[Guido S]

I know just enough to be confused. It seems like the trickle is used to maintain voltage for coding but isn't the go to choice for a dead battery. Yet I've been reading about how good trickles are in desulphating a battery and restoring its ability to hold a charge. So do I go with a trickle charger, a dedicated battery charger or both? Tell me what you are using so I can get something that works well with our cars. Thanks guys.

[John 070]

My understanding is something like this is for coding. It has to be able to provide the amperage cleanly, meaning at 70 amps it's still doing 13.8 v or whatever the exact number is, in other words, you shouldn't use a $70 unit for coding:

https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-IN...umacher+70+amp

Seems like for maintaining most of us use battery tenders. No complaints. But it's only 1.25A.

edit: use at your own risk as I have not tried it, but based on my research, if you got one of these, it would do it all, including coding, as you could screw down some jumper cable clamps, and this would do the job of the $500 machine. You can't get the 70 or 65 amp versions unless you have a 20 amp receptacle in your house (it has a different plug)....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

You'll want a CTEK 8-step for desulphation. I personally went with a Black & Decker 6/12v charger for dirt cheap. I think it was $12. Works great. Charges the battery no problem.

[DASHOCKER]

ctek ftw

[unrealii]

ctek 7002. Has the 8 step battery charge function. Can also supply current at 7A which I use for flashing.

[jwalker87]

Both. I have a Deltran Battery Tender Plus for maintaining batteries that aren't in use and a Schumacher SC1200A battery charger for charging dead batteries and for coding. It can do 12A which is sufficient for any draw the car makes.

Both of these work extremely well for their designated purpose.

[kaybat]

bought this thing,works great.
https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G750-Ult...battery+tender

[Maestro]

I will tell you this, I have a battery Tender and it will charge up a dead battery over night. I have cars sit for weeks and then has a dead battery and I throw on the tender and the next morning it is fully charged and fires right up. You can not use a tender for keeping the battery charged if you doing work on the car, starting it up and running the electronics.

A good battery charger will have a trickle charge mode or tender mode so it can rapidly charge a dead battery as well as keep it top off when the car is sitting.

[Nguyenhu0106]

i would strongly consider a battery tender, i personally have a ctek and it works great. i have it wired in the engine bay to the terminals with one of the included connectors now every couple of weeks i'll leave the hood popped and just plug it in. I never knew how much a battery can deplete until i first connected it. it took almost two days to complete.

[BruceJ]

Originally Posted by unrealii

ctek 7002. Has the 8 step battery charge function. Can also supply current at 7A which I use for flashing.

+1 (BMW sells a branded version of this, for more money of course)
https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-353-1.../dp/B000FRLO9Y

Does a great job on batteries, especially if its your getaway car that gets driven little. Either to keep it on a long term charge or de-sulphate it when you let it drain due to non-use.

Coding - just turn the engine on and open the garage door. Its about 500-700 bucks for something that can maintain the battery against heavy drain. Coding doesn't take that long if you are using a Carly.

Have fun
Bruce

[John 070]

Originally Posted by BruceJ

+1 (BMW sells a branded version of this, for more money of course)
https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-353-1.../dp/B000FRLO9Y

Does a great job on batteries, especially if its your getaway car that gets driven little. Either to keep it on a long term charge or de-sulphate it when you let it drain due to non-use.

Coding - just turn the engine on and open the garage door. Its about 500-700 bucks for something that can maintain the battery against heavy drain. Coding doesn't take that long if you are using a Carly.

Have fun
Bruce

I was able to do the abl brake bleed with Ista D on my battery, although I was worried if the battery drained, the software would quit.

I knew I wasn't crazy, some suggested < $100 devices for coding. Not saying it won't work, but wouldn't want to know the voltage if the car drew some serious amps, it's not gonna stay 13.8

[BruceJ]

Originally Posted by John 070

I was able to do the abl brake bleed with Ista D on my battery, although I was worried if the battery drained, the software would quit.

I knew I wasn't crazy, some suggested < $100 devices for coding. Not saying it won't work, but wouldn't want to know the voltage if the car drew some serious amps, it's not gonna stay 13.8

Any coding action that rewrites the firmware of an ECU is definitely voltage sensitive. "IIRC" the Carly App will monitor and stop coding if it notices battery voltage below 13.0 volts. Easy enough to monitor with a multi-meter if you are using something else that lacks built in monitoring.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by BruceJ

Any coding action that rewrites the firmware of an ECU is definitely voltage sensitive. "IIRC" the Carly App will monitor and stop coding if it notices battery voltage below 13.0 volts. Easy enough to monitor with a multi-meter if you are using something else that lacks built in monitoring.

Yep...I could have started the motor, but didn't want to hoping it was not necessary, and it wasn't....in my case, the worst thing that would have happened would be that I would have to start the bleed all over, from the rear right, not the end of the world. No modules or anything would have been toast.

Again, from my research, this totally does the job, although, I have not tried it so anyone doing so, do at your own risk. But I pulled the spec sheet from the mfg. and this is "CLEAN" power.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Again, above 55 amps, the ac line cord is a 20 amp plug, so unless you have that type of receptacle in your garage, you'd be unable to use the units above 55 amps (they do not cost much more).

The other thing is if you use the device infrequently, it's a shame that one day, it will fail. these boxes provide clean power for use in RVs, and I see that people must replace them after a few years. Granted, coding may be used so infrequently that it would never be replaced.

Honestly, when people recommend < $100 devices as battery chargers that can be used for coding, I don't think they realize the voltage could spike up to 16 if the car starts drawing power...there's a reason for these $500+ chargers used for coding. And to be honest, I was never aware of the expensive chargers until I was watching a YouTube and wondering that that brick was connected to the car while a guy was bleeding his brakes using the computer to do so (ABL bleed)....

[JP's BMW]

i just bought a CTek charger yesterday that does both charge and condition.