What is the recommended battery tender for a f150 4x4 5.8 liter

 

I'll assume just about any thing you can buy at say Walmart... or may be Harbor Fright. Personally I don't use one, my truck sits for months at a time during Winter.

 

Not the cheapest but one of the best available are from CTEK. The MSX 5.0 would be a decent unit for your use.

 

Same here car would sit for 6 months, Nov to Apr. in a (non-heated) garage over winter and never had any issues with the battery come start time.
It would also sit for weeks to a month in front of the house between use.
Dave ----

 

I have several Battery Tender Juniors that I use for the bikes, mower, winch batteries, trailer, etc
As an onboard unit for my truck batteries I use a Noco GenM2.
No complaints or issues with either.

Whole other discussion on whether you need one or not. For me they are worth it on the mower, bike, and trailer batteries. The truck batteries, like you are concerned with, I have no proof either way but plug them in anyways.

 

That is fine if everything on the truck can be switched off. Things like modern radios, phone/computer chargers (even when not connected). and some GPSs draw a tiny bit of current when turned off. Radios require power to keep the memory alive. How much? Let Scotty show you:

 

Just pointing out, this question is about a 86 Ford F150...

My 09 Subaru will sit outside in the cold for weeks and doesn't have any issue 3 threes out. I replace the car batteries after the 5th Winter just for piece of mind. It's $100 for some 5 years of use. Last time I had a battery die on me in my DD back in the late 90's early 00's that OEM battery was some 8 years old.

The Advance Auto Parts battery died in the 86 F150 after 9 years.

The battery in my Husqvarna lawn tractor sits in the cold shed all winter and starts fine. The replacement battery is like $30.00 every 5 or 6 years.

I'm 66y/o old. have been through lots of batteries without a tender.

 

And on the flip side of that, I used one in the Mercedes and I just finally had to replace the original batteries that were a few months short of 17 years old....

 

Not all 86 150s are dead stock. Some have after market radios. A bunch have cigar lighters that can run a cell phone power supply which some drivers forget to unplug. All have 35 year old wiring and switches. A switch that once was On/Off may now be On/Noff: not On enough to make an overhead light come on, and not Off enough to keep maverick electrons from flowing.

Also, batteries without any load will discharge over time. For a plain old lead acid battery, the rate is between 1% and 25% per month depending on the battery's starting condition and environment (mostly temperature). Cold storage will decrease the rate, and warm with accelerate it. Add in parasitic drain, and the drain is higher. For each 0.03 amps of parasite drain, the storage time is cut in half.

To the OP: If the battery is healthy, no parasitic drain, and kept in a place that will not freeze, leaving it for a month should be no problem. If you disconnect a healthy battery and the temperature is a constant 75*, the charge will be 50% after 10 months which should be enough to start the truck. If the temperature is colder, the time will increase; hotter it will decrease. Start with a weak battery, and who knows. IMHO, if you plan on leaving the truck for a couple months and it doesn't start when you return, buy a new battery (after checking for parasite drain). The money spent on a quality tender and electricity to run it would be go a long way to a new battery and four or five years without worry.

If you want something to keep the battery charged while working on the truck and systems running without idling the engine, I have a very old El Cheapo brand "charger" that has a 2 and a 6 amp setting. If I'm running the radio only, the 2 amp is fine. Working on exterior lights, 6 amps works fine. It will charge a battery from near dead, but it takes all day.

https://homebatterybank.com/how-fast...battery-drain/
Battery Self Discharge Rates ? Battery Education
Why Does Storing a Car Battery on a Concrete Floor Drain It?

 

I use a Battery Tender Junior that I got from Hon Dipo on sale for about $25. Works great and will charge up a 800 CCA overnight. I only use it when the truck sits for over a week or two.

 

I have installed these on a fair few customer vehicles, they seem to work great. Also have the option of using clamps for temporary use, or hardwiring.

 

I have never used a hardwired maintainer. My early mechanic's training taught me to disconnect the battery when charging to avoid damage to the electrical system.

Inspect the battery for damage cracks, leaks and top off cells with DI before charging. Clean the terminals before reconnecting after charged. The battery should hold a full charge for about 6 months if there is no significant drain.

If you do wait that long before needing to use your truck then check on the state of charge and if low charge again just before you need to put it in use. You'd like to have about 12.3 to 12.4V minimum for ease of starting.