Somewhere I had heard that battery tenders are not good for your battery's life. Has anyone heard this? If you're out of town for, say, several weeks would it be better just to disconnect the battery?

Thanks

 

If the battery is in good condition, a few weeks is not a problem for a battery. Look how long cars sit at dealerships sometimes.

 

Thanks! Reason I asked is that I went through several batteries years ago on my RT because I wasn't starting them up regularly. Two AAA battery guys told me to run the cars at least once a week. My current batteries (RT and Hellcat) should be in very good condition.

 

If it's truly cold out, and I am not going to be using it for a couple months, I'll pull the battery, and put it on a tender. Aside from those circumstances, I don't worry about it.

 

Thanks, HeyYou. My nighttime temps can get down into the low 20's but the garage stays pretty darn warm = 50 degrees the other day.

 

If buying a tender make sure you get what is called a float or maintainer charger. Some low level trickle chargers feed all the time and can be hard on a battery, but a float type charger will charge on and off as needed. Like mentioned, unless you have known issue with loosing charge I would not be to concerned. However there is zero harm running a tender. I buy the 15$ harbor freight ones, they work great, I have 2 or 3 of them.

 

Thanks, Dodgetruck2. Does it matter where you attach the tender, i.e., hood or trunk? I have a convenient AC outlet at the rear of my garage that would be ideal for trunk access.

Is this the Harbor Freight product? https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-de...ger-62813.html

 

That is the one I use. I guess it does not mattery where you connect as long as its a direct battery + and - connection. I would even be worried about going through a fused circuit even though there's really no reason you can't just if the fuse would ever fail you could create a reverse feed situation and possibly damage something. The odds of this are unlikely as the charger will be putting out very low amps in the circuit. However fuse can fail for unknown reasons. Just my opinion, beyond that I see no reason you couldn't.

 

Thanks!

 

Tenders and maintainers don't generally cause trouble but imported Chinesium units have poor quality control. You want a float charger attached to the battery at the terminals. Depending on where the battery is located, that's where you run the power line. The trunk can be problematic as the lid may damage the wires.

A float charger won't hurt a thing. Just use the end that bolts to the terminals and leave the other end of the charge cord in your tool box. Unplug it when you want to drive the car and plug it back in when you plan to park it for a while. This way your radio and other systems keep their memory.

Battery Tender is one product but I've seen cheap knock offs that LOOK like them but aren't quite right on the packaging. Personally, I use equipment made by Schumacher. I have several light duty chargers and they have always worked fine for me.