Battery Tender 021-1163 5W Solar Maintainer

Charges battery to full, then trickle charges to maintain. My 2005 GTO sits for weeks without being used. I hooked it up and it told me my battery voltage was to low. My battery was junk and needed to be replaced. This will happen to you if you don't start it weekly and let it run for a while,or hook it up to a trickle charger. I installed a new battery and charger keeps it at full charge. This is a very nice product. I don't have to worry about using an extention cord.

I bought this to use as a battery tender for our boat which doesn't get enough use. I built a mount out of ABS pipe so I could mount it above the boat lift. It works very well, it charges even when the sun is hidden behind clouds and I have not had any dead battery probems since. Having a visible indicator that it is working is a nice feature. It is a good quality product that doesn't seem to be bothered by the weather.

My only complaint is that they (the mfg) doesn't tell you which model to use for a given purpose. That would be helpful.

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I bought this item to keep the battery on my car in shape. The car has sat since December and had a dead battery. The battery was fully charged in a day and I am very happy with how well it works. I would give it 5 stars but the cables are very short. I have a Mini Cooper with the battery in the trunk and the cable could not reach the front seat, if I had to connect in the engine bay I would be forced to buy the extension.

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I purchased a Deltran Battery Tender JR 5 years ago as well as a motorcycle battery. Both the battery tender and the battery are still going strong 5 years later, this is not a typo! Yes, I said 5 years! Anyone who owns a motorcycle (especially a Harley) knows that you typically replace batteries every 2 years. Because of the performance of my battery tender Jr I decided to pick up this Deltran Solar Panel. I recently had to move my bike to a garage with no electricity and had to install the solar panel on the outside of the garage fully exposed to the elements. I've only had it about 2 months but I must say that this solar panel has performed above expectations. We have had some of the craziest weather on record in New Jersey. Warm days, cold days, heavy rains, 50 mph winds, 3 and 4 days at a time without sunlight. Yeah, Mother Nature has been sending us all kinds of craziness. So today I decided to go to my garage and see what kind of mess this solar panel was in. At the very least I expected to find the panel damaged by all the rain we've had. To my amazement it was working perfectly! It was 2 in the afternoon and cloudy due to all the rain and the solar panel LED was green indicating a fully charged battery. The panel has not been hit with any sunlight for 2 days yet it has been able to fully maintain my 5 year old battery. Another great product by Deltran.

UPDATE 3/28/2013: Here we are over a year after purchasing this Solar Panel and it continues to work great. It has been through some of the worst storms on record here in the East Coast without sustaining damage. My "very old" motorcycle battery continues to be maintained. The bike started easily even after 6 months of sitting in storage.

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This unit was utilized outdoors to keep my collector car's battery charged. The car is temporarily stored outside under a heavy-duty car cover. I installed the Battery Tender 021-1163 5-Watt solar unit and placed it *outside* the vehicle on the car's windshield, then connected it to the battery.

I will say this: While it worked, it *did* keep the battery fully charged.

I had the unit for less than three months when I noticed the LED indicator had stopped working. When I inspected the unit, the small black plastic soldered connector (on the center of the back of the panel) had separated and fallen off. It was only held in place by some cheap glue and epoxy filler. When it fell off, that caused one of the delicate foil wires coming directly out of the solar panel to separate and break. The unit was no longer operational.

It's a cheap, poor design (manufactured in China). I paid $65 for this SINGLE unit, and it's NOT weatherproof at all. I inspected the instructions that came with it, and NOWHERE does it say that it's not weatherproof. One would assume the unit was weatherproof since it's designed for SOLAR power, but... you'd be wrong. It's not weatherproof. Apparently, it's made to be placed INSIDE the vehicle, on the car's dash... but for those of us who cover our cars outdoors, that doesn't work.

I disassembled and repaired the unit myself. It *DOES* work again, and now it's mounted inside my work truck out of the weather.

This is the second Battery Tender product that has failed on me. I have a Tender Jr. that stopped working for no apparent reason (and I couldn't fix that one, despite the fact that it never left my garage).

I will no longer be using or recommending their products.

I have since replaced this ONE unit with TWO Sunforce 5-watt panels (for the same $65 price). They are FULLY WEATHERPROOF and thus far, have not failed. I own a Sunforce 1-watt weatherproof unit that's been outdoors, hooked to my ATV battery. It has kept the battery charged and performs flawlessly since the day I received it, about a year ago. I suggest you try Sunforce brand chargers.

I'm giving it two stars only because it does still function and I was able to salvage it. But... no one should have to do that for a new product you've paid for. Epic battery charging failure here. Avoid this unit unless you want to mount it directly inside your vehicle, and I don't know anyone who's got the space in their car to mount something this size. My truck is a crew cab, so I have interior space for it. Most other's won't.

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