I am a newbie here. I have a 2019 Fit, and have a question that I'm sure can be answered here.
After my yellow Fit wouldn't start yesterday (didn't drive enough to charge, because working from home) - the AAA guy that jump started my Fit recommended that I get a battery maintainer and charger. He said I could get it from Walmart, but I know nothing about it. When I looked it up on Walmart and Amazon sites, there were a few available. There were several types and sizes - one was Noco Genius in 3 sizes, I think. BUT I didn't know what size to get - related to my battery, for Amp-hours, etc.

I do want to get one of these battery maintainers in case I need it again. And to help keep the charge. But being ignorant about batteries (and other car stuff), I don't know what the details mean in the product descriptions. So I really need your help here!

My Fit battery is a smaller size one, and is a Honda battery purchased from a Honda dealer. The label on the battery says 340 CCA, 57 RC, and Group Size 151R. I don't know what other details to look for, like on the battery, to determine which battery maintainer to get.

Here's the description of one of these on Amazon:

NOCO GENIUS5, 5-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V And 12V Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation

Hope my post here makes sense. I need recommendations! Thanks!
Susan

 

I highly recommend ctek brand chargers. They are pretty much the industry standard now for the hardcore race crowd.

Don't get me wrong. The NOCO's get good reviews. I just know my race car buddies all use ctek.


That one I linked will do everything you need as far as maintaining the battery and will also work with AGM style batteries if your next car has one. They are slowly becoming the norm.

 

I should also say that I've personally used Battery Tender (Deltran) brand tenders for about 25 years now. They still work and get the job done, but ctek has replaced them with the serious automotive crowd. I only stick with Battery Tender brand because I have their leads wired into 3 of my vehicles.

 

Oh, also, don't overthink it. All of the decent modern battery tenders are electronic and made to work with every size and type of automotive battery in common use today.

Also, I mentioned leads. I highly recommend buying a tender that comes with leads you permanently install in the car or buy leads that are made for the tender you buy. They make your life much, much easier as you wire them to the battery and run the connector to somewhere convenient. That way you aren't fussing with the alligator style clamps all the time or having to remove the battery terminal covers. Just wire in the leads and hook up to it's connector for maintenance charging.

If you go with the NOCO charger here's a link to the leads -
Leads are included with the ctek that I linked.

In short, buy a NOCO, CTEK, or Battery Tender brand charger and you want a set of leads to make your life easier.

 

Thank you SO very much for your recommendations here!!! So very valuable. I will follow your advice here. Appreciate the Amazon links. Keep you posted.

Susan

 

CTEK is the best. It’s the one you’ll see at high end Lambo dealers, and I personally have 3 of them right now. I’ve tried other brands and they never worked or said they worked and the car still wouldn’t start. My CTEK has been absolutely flawless and maintained and saved a couple batteries for me.

this is the one I personally use


and def get the extension so you don’t have to have the charger close to the car

 

Thanks to the excellent info here - I DID get the CTEK Battery Charger and Maintainer. I do have a question.

I plugged the CTEK unit into the wall to charge it. Assuming that I needed to charge the CTEK unit itself before I could attach and charge my car. So I kept it plugged into my wall outlet to charge it - for like 4 hours. The little light on the unit was blinking the entire time. So, I don't know if the CTEK unit is now fully charged or not. I want it to be fully charged and ready for me to use on my car.

So, my question for the CTEK users here is how long do I need to charge up the CTEK unit so it is fully charged and ready to use??? Should I assume 4-6 hours is enough?? The little light on the bottom left of the unit stays blinking.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Susan

 

It is blinking to tell you that it's not hooked to a battery. The charger converts AC power to 12v and sends it to the battery. The chargers themselves do not hold any charge at all. That is what your car battery does.

In other words, do not have the charger plugged in to the wall outlet unless it is also hooked to a battery. It is meant to be plugged into the wall and hooked to the battery at the same time.

 

I think I got my question answered just now at a Batteries Plus store. The CTEK unit only gets plugged into the wall for the power to charge the car battery. So I don't need to charge the unit, like if I were charging my phone.

I just ordered the CTEK Extension Cord. This should help the unit reach from my wall outlet.

 

Yes. Use an outdoor rated extension cord and do not use in rain and it will be fine. I'd plan on hooking it up from time to time. You'll be surprised to find that the battery can almost always use a charge. Modern vehicles do not charge the batteries to 100%.

 

Thanks so much! Appreciate your helpful information!

 

Hello Susan, greetings from Brazil. How are things there? Let's get to the subject: How long is your car battery? Do you spend a long time without using the car? Have you ever done a battery test? Have you tested the alternator? I think your battery may just be defective and a device like this disguises the defect and pushes the time to buy a new one for a while. I don't know if that's the case but ... think about it. It is a known fact of those who have a car that the batteries when they are bad, from one day to the next they discharge and the car does not start the other day. Think that you will pay for the energy used by the charger, which will always be running current on a defective battery, but this only applies in the event of a defect in the charging system or if the battery is defective. God bless you.

 

The CTEK charger will tell her if the battery has any issues. It will also run a desulphation sequence and recondition the battery.

A quality battery tender/charger is just something that any car owner should have.

 

Hello Gafit. I found the functions of that device described by you interesting. Do people in the USA use these devices a lot? Is it because of the very cold winters in the USA? Here in Brazil it is rarely cold and I would say that nobody has this type of device. The good batteries (HELIAR) here last around 3 years and the cheapest ones last around 1 year ... very little. I have no idea of the life span of American batteries but maybe they are of better quality. All the best!

 

Our batteries are of no better quality, but our 2008 Fit is on it's second battery. The one from the factory lasted till 2016. So, that was 8 years. Second battery is now 5 years old and going strong.

That is due to the use of a maintainer that greatly lengthens the lifespan. Most automotive enthusiasts here use them and pretty much all motorcycle and offroad enthusiasts.

If you pair a good AGM battery with a good maintainer, they last even longer. The Optima battery in my Mustang is now 13 years old and still works.

 

Hello Gafit, I've been looking for some Battery tenders here in Brazil and I found in the Mercado Livre, (similar to ebay) the FOXSUR FBC1205D, charger, tester and batterys recuperator at a price of approximately $ 45. But most people around here don't even know that this type of device exists. For people who live in houses with a garage, it is an interesting device, but for those who live in apartments like me, it is not possible to use it because in the garage of the building where I live and keep the car, there is only a 110 Volt outlet. Returning to the initial subject, The question of leaving a car without running, stopped for a long time can cause some problems because machines were made to work. Starting the engine every 15 days and letting it run a little faster (around 2500 RPM) for about 15 minutes at least would not be a bad idea. Even better would be to take a few rounds around the neighborhood, so that all the equipments in the car works a little. Again going back to the initial subject, I would like to know if SusanT solved the Honda's battery problem. All the best.