Clore Automotive is proud to include both SOLAR and CHARGE IT! battery maintainers in our offering. These are commercial products intended for mechanical repair shops, collision repair shops, fleets (long haulers, municipal, county, state), and any other scenarios involving vehicle batteries requiring regular charging.
If you are new to battery maintainers, you might be wondering how they are utilized in a practical sense. Whether it is a 4-bank battery maintainer mounted to the wall, or a single unit placed inside the engine compartment, a battery maintainer can make an enormous difference in extending the life of a vehicle’s battery.
Battery Maintainer Basics
For anyone who is new to our blog, a battery maintainer is more or less a specialized charger that automatically switches to maintenance mode once a connected battery is fully charged. In maintenance mode, the device monitors the connected battery and provides energy to it to ensure it is ready when it is disconnected and put into service.
This does two things. First, it prevents overcharging. Second, it accounts for the fact that even batteries at rest slowly discharge. A battery maintainer ensures that a battery is always fully charged and ready to go when it’s needed.
Common Use Cases
There are many reasons to make sure that the battery charger you invest your hard earned money into incorporates a maintainer mode into its charge profile. Here are some of the most common use cases we see among our customers:
1. Stored Vehicles
Some of our customers operate fleets of seasonal vehicles. These are vehicles that are stored away in the offseason. Think of a county public works department that stores some of its road construction equipment during the winter. A battery maintainer on each vehicle will help keep the vehicle’s battery(ies) in tip-top shape until spring.
2. Marine Applications
Commercial battery maintainers are ideal for marine applications involving boats and other equipment that doesn’t get regular use. Even recreational watercraft that is only used once or twice per month can benefit from consistent battery maintenance. Remember that a battery maintainer extends the life of a battery by preventing overcharging and continual discharge at rest. Clore battery maintainers are designed to be used on boats and personal watercraft only when the equipment is out of the water (such as when in storage).
3. Backup Power Systems
A commercial battery maintainer is ideal for maintaining backup power systems. Having a gas powered, battery-equipped generator connected to a battery maintainer ensures that it is always ready to go at a moment’s notice. That is critical when the a storm approaches or other emergencies cause an interruption of mains power.
4. Fleet Battery Management
We have many customers who connect their fleet vehicles to a maintainer every night to support battery health and ensure a strong start the next morning, particularly in areas that experience extreme cold temperatures. Often, due to their usage patterns, fleet vehicles see their starting batteries reach low states of by the end of the working day. Connecting to a quality maintainer helps to offset the negative effects of these low states of charge.
5. Landscaping and Lawn & Garden
In the offseason, landscapers and lawn and garden pros either store their equipment or address seasonal maintenance. Either way, pulling batteries off and connecting them to battery maintainers keeps them fresh and ready to go the following year. A quality 12v battery maintainer can be a landscaping professional’s best friend during the offseason.
You Have Options
Hopefully, this post has given you some battery maintainer food for thought. Perhaps you’re even thinking about buying one. Just know that you have options. Do some research to figure out exactly which types of battery maintainers would best meet your needs. Make sure that you match your purchase to the battery types and size that you need to service.
If any of the battery maintainers we carry seems like a good fit, do not hesitate to contact us with your questions. We want your purchase of a battery maintainer to be a positive experience.
