GASCAR

I just purchased a battery charger from Sears, the directions says to connect the negative clamp to the frame but the cord is so short the only place I can connect to is the negative post on the battery. Is this alright to do?

Thanks for your help.

z28flash

In general, I have usually used the positive/negative posts on the battery with no problems, but even as in the use of jumper cables it is recommended you use a frame connection for the negative. Hopefully someone else will provide better information, but from a quick check on the web it seems the posts are fine.

GASCAR

That's what I thought, thanks.

dbradley

Its a safety thing to cover their a**. It probably says, Connect the positive cable first, then connect the negative to the frame, then power up the charger. This order prevents a spark at the battery. If the battery was out gassing, it could explode with the spark. Just don't have the power on to the charger when you hook it up, you'll be OK. Later, if you buy a Battery Tender or such, the pigtail is long enough to put the 'connections' away from the battery.

rjwoerheide

As the others said, it's generally fine to use the negative post as your ground, but it's not ideal.

This may be a dumb question, but are you able to pull apart the positive and negative wires to give you more "slack?" When my Deltran Battery Tender Plus was delivered (I also bought the extension cord) I had to pull apart the positive and negative wires, splitting the rubber between the two wires, in order to allow me to connect to the ground bolt on the engine block.

C6Longshot

Why are you connecting the charger directly to the battery?

It is my understanding that the proper way to charge the corvette is to attach the negative lead somewhere on the engine/frame, and connect the positive lead to the positive terminal post located in the underhood fuse box. At no point do you connect anything to the battery.

rjwoerheide

Unless I'm mistaken (and anything's possible ) the instructions that came with my Battery Tender Plus had me connecting positive lead to positive terminal on battery, and negative lead to bolt on engine block (for ground).

dpigguy

My C6 came with remote terminals (both + and -) that are to be used when jump starting a dead battery. Would assume you would use these as well to hook up a battery charger and thus avoid touching the battery at all. Check you OM - the positive is near the fuse box and the negative is under the oil cap area on mine.

Would suggest use of these remotes a safer way to store the car. jmho

GASCAR

I am storing the car for the winter aand bought a Die Hard battery charger maintainer. It monitors and charges as needed. I did pull apart the wire some to extend it but the cable has a connection so that you can use other connections.

maxp

that is how they show to do it on the DVD that came with my C6

KB9GKC

Hello,

You never want a spark the battery terminal because you might cause an explosion.

Here's how to make it easy and safe.

1). Set the settings on the charger to the correct charge level.

2). Attach the Black and Red battery charger clips directly to the battery.

3). Plug in the charger.

To take charger off the cars battery.

1). Unplug charger

2). Take the battery charger clips off the battery.

This way you never have an arc anywhere near the battery.

Douglas in Green Bay

LarryMJones

Go to Radio Shack or an auto parts store and buy a lighter plug adapter. Connect it to your charger, positive is the center post on the plug. Verify with an ohmmeter to be sure.
Then you can charge your battery without opening your hood. Just plug into your lighter outlet. My Black and Decker charger came with the lighter plug adapter as well as alligator clips.
This is quick and easy and saves opening your hood to charge.
LJ

cclive

Yes, very good idea! Only caution is that you can only put about 20 amps back through the lighter without blowing the fuse, so if the battery is very dead, and you have a good sized charger, this might not work. For a maintainer type though, this is THE ticket...keep the hood closed.