wayland1985

I can’t seem to keep my 01 SS’s battery charged. It’s a new battery, but I think sitting/lack of use isn’t doing me any good.

Grusselgrosser

I was having the exact same problem, in fact I just made a thread about it. Only difference is my battery might be 12 years old so it's to be expected it doesn't hold a charge.

I hear the deltran battery tenders are good, but I don't like the idea of leaving something plugged in to my house and charging all the time in case something goes wrong. It's a small chance but I don't want to worry about my house catching on fire while I'm at work.

I bought a Coleman solar powered battery tender at PepBoys the other day, it got pretty good reviews online and if something goes wrong, just my car will burn up and not my house.

5.7stroker

iTrader: (36)

If I know I'm going to be taking the car out the next day, I just hook this up to it the night before:

Battery Tender Plus 021-0128, 1.25 Amp

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I use a smart charger that auto selects a 2/4/6 amp charge rate depending on the state of battery charge; once the initial charge is complete it will operate as a tender/trickle charger if left connected. However, as mentioned above, I don't really like the idea of having it hooked up full-time in case something goes wrong. So I just connect it every 3 weeks if I haven't driven the car, let it charge to completion (which sometimes takes two attempts when the weather is cold, for some reason it always "completes" far too soon when the battery is very cold and it needs to be reset to finish the charge properly - two of these chargers have operated this way for me since they were new) and then disconnect it. During the winter months, the battery on my '98 Z28 is usually down to about 12.2x-12.3x volts after three weeks of non-use (connected) in a 20-40°F environment. At about ~50°F and above, it usually only drops to 12.4x volts during the same period. That's still enough power to start the car if need be.

I've been following this general routine for nearly 20 years with my various 4th gen garage queens, and I've always had good battery life doing so. Actually, I've never had a battery "fail" on one of these, I just usually replace them somewhere in the 5-7 year range as a matter of maintenance.

As I mentioned in Grusselgrosser's thread, if you have a 4th gen F-body that's draining the battery to the point of a no start condition in just 2-3 weeks or less, then the battery is either old/weak, or you have a drain somewhere, or it's not getting properly charged when the engine is running. Some models seem to have excessive drain from the day they are new (I know that some years of C6 Corvette are plagued by this), but such is not the case for 4th gen F-bodies with stock wiring/electronics - unless something is wrong.

As a side note, for my '71 I just leave the battery disconnected when not it use; it can go for ~3 months like this and not drop lower than 12.5x volts even in the cold. I don't mind doing that with this one since it has no PCM and no learned parameters to be forgotten. For the '98, I drive it so rarely that it would be in an almost perpetual state of relearn if I disconnected the battery during non-use periods.

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

If you think about it most houses have several wall chargers already in use in their homes. like cell phone chargers and such that people usually leave plugged in 24/7, The battery tenders aren't any different, They are 12v low amperage output. They can't overcharge the battery because they aren't powerful enough to do that. Basically if you feel safe charging you phone overnight then you should feel safe using a battery tender on your car.

PS: You probably have more transformers in your house than most people realize, Many appliances have them they are just internal, Clocks/stereo receivers/TV/Computers and many more, They just take high voltage and convert it to low voltage.... So basically everything digital has them.

farmington

iTrader: (14)

I have used my battery tender jr for over 10 years all winter ( around 5 months straight). No problems. Also my 10 year battery is still working like a champ too.

wayland1985

Have any of you used the cigarette adaptors?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I've never used one of those. I have no issues clamping to the battery directly.

Spartan7

iTrader: (7)

I have a Deltran Battery Tender Plus. It's a trickle charger, which is what you want to maintain a battery. It comes with a pigtail that connects directly to the battery posts, so you can disconnect the charger, put on the rubber cap, and tuck the pigtail away under the hood.

I leave mine plugged in all the time, I don't see what the big deal is. There's plenty of stuff in your house that draws more power and gets left plugged in. This one also turns itself off when the battery is fully charged.