fedoragent Posted February 13, 2012 Report Posted February 13, 2012 Gents, Today I bought a Battery Tender Jr for the Plym. i have disconnected the positive terminal, but not the negative one. The Tender is alligator clipped on. Is this a bad thing? Should both the positive and negative leads to the car be disconnected while the tender is charging? Bought this because the battery neeeded charging and was too low to start the car. Thanks ahead gents, FG. Quote
Merle Coggins Posted February 13, 2012 Report Posted February 13, 2012 No need to disconnect your battery, just connect the battery charger and charge up your battery. A Bettery Tender Jr. has a fairly low output so it'll take a while to charge up your battery. Also, most Battery Tenders come with a short pigtail that you can permanently attach to your battery terminals. Then you just have to plug into the pigtail to charge or maintain your battery in the future. Merle Quote
Oldguy48 Posted February 13, 2012 Report Posted February 13, 2012 FG, There should be no need to disconnect both battery terminals. With one terminal disconnected, there is no longer a path for current to flow out of the battery. Connecting your Battery Tender as you described will work just fine. Quote
Don Coatney Posted February 13, 2012 Report Posted February 13, 2012 If you have a healthy battery and no electrical drain on your system when the key is off you have no need for a battery tender. Suggest you look for and find the real problem as a battery tender is not a fix. Quote
fedoragent Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Posted February 13, 2012 Merle and OG, thank you. FG.. Quote
randroid Posted February 15, 2012 Report Posted February 15, 2012 Don, During the winter it is necessary for me to charge the battery once a month or it will be useless come spring, and that's in every car I don't drive regularly. I guess it's the sustained cold weather we get around here because none of the cars leak much juice but I have a stack of dead batteries to attest to what I said. I'll store the batteries in the (comparatively) warm garage, too, and know I have a good one should I put a car on the road. FG, Batteries are disconnected when charging if the car runs an alternator because if a diode is in the wrong position it can fry the alternator, but since our generators aren't over-burdened with many electronic fidgity things there's no need to disconnect them when charging. -Randy Quote
Young Ed Posted February 15, 2012 Report Posted February 15, 2012 Thats odd I disconnect the batteries in both my car and truck in november and come back in april and they start them right up. The storage facility my truck is in prohibits you from removing the batteries. Randy in those cars you don't drive regularly would the battery last if it was disconnected? Quote
Don Coatney Posted February 15, 2012 Report Posted February 15, 2012 I stick with my statment. If the battery is healthy and there is no current drain then a battery tender is not required. Quote
martybose Posted February 15, 2012 Report Posted February 15, 2012 I stick with my statment. If the battery is healthy and there is no current drain then a battery tender is not required. I guess it depends on how healthy the battery really is, and how long it sits and what temperature it is stored in. There is a self-discharge rate on any battery, even if they are disconnected. My own record with an AGM battery was a year and a half disconnected and then starting fine, but the same battery 4 years later wouldn't start my flathead after 5 months of being disconnected. Marty Quote
fatFreddie Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Batteries are disconnected when charging if the car runs an alternator because if a diode is in the wrong position it can fry the alternator,-Randy How can a DIODE be in the WRONG POSITION? Please research what a DIODE is. Quote
Frank Blackstone Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 I use to let my P-15 battery set unused for 5 months during the Winter until several went bad after only 2 years. Since then I havet a small interior light on or attached a small light to the battery AND attached a trickle charger to the battery. This keeps a flow going through the battery and keeps it healthy for the life of the warranty. Don keeps his battery healthy by driving it more than most of us do. He either has his priorities right or too much time on his hands and needs more honey-do projects. Quote
desoto1939 Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 I have been attending the AACA convention here is Philly for the past 15 years and there have been numerous discussions on the life of batteries especially over the winter time when we are not running the cars. There has been an electrical enginnering professor that has created a battery chager that is very similar to the battery tender model. Yes a battery will lose charge when it just sits and the cold weather is a garge does not help the life of a battery. So his suggestion is to use a trickle charge onthe battery and or to start the car during the winter to keep it fully cahrged When our regular cars and trucks are driven on a somwhat daily process we do not notice the drain becasue then they are getting started on a somewhat regilar basis. So the suggestion is to start the car/truck every couple of weeks and let the vehile come up to full, yes full temp so that the tehmostate opens to get the engine hot and to burn off any condensation in the oil pan. The accumulation of water and codensation is what contributes to teh build up of sludge. So do not, do not jsut start the car and let it idle for a minute let it run to get the water out of the tailpipe and the temp is up to the 160-180 mark. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Quote
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