exhaust, H&R+Koni
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mcahn
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Post by mcahn »

Thanks for the additional info.

Matthew

momoboy
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Location: Bridgewater, NJ

Post by momoboy »

I also recommend the Battery Tender brand. I have 3 and they are at least 9 years old and all work perfectly. They have been dropped, rained on and one was even partially run over and they all work great. You might be able to find cheaper ones but when I am traveling and that is plugged in alone in the garage I never worry about coming home and something being burned out or shorted. Piece of mind is priceless :D

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