Ford Performance 5.0 Charger/Maintainer

[20ducks]

Anyone have one of these? Value or no value?

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-10300-FP

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[dusman59]

There are better and much cheaper ones available. Make sure it can do AGM type batteries.

 

[20ducks]

What exactly does this one do? The "maintainer" is what has my interest.

 

[Billycar11]

Anyone have one of these? Value or no value?

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-10300-FP

It's just a rebranded cteck I would go with a noco they do all that does and more I have the 10 amp and use it on all my cars

 

[ZL1_1LE]

I use mine all the time since my car is a weekend car. Bought it using the Fordpass points, no issues whatsoever. Charges the battery, and once full goes into maintainer mode.

 

[Dharri21]

I have a few of the ford performance rebranded ctek maintainers they are fine. no issues.

 

[armyGT]

I have the Battery Tender 3 AMP, works like a charm, does AGM Batteries at half the price. I got mine at O'Reilly's and got a military discount.

 

[20ducks]

Let's try this again: What does this unit provide, specifically the maintainer?

 

[Skye]

What does this unit provide, specifically the maintainer?

With a traditional charger, the device provides a constant force, to charge the battery. There's little, if any, intelligence involved.

With a tender/maintainer, it charges the battery up to the appropriate amount, while conditioning it. The maintainer exercises the battery, to keep it in peak form. For people that drive infrequently or for cars involving winter storage, they're worthwhile.

The attached has a short description, with a chart showing the conditioning process.

I've been using the Ford maintainer for the last three seasons. It's hard-wired into the car's fuse box. I just hock up and walk away.

Without a conditioner, the most obvious concern would be going out to a dead battery. A long-term issue, leading to a failing battery, would involve infrequent driving, where the car sees drainage from sitting, only to see overacting charging for the few times the vehicle goes out.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/batter-tender-battery-connection.172738/page-2#post-3580978

 

[20ducks]

Thank you. I see the unit has a wall power plug. Does this need to be used often or just once or...?

 

[Skye]

I see the unit has a wall power plug. Does this need to be used often or just once or...?

The tender I received has two ends.

1. A standard 120V wall outlet, to power the tender.

2a. Pig tail cable with two alligator clips. One end attaches to the car. The other, the tender.
2b. Cable with eyed connectors, for screwing down on something.

In the thread I referenced above, I documented how I connected the tail type 2b to the under hood fuse panel, the open connector dangling outside. When needed, the open end of the eyed connector is connected to the tail cable of the tender. The tender is then plugged into a wall outlet. This setup allows me to attach any time, without opening the hood. The tender is outside the car, so I can simply walk by and check status.

How often the tender is used is up to the owner. For people that daily drive or drive their cars every few days, a tender might not be worthwhile. For those that might drive only on the weekends, or have winter storage, the tender is definitely worthwhile.

The tender is designed to be connected and not disconnected again until the owner is going to drive the vehicle. There's no need to disconnect it when the battery is fully ready. The tender senses when the battery is peaked and backs off. This is a distinction between a tender/maintainer and a charger. A charger is constantly charing a battery. A tender charges and conditions when it senses that function is necessary.

The connection to the fuse panel with a dongle is the way to go. Plug it in and walk away. It could be installed by any individual or speed shop. It's two connections, tied down in the appropriate places.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mus...HTA-PEoQrQIoAnoECBkQAw&biw=1462&bih=739&dpr=2

Edit,

The Ford tender is a good product. As others have mentioned, it's made by Ctek, for Ford.

Ctek has their own line. Well-respected.

Battery Tender is another popular brand.

 

[LouG]

Maintainers are the dogs nuts. My bike was on a maintainer whenever I wasn't riding it. When I sold it in '23 the battery was the original - 9 years old and still turning it over fine.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Without repeating the great info here. I personally use the Battery Tender by Deltran. It charges the battery until it hits it’s peak then goes into trickle mode. You can leave it on the battery indefinitely.

To answer the OP question, that is about what the Ford Performance maintainer does. But at twice the price Of the Deltran.

These modern cars are constantly “on”, detecting the keys, resetting, sending info to the app, and accepting updates. These newer cars will drain a battery faster than older ones when just sitting. I’ve always put the Battery Tender on even my older ‘06 Mustang if it was going to sit for a few days or more. Because of the Tender, I got 10 years out of my Optima Red Top, and the only reason I had to replace it, the neg post corroded off….lol.

If these new Mustangs are anything like my wife’s Lincoln, they can go into “Low Voltage Protection Mode” where it just puts everything to sleep until the battery reaches a nominal voltage. Now I’m not sure if these new Mustangs do it, but twice, we had to jump the Lincoln just to get it to a point where the car “woke up”. So I have two maintainers and a jump pack for convenience.

Having a tender/maintainer is a great peace of mind, and highly recommend No matter which brand you buy.

Also…while on the subject, I learned from the Lincoln forum, that many keep their fobs in a Faraday box, so the battery doesn’t drain by constantly detecting the fob. Does it help? Is it a thing? I don’t know for sure, but just for the helluvit, we keep our fobs in a faraday box by the garage door. As soon as I open the box, both cars light up like crazy….lol.

I read the Ford maintainer description, and just am not sure it does anything more than the deltran unit.

 

[TcarterGT2024]

The ford accessory one is on national back order:(

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