I sometimes get frustrated when my girl friend comes back from a B&W dealer. Often they have told her something that doesn't seem to make sense in my gearhead mind. But I am no Mini expert so I thought I would gather the opinions from the folks here.

The Mini dealership wanted to sell my GF a trickle charger. They said, "because the mini has so many electrical devices the battery gets drained and needs to be charged frequently".

To my thinking, charging the battery is what the Alternator is for. Is a larger alternator not available for a 2007 Cooper S? Do they just want to sell her a $150 1.5amp charger? Why did they put in a whimpy alternator from factory?

What are the recommendations from the folks here?

 

Look for a small unit called a Battery Tender. Costs about $40 at auto part stores. It's a trickle charger and you can leave it on for long periods without it overcharging the battery. I try not to drive my MINI as much as possible in the winter (road crud salt leading to monster fenderbergs) so I might go for more than a month without driving it. I punish my other vehicles instead.
On the other hand, if you drive it enough I wouldn't worry about it, like you said, thats what the alternator does, good luck.

 

I use a Battery Tender Jr. You can leave it plugged in for months or more. The smaller Jr model is enough to keep a Mini's battery fully charged.

 

If the car is driven on a regular basis, the tender should not be needed.....

 

Battery Tender works great! Battery will last much longer if kept at a full charge.

 

ALERT - DEALER BS
The MINI's are no worse than other modern cars for using lots of electronics.
I only drive my MINI about half the time and it sits for up to two weeks with no battery problem.
If the car gets driven regularly don't worry about it.

 

I didn't drive my MINI in two weeks (bad weather) and it started and ran just fine. If your battery is discharging when parked, there is something wrong! You shouldn't need to leave a trickle charger on it.

The stock battery in the series two MINI is wimpy but adequate.

Dave

 

Thank you for all the advise guys.

I have told her she doesn't really need a float charger as she drives daily and takes faily long trips. But sadly I don't wear a mini tech uniform, so she trusts the expects at B&W.

Hopefully these posts will help convince her that sometimes experts tell you things that aren't always expert.

If I can't talk her out of a $300 charger, I will try to get her to look at the Battery Tender Jr.

Sadly, when advising my GF, my 20 years as a gear head and 8.5s in the quarter mile are for not. Without a name tag that says "Mini Expurt" I am just a schmoo in her eyes. She only needs me, when she is cornered by a spider.

 

Sounds like it would be better for her to put her money toward a better battery.

What are the recommendations?

 

What problems are she having?
If she drives it at least 2 hrs a week, with 15 minute trips, the bat should be/stay fulley charged.
A charger may help a battery last longer...but having to reconnect it all the time is a pain on a daily driven car...it is not needed.
If she is getting slow starts, the battery may be bad, or perhaps she has a drain of sometype.....

 

Towards the end of each summer, I would put the charger on my car's battery to top up the charge. I do this once a year on all my cars. A previous car, before I started doing this, would have its battery last maybe 3 or 4 years before replacing. My MINI is coming up to 6 years still on its original battery.

I use a CTEK 3300.

 

Charging a battery to 100% can lengthen it's life...helps to reduce suflation of the plates, but does batter "matainer", a $150-300 one make any sense!? You can buy/install one for $50 that is fine...so is the dealer trying to sell her something she does not need, or are they trying to remedy a problem, like a slow drain, rather than fix it?

 

I got a deal on the CTEK. It was on sale for $35 (CDN) It also does battery maintenance automatically when the battery is fully charged.

I would recommend the CTEK over a $75+ battery maintainer from a dealer. You should only need a maintainer if you don't drive your car for more than a month.

 

The Mini is no different from any other modern car. All cars, nowadays, have things that are always on. Like the car's computer, the radio, etc. They're not "on" in the way they would be when using them, but they are still using a tiny bit of electricity to maintain their memories. Things like radio stations you've programmed, seat and mirror positions, various engine management data, etc. Any car, not driven for long enough, will end up with a drained/dead battery. Nothing new here.

As for the charger, it's only necessary if don't drive the car for long periods of time. Like for months at a time. It's really easy to know when it's time to buy a charger.......you'll have not driven the car for a long time and it won't start when you want it to. That's too long.

As for the charger, 150 dollars!!! That's robbery! I've seen the Mini and BMW chargers close up (the ones at my dealer are under 100) and they're nothing but Deltran Battery Tenders with different paint and graphics. BMW/Mini buys them from Deltran, changes the appearance, and doubles the price.

If you really want one, here's what to get:

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender.../dp/B000NCOKQK

It's just a Battery Tender Plus. (Without Mini/BMW's fancy black paint job.) And it's highly rated. One of the very best battery maintainers out there. It's got "smart" technology where once the battery is up to full charge, it lowers the charge voltage and monitors battery voltage constantly. It won't ruin batteries by leaving it on. I use one on my motorycle.

No need to pay double or more for the same thing at Mini or BMW.