chrismoore701

Alright folks. I have a cheap smart charger and it is great. Problem is, if I leave the lights on or keys on well it sucks the battery all the way down to give me a fault on the smart charger and it will not charge. So I need to give it a little charge from my dads old school charger to get a couple volts in there to bring her back. So the question is. What is the best old school charger out there? Nothing to crazy I just need it to give me a boost

MikeM

I think you should install a red flashing light on the dash anytime your ignition is on or your lights are on.

I see from your profile you have a '63 model. The year that they had an ACC position on the key switch.

Get in the habit of taking the key out of the ignition when you turn it off and that will eliminate that problem. You shouldn't be able to take the key out with the switch in the ACC position.

Nowhere Man

Or buy a battery cut off switch and turn your car off every time you park it

Frankie the Fink

Well I still have my "dumb" 10 amp Western Auto charger from 30 years ago and still use it sometimes.

wmf62

Harbor Freight, about $30; less if you catch one of their frequent sales.

Bill

GTOguy

I'm an old school guy. Experience has taught me that new-school stuff doesn't hold up.....usually a failed 39 cent component in the circuit board that can't be fixed....and the whole thing is junked. I love old equipment that I buy once and use for 30 or more years. That said, I ALWAYS pull the key OUT of the ignition and place it on the dash or seat, or in my safe. Have had a TON of cars at work that drain out overnight with the key in but not on, not to mention auto door locks that lock the car with the key in the ignition.....a real drag. So: always remove key, and always use a stone-age charger....but you have to remember to turn it off!

chrismoore701

I agree about turning car off. I have a disconnect. But I was working on it and left the key on. Car is up on jack stands. So oops here. Just need something for the next oops.

Vettrocious

Can't tell you why this works, but if you have another charged 12V battery, wire it between the smart charger and the battery in your car. The smart charger will then charge yours from dead, (assuming it's still any good, that is)...

carjack007

GUSTO14

We have a service contract with an alarm company and they came out for a service call and as part of their service they replaced the alarm back-up battery. Service tech asked if I wanted the old battery as it was still good, but they had to replace it as part of the service call. I said sure, I can use it in the garage to test electrical components and bulbs etc.

Whenever I have a dead battery that won't let the smart charger come on. I just hook it up in parallel with the vehicle battery and the smart charger turns on. Amazingly it will hold 12 volts for months just sitting on the bench without charging.

Good luck... GUSTO

63 340HP

The 63 has the ACC position, and most 63's allow you to remove the key with the switch in any position. The habit to learn is to rock that he switch back and forth to the lock position after you pull the key out.

​​​​​​​Any 2/10/50 amp manual charger will work.

Mike Terry

just install a cut off switch on the battery, that is what I have on mine. If you stay over night someplace you just flip the cut off switch and close the hood and go to bed.

wmf62

and pray that the thieves don't have a rollback....

Bill