Trickle chargers
 

Those of you that use trickle chargers, what is your charger of choice?

NAPA already mounted near the battery when I boutht the car last year - done by the previous owner. Worked great all winter.

Maybe you're referring to a float maintenance charger rather than a "trickle" charger?

A float maintenance charger will slowly charge your battery up to optimum, then goes into a "sleep" mode. They're safe to leave connected to your battery indefinitely as their electronics have fail safes to prevent over charging, safe against accidental reverse polarity connection, etc. They come with alligator clip connections or ring tail connections.

If so, the two most popular are BATTERY TENDER PLUS (by DELTRAN CORP.) which inputs only 1.25amps. It's safe for a standard wet cell or OPTIMA type battery. I've been using one of these since '95.

Or, the other popular product is the CTEK US3300 which is a more high tech product from Europe. It has dual inputs of 0.8 or 3.3amps.

I have two of these. 1 for the Vette and one for the mower. They work fine.

CTEK MULTI US 3300 :thumbs: :thumbs:

I had an extra Chicago Electric unit I paid less than $20 for at Harbor Freight. Winter had just arrived so I thought, "what the Hell, the battery is 7 years old, I have nothing to loose." I changed from loops to clips for easy engress and on it went.

Still keep it on there between drives, no problems, no issues, OE gell battery still going strong.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...image_4327.jpg

I got this from Sear's... plugs into the cig lighter which for me is very easy. Cost around $24.00

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0048903911.jpg

:cheers:

I have 8 Battery Tenders: driveway gate opener battery, autocross Miata (5# motorcycle battery), track Miata, Z06 for when I'm in FL, Lexus at FL condo for when I'm in TX, spare autocross Miata battery, spare track Miata battery, one for Silverado when I'm in FL.

Tried other brands and stuff died. Especially a pain when the gate opener battery croaks when it's less than a year old.

get Battery Tender brand suited to your amp needs

:iagree: Best thing i did for my car for the winter! keeps battery well maintained in a safe way not just plain charging it! :cheers:

I got mine from CF vendor C5BearsFAN :thumbs:

Two Deltran Battery Tenders went up in smoke and I will never buy another (threw my other two away). I now use a CTEK.

CTEK MULTI US 3300 worth.every.penny

I use the CTEK 3300. No problems so far.

:iagree:

I just use one that's for motorcycles. Very low power and shuts its self off when not needed. About $20.

Have CTEK US3300 for my cars in storage, no issues great product:thumbs:

Same here.

I use CTEK's on all my vehicles.. motorhome, motorcycles, and corvettes... no issues with them. I used to use one from Sears and had it burn up a battery years ago. Switched to CTEK and haven't had any issues.

Have had a CTEK on my Vette for the last 10 years. No problems.

Phil

:iagree::thumbs:

Hey that looks exactly like my Schumacher I've had for 15 years and it still works great. (used it on my C4 first)
When I lived in Michigan I'd hook it up when the first snow and toss on the car cover and leave it till we had a good rain in the spring to clear the salt off the roads.
I still use in here in Fl. when the car doesn't get started for 4-5 days.