Comparisons of C7 Corvette Battery Tenders | By Chris Trautman
The C7 Corvette Battery Tender is an essential product for your Corvette. The Corvette is unlike your others cars. They are typically driven infrequently which then leads to parasitic electrical draw to suck the capacity out of your stored electrical charge inside of your battery.
Without driving your car the battery never has a chance to be charged by the alternator. It would not be unheard of for a C7 Corvette battery to be dead within 2-3 weeks, even a new one!
Add any changes like independent electrical devices and all bets are off!
So what do you do?
What GM did was provide a battery protection package to the vehicle when you were first bought the corvette. Chances are your not the original owner or you never got the tool that came with the car.
They run around $100
So what is the Corvette Battery Protection Package? Short answer: Its a small portable battery charger with convenience features incorporated to make for easier use.
The Corvette Branded chargers major features over the Battery Tender Brand is the convenience of plugging directly into the cigarette lighter and selecting maintain or charge. The selling point is convenience.
In short it's made by CTEK, and the closest comparison is the
The CTEK model 40-206 does not come standard with the cigarette adapter, although you can upgrade. Also, the controls are more universal if you wanted to use on a smaller battery. Once adding the adapter the price gets really close to the GM Corvette branded version.
Battery Tender 022-0209-BT-WH
Amperage: 4.0
12V Plug: No
6V Option: Yes
Price: Lowest
Charging Steps: Infinite
Safe connected 24/7
Corvette Protection PKG
Amperage: 4.0
12V Plug: Yes
6V Option: No
Price: Highest
Charging Steps: 4
Safe connected 24/7
CTEK Model 40-206
Amperage: 4.3
12V Plug: Optional
6V Option: No
Price: In the middle
Charging Steps: 8
Safe connected 24/7
Would you trust your $60+ thousand dollar Corvette to an $8 trickle charger? We don't, and neither should you! A trickle charger can barley keep the battery at the capacity you started with. A parked Corvette draws about the same amount a trickle charger can provide to charge your battery.
We do not recommend trickle chargers for 24/7 unmonitored charging. Your battery can be damaged since most trickle chargers do not adjust for charging state. Pay the little extra money and keep your battery and your car safe!
Save the trickle chargers for your lawn mowers!
Established in 2008 by Chris Trautman, Corvette Web Central quickly grew into one of the top leading Corvette enthusiast websites globally.
"This website is a passion of mine just as much as being a Corvette owner," says Chris. He was frustrated trying to find information on the internet about Corvettes which was was not biased or influenced somehow.
He has owned three Corvettes over the last twenty years and does not plan to stop owning one anytime soon.
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