C8-Chris

Hey guys,

I need your help this morning:

I purchased the DieHard Battery Charger/Maintainer (Model # 28-71219) at Sears on Friday night, and I have a question.

I plugged it into my C6's cigarette lighter input, and plugged it into the garage outlet, and it began to charge. I just had the car out earlier for a half an hour, so the battery was almost fully charged. It charged for about 25 mins, then switched to "Charged", but would switch back to "Charge" every 4-5 seconds. It would repeat this process for the whole night???


I couldn't find anywhere in the book, or this forum to see if this was normal. I even read "Battery Tender" brand's Manual online, and that symptom for them could be a bad battery. So I hooked it up to my daily driver, my Intrepid R/T (which has a brand new battery that I just installed a few months ago), and plugged it in, and charged for 15 mins, then started doing the back and forth with the LED lights?

PLEASE HELP!!!

Daytona Bob

Sounds Normal.

C8-Chris

The reason I ask, is the manual says when charging it will blink charge, but when fully charge, it stays in "float mode", and stays green?

AORoads

don't know about flicking back and forth, but my other brand (schumacher) charges, then goes to charged, then charges again over a period of hours, days. I don't think it's unusual. your car has things running in it all the time. thus, it's drawing down power. just make sure everything's off including that nasty little interior light switch.

VET4LES

My Diehard charger model 200-713101 light stays green when in the float mode.

C8-Chris

Thanks...anyone else who has this model? I think it's normal, because it did the same thing to my Intrepid?

Daytona Bob

Float back and forth mode

Lets hope other Diehard owners chime in

C8-Chris

Thanks Bob, hopefully soon because I want to hook it back up to my Vette before I back to work tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be cold the next few weeks, so I want to put her to bed, and need to know if I should exchange it, or keep it.

C8-Chris

Hey, anyone else out there?

cclive

That's normal....it charges and rests....this is the basic principle of a maintainer......its a good unit and will keep away the dreaded dead battery...

Ward1

I have one that does that also

C8-Chris

Mine charges then rests every like 5-6 seconds? That is completely normal?

cclive

Yes, that can be just fine....pulsing like that helps prevent sulphation on the plates...

ablackacre

I have used this model for years. I have given them to friends as gifts. I like the cigarette lighter plug-in feature. I have two of them on two stored cars right this minute. This model works great -- no problems, no worries.

C8-Chris

Thanks...I have it hooked up to my 06 C6 right now...Do you guys keep the unit inside the car or right outside? I have it hooked up to the cigarette lighter and the unit on a stool right outside the car.

Joe C5 C2

Interesting, I have two of these that are hooked up as I write this. The one is on my GTO that doesn't have any draw except a clock. This charger is cycling back and forth about every five seconds. The other is on a German car that is notorius for drawing down a battery and that one is only cycling about every 60 seconds. I think it may be the type of battery. The GTO has one of the repro batteries that look old but is actually a glass mat type and the other is a very good regular type wet cell. Both chargers work well at keeping them up and I have used them for a number of years and have another one that I had on a previous C5. Haven't used it on the C6 because I am drivng it every day since I got it in August.

I do keep them outside the car and connected directly to the battery. They do tend to get a slight bit warm so I just rest them on the floor next to the car on the side with the battery.

C8-Chris

Thanks for the comment...So keeping this plugged in all the time is ok, especially for a long period of time?

Thanks

richie15

I have a Schumacher also.It charges(orange light) for a few hours until it's fully charged(green light) and cycles on and off as necessary to maintain it.It will switch to an orange light just by opening the hood to unhook the leads and the underhood light comes on.

ablackacre

Also, don't forget about the clothes-dryer-sheets or mothballs trick when you store your car. My wife likes the dryer sheets best.

AORoads

altho a diff brand, I kept mine on from Nov. to Apr., taking it off maybe 3 times to drive the car. it's what is intended for the maintainer. you'll be ok leaving it hooked up all winter.