Battery Tender
 

In contemplation of an extended absence from home, I'm looking to buy a battery tender.
Questions:
1. One site states,"Optional cigarette plug allows you to charge & maintain your battery directly from your vehicle's lighter socket (only use if socket energized with key off)" Does that work okay for our 370Z in the 12v outlet?

2. Are these tenders safe to leave on when no one will be home for 3 or 4 months? Any problem with a power surge following a temporary power outage?

3. Is there a make or model tender that is made for or best for our cars?

I have 2

One is on my z and one on my Harley.

My Harley has it on year round I only take it off to ride then when I get home it goes back on.

But to answer your question yes they are very safe b/c they charge the battery to full charge then turns off,and as the battery discharges it turns back on to charge it back to full.

I call them trickle charger. The one my dad has is hooked directly to the battery. Works great. Never seen an issue with it in two years. Even for months. Not sure if it's good on a motor not to be ran from time to time though.

You don't want to use a normal trickle charger for that long, this would be a small charge that is on 24/7. You want to use a floating charger, a battery tender is a brand name for a floating charger. Which is also a good one to get :tup:

So for your questions.
1. I don't think so, but for a 4 month period, I would take the battery out of the car and put it on a charger.
2. Yes it's save, just put it on a stable place with nothing too close to be sure.
3. The Battery Tender is a good one.

They are technically not a trickle charger b/c is has a little computer circuit board in it and it senses the voltage and charges accordingly.

And it will not charge unless the battery gets below a certain voltage,plus it has a fuse in it in case of a power surge the fuse pops and saves the charger.:hello:

I'll have to ask him more info on it tomorrow. Maybe it works different than I think. I just know he refers to it as a trickle. But it's worked for years flawlessly.

Old chargers used to be trickle chargers, they work but shorten the life and performance of the battery over time...

i use one with the umbilical cord hardwired to the battery and i just plug the battery tender's harness to that. my car's hood is unlatched while garaged.

This does work, BUT neither of the two (the one under the passenger’s side, or the armrest under the tray) interior outlets are powered when the 370Z is off. Also, using an interior outlet means you will be running a cord over the door weather stripping, and you really want your charger where it will disconnect at the pigtail if you inadvertently kick it. Running it between the door and sill means if you kick it, the charger will become a projectile tethered between the door and can potentially whip into your 370Z. I have my pigtail connected directly to the battery, and simply remove the cover to access it. However, I am looking for a better way to plug-in the charger on the 370Z that will not entail opening the hood.

I’ve had them plugged-in for literally years at a time. Had one battery last ten years on one.

Deltran Battery Tender Plus model works well, and have two of them. Nowadays, I would opt for the CTEK Multi US 7002.

yah, my 04 G35C's battery is 7yrs old, starts car like new.

i crack up at those folks that say batteries only last 3-4yrs tops. :D

Could have gone past ten, but psychologically decided to go new. (Yeah...I know...what a wimp!)

I have a Battery Tender Jr. on my 67 Camaro. I leave the battery connected to the car, and I have the leads hooked directly to the battery on secondary terminals (optima battery). My car has set at some times for 6 to 9 months and I have never had a problem. Its a great product. Just remember to use some fuel stabilizer as well. Add the fuel stabilizer and then put a few miles on it to make sure it mixes well and gets all through the fuel system. I would NOT use one that connects to your cig lighter. Seems to risky and why run a charge through your entire car to get to the battery. Just my opinion, better safe than sorry

Thank you all very much.

I just wanted to mention that if you use a Battery Minder it will desulfate your battery after it fully charges it and keep it charged. Kind of a bonus. Also I should add that this winter I had it hooked up through my cig lighter and it was perfect. So much easier than connecting to the battery itself.

Could I ask what make of minder or tender (same thing, I assume), what store and how much? That's what I'd like to get if it's safe to have hooked up when no one is home for a few months at a time.

BatteryMINDer® Plus 12 Volt 1.33 Amp Charger-Maintainer-Conditioner (Desulfator) | All | Battery Chargers by BatteryMINDers.com

That is the exact one I have.. prices vary a lot but product is amazing!

I also used the BatteryMINDer this winter.
Leads are attached to the battery permanently and stored under the plastic battery cover.

To avoid leaving the hood open while the car was parked outside, I fished the extension cord up into the engine bay and plugged in the charging unit of the BatteryMINDer. The unit fits nicely in the area where the water hose is.
This set up allowed me to close and latch the hood.

Is it the Accessory Power plug the item that plugs into the 12 volt outlet?
Looks good. Many thanks.

Schumacher
 

I use a Schumacher battery minder that can be purchased at Auto Zone and other auto box stores. When I store my Z and X-Runner in the Fall I plug them into a hard wired Schumacher battery minder until this time of year. I have done this for several years now with no problems...........:tiphat:

I think that I purchased an adapter off the net... you do not need one to go right to the battery but to hook conveniently into the cig lighter you do.

Right. I assume this $9.95 adapter plugs into one of our 12 v outlets instead of a lighter, which we don't have. Do our 12 v outlets work for this purpose when the car is not running.

I don't think these kind of adapters work on our car:

It's my understanding that the outlet you plan to plug the adapter into needs to be "hot" even when the car is off.
Ours do not meet this criteria.

Kinda' confused here. Does yours work in our 12v outlet. Posts indicate they are not "hot?"

I should clarify that I have not been using this on a Z. I am not sure if you be able to use it the exact same way but still completely recommend the product.

They are not hot, and go dead when the 370Z is turned off. After reading this thread, and its responses, are you looking to leave the battery charger inside the 370Z?

I can leave the tender inside the car and run the AC plug through the window to the AC outlet. The "cigarette lighter" or actually 12 volt outlet adapter is much easier than hooking to battery terminals. That's why I was hoping to make it work through the 12 v outlet.

The cig lighter can only be used with a batteryminder if it is hot (active) while the car is off. From what others have said this might not work in a Z. There are however hooks that you can simply attach to the battery 1 time and they stay there permanently, you just hook the tender to them whenever you want to keep it charged. This is also extremely easy after the first time.

Thanks. Sounds good. I'll check it out.

I just bought a Battery Tender for my car and the directions say to have it connected to a ground on the car?? I thought I could just use Aligator Clips to the positive and negative terminals??

you can do that. mine is hooked up to the two poles on the battery for maximum unbiased monitoring.

It's a safety precaution. I have it hooked up to the ground, but i read you can do the + and - terminals as well.

ok good to know. I may opt to do that also so that the clips dont get in the way... when doing that, you dont need to disconnect the car from teh battery, right?
If i choose to take the battery out of the car, how does it come out?? lol, i know, stupid question... I looked quickly last night and it just looks like the battery is crammed in there next to the fuses and doesnt look like there is room to pull out...

right, i just hook up the emblical cord and that's it. the car is connected to the battery.

this is especially helpful when you are working on your stereo, etc. as the curernt keeps the battery awake and so no memory on the battery. the tender will automatically switch between float and charge when it senses current draw.

Good to know, thanks bud...