Get a trickle charger or new battery?

Hello All,

TLDR: Had battery die, dealership said battery is fine just needed charge and that I should get a trickle charge. Looking for input on either a trickle charger(preferably a solar one if possible) or new battery.

I've had my 19 TRDOR tacoma for about 9 months and just this weekend I sent to start it and the battery was dead. I jumped started the truck and took it to dealer, assuming the battery was bad and would be replaced under warranty. They said battery is fine but needed to be charged. Dealer said I should get a trickle charger and said battery issue was due to my driving habits. While my average use is low(short commute to work ~8 min, don't drive it everyday, and probably only do one longer drive for camping/offroad trips once a month) I still don't feel like the batter should be having these issues. If my lack of use is blame does anyone have experience using the solar powered trickle chargers through the cigarette lighter? I think that style would work best for where I normally park the truck. If others have had battery issues, what did you switch to?

 

You shouldn’t have to buy a trickle charger for a battery that new.
Unless you have a bunch of aftermarket accessories constantly drawing power the battery should be fine.
Definitely a dealer issue.

 

A lot of people have had battery issues with the 3rd gen. I'd skip the trickle charger and just get a better battery.

 

All batteries sulfates when not charged full. Your alternator CANNOT charge 100%. If your habit is like mine, drive short miles every few days, you will need a desulfator like Battery Tender. It'll run through tests, desulfate then trickle charge. I've never had a battery go dead on me less than 5 years. Battery on car is going 7yrs. Even though truck is new, I hooked it up to a desulfator . It started desulfating at 80% even though truck had 2 miles on it. Never a problem with battery as I hook it up to a desulfator/charger every few months.
A lot of vehicles sits on lot for months not started or not driven long enough to charge the battery. The batteries will start sulfating if not charged.
Again, all batteries sulfates if not charged 100%on a charger, it will get worse as time goes on.
Battery should read about 12.6v after shuttingoff.
If it reads about 12.4 it's actually 75%.
12v and below battery is no good.
Running should read above 13v to 14.7v.

A solar trickle charger is just. It's not a desulfator.

 

Driving habits can negatively impact your battery for modern vehicles as you are pulling current from battery even when ignition is off. So anyone who drives infrequently or short trips will benefit from a
battery tender.
C7 Corvettes even have a battery tender port in the trunk. I keep mine connected the entire time I'm not driving it.
CTEX Tenders work well.

 

Coming from 10 + years in the automotive battery industry, I can say with certainty, that this is 100% accurate. Thanks for not just blasting Toyota OEM batteries.

 

My wife's car has the same problem with its battery, lack of driving and it dies regularly. I will throw on my Noco Genius G7200 battery charger on it, set to repair. This mode blasts the battery with pulses of high voltage to help break sulfation off the plates to allow a fuller charge. Helps the the battery last a couple years longer. I use the Noco Genius Mini for my RV batteries. Gives my double the life out of them.

 

I’m not going to refute any of this, but I can offer some experiences that seem to contradict this. I have a boat that sits unused on land from October to May and I’ve only once had trouble starting it in May (I replaced the battery after that). I currently have a normal car battery; not a deep cell.

 

The difference may be that your boat is not drawing on the battery when the ignition is off, most modern car's computers put a slight drain on batteries even when vehicles are parked with ignition off.

 

Except when I forget to turn off the accessory switch and the depth finder stays on for days. Oops.

 

Thanks for all the advice, I'm going to look into a desulfator. One problem is I don't have a garage or carport so I don't have an easy way to plug something in and use it. That is part of why I was looking at solar power devices that works through the cigarette lighter. Also the only accessory I currently have hooked up is the anytime camera mod, with the front camera.

 

That's nuts. Go get a new battery.

 

I was thinking of doing the same thing with my 2019 Tacoma, I don’t drive it very much but I already have a CTEK 7002 From my previous vehicle I was thinking of hooking it
up to my truck.

$150 CTEK (56-353) MULTI US 7002 12-Volt Battery Charger,Black

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-353-12-Volt-Battery-Charger/dp/B000FRLO9Y

 

I have an AGM deep cell X2Power/Northstar 24F I put in my truck after my stock battery died in less than a year. Have had the battery on the truck for over 2 years and haven't had any issues with starting, however based on the feedback across multiple threads it would seem the stock alternator is likely to reduce the longevity of my expensive battery

So, what's the cheapest, reliable battery tender / trickle charger that will do the job? The Battery Tender Jr. is cheap, but looks like it may be unable to fully charge my 24F (76aH) - is that true or is the cheaper <$30 fully capable of charging the battery, it just takes longer due to the lower power?

 

Not $30.00 but you get what you pay for. This would be my recommendation.

https://no.co/genm1

 

Had to replace mine as well. Got a trickle charger anway. Wasn't expensive and it's easy to plug in so long as i remeber to unplug it and not pull it out of my wall

 

Ive got 31s in my Jeeps in the garage. I use the ~25 dollar Battery Tender Jr. on both and it seems fine. The light on it changes based on battery condition - when I first hooked up it was blinking to charge, now its just solid green and maintaining. Havent noticed any issues based on size.

 

I use the same on my group 24 boat battery and Honda 450X MC battery, just switch it back and forth between the two every few weeks or so during the winter months. In doing so, my original Honda MC battery is 11 years old, believe it or not.

 

i have the Northstar 31M.

i was using this:

$59 BLACK+DECKER BC15BD Fully Automatic 15 Amp 12V Bench Battery Charger/Maintainer with 40A Engine Start, Alternator Check, Cable Clamps

https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKER...ecker+battery+chargers&qid=1578507156&sr=8-12

now i'm using this:

NOCO Genius G3500 6V/12V 3.5 Amp Battery Charger and Maintainer

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G3500-U...1_3?keywords=noco+g3500&qid=1578507233&sr=8-3

the jury's still out on the Noco. it's only 3.5 amps and it took over 24 hours to get the big 31M up to a full charge the first time i used it. there's a 7.2 amp version that may push more amps to get the battery to fill up quicker then it will go to a lower amp charge and finally to float. i bought separate battery leads to attach to the battery with a disconnect so it's easy to attach the device to my battery for maintenance.

the Black & Decker would charge up and i would get 13.1 v but after driving the truck it would immediately go to 12.7-12.8. i think i was getting a phantom super charge that was a bit misleading. i am curious to see if the Noco does the same thing. i was really hoping a charger would get my battery to stick at 12.8-12.9 when full. i didn't use a maintainer for a few years after installing the 31M so i may have slightly buggered the full charging capacity of my cells.

 

have the dealer replace the battery under the warranty. They changed mine. But mine was leaking. They were reluctant. But I was assertive. 9 months is a joke.