hey folks,
Ive been doing some more budgeting and some research and decided i would like to put a battery tender in the vette for good. i was hoping some folks would be kind enough to share some photos of there installs an possibly give me a heads up on what to avoid when i do mine.

Cheers
-San

 

Never, I mean never need to put my 77 on a charger. Of course I've only owned it for 40 years.
It sat in a shipping container once. For over 3 months on its way to Australia. At the docks it fired right up and the clock was still dead on.
So, I have nothing to show you.

 

I am both amazed and disappointed. That's quite a flex I'm going to bet you are someplace warm and I hope the streak continues

 

Well for a number of years. I was in Northern Wisconsin. Not so warm. Last 18 years I've been in tropical Queensland Australia.
These 77 Corvette's really don't pull their battery's down like modern cars.
Admittedly back when I was in Wisconsin I would pull the battery and bring it into the shop for the winter.
But seriously have never needed to keep it on a trickle.

 

When we lived in the UK (not a particularly warm climate), the car lived in a lock-up garage a few miles from home that had no power, so I just flipped the battery disconnect switch when I left the car. During the winter I used to try and take it for a run once a month, if conditions were good. It always started just fine and the batteries lasted for 9 years or so.

When we moved here to France the car was able to come home, so I began using a battery tender/trickle charger (or whatever you like to call them!&#128516. I can honestly say I didn't notice any difference in battery performance, or life. Then we had a bit of an issue with the power here and apparently the charger didn't like the on-off-on-off of the supply and failed. I discovered that a few days later when I went to take the car to our club meet and found the charger AND battery fried!

So when the new battery arrived I did not replace the tender. I still disconnect the cut-off switch and that's all. The car has jus sat for 3 months unused for various reasons, but started as normal when it came time to "wake" it.

If I had a C5 or later, that may be a different story, as I know they like power all the time, but that said, I have friends who do as I do and just disconnect their C5 batteries....

 

I had a Trickle charger that put out 750 M.A. cook my new Interstate battery DRY. You need to be absolutely sure that the charger has some sort of shut-off or you could be buying a new battery by springtime.

On Amazon they sell a Callsun brand solar panels that are built to be a trickle/maintenance chargers. They sell them from 7.5 Watts up to 30 watts and they have a built in controller to prevent damage to your battery. I use these on my cars when they are parked because they keep the battery at 100% state of charge. I have them on the driveway with the wires attached to the battery, they go on and off very quickly.

The CallSun battery maintainer is a great little, inexpensive way to keep your battery in tip top condition. It will last longer using a battery maintainer!

If you use your Corvette rarely then you might want to consider the advantages of a Absorbed Glass Mat battery. The AGM battery has a very low self-discharge rate and can sit for months without being charged or driven. I use one in my RV where it gets used every few months and the battery works great for that application. Then add a solar battery maintainer and keep that battery happy and it will last years and years.

Keeping a battery fully charged will help it last even longer than normal. Many cars never charge their battery up to 100% and this leads to battery failure. This is why I suggest the solar battery maintainers to protect and charge your battery.

Take care of your battery and it will take care off you!

 

I have a quick(ish) disconnect. On some other cars/trucks, I remove the negative battery cable directly. If I had a goofy car with the battery under the back seat (looking at you, BMW), I might consider a battery saver, and remote-mount an Anderson plug, or XT60, or whatever. But as easy as it is to access and R&R the C3's battery, I don't bother.

Spilled battery acid is a much bigger deal than disconnecting a battery. At least for me. If you do use a tender, make sure it is an expensive, smart tender. Even then, you may want to limit the "ON" time to 30 minutes a day with an outlet timer.

 

on my 68, i hooked a tender up to the battery cable at the starter and i was able to reach thru the front fender openings to connect and disconnect. + to the positive cable, - to the starter bolt for ground.

and yes i use a timer for my battery tender. let it come on for like 1:30 or 2 hours everyday. i tried less per day, but seemed like if i truly had a low battery, less than that it wouldn't recharge.

 

I have never seen someone install the battery tender in the car. I use a Deltran tender on my 69 . I attach positive to the horn relay junction block and negative to the alternator bracket. On a 77 you could attach it to alternator output.

 

I purchased a plug in from a rv store and installed it in the wiper tray. I just lift the hood and plug the tender in.

 

that looks really clean, what brand did you go with? for the actual charging

 

That looks like the standard solar power connector. There are lots of options on Amazon, including this one.



Though I exclusively use it to charge batteries out of the car, this CTEK charger will work to maintain as well.

There's even a CTEK adapter to go from the CTEK connector to that solar connector.

 

I have the battery tender Jr. It also came with the connector that plugs rite in.

 

I keep Eastwood battery tenders on all the old stuff in my garage year round-3 vintage cars, a Harley, the lawn tractor and a battery from my trailer break-away. On the 76 Corvette I mounted a positive and negative lug in the battery tub and wired them directly to the battery ( the small harness came with the Tender). I just flip open the battery door and plug the Tender into that harness, I run the wire through the window and the Tender sits on the floor next to the car.

 

Most maintainers come with a pigtail with ring leads, I just attached it to the battery and it has a quick disconnect when I want to drive off. Or you can use the clamps.

And FYI - maintainers can make your battery last much longer than one than is not utilized. Highly recommended unless you drive your car every week.

https://www.acehardware.com/departme...07?store=19140

 

Have used this setup for close to 20 years now, the actual unit it mounted up in the garage rafters with just the leads hanging down. Just plug it in when needed. The switch is for winter time because of a battery drain.

 

A properly working electrical system doesn't need a battery maintainer and can only serve to mask electrical system issues.

 

I was thinking of doing the same thing with other upgrades like jumper posts....If I get to this spring I will post pics

 

you sir, seem to have forgotten about places like Minnesota, 70 and sunny in the summer and -20 in the winter . the intent for the maintainer is to prolong the life of the battery due to environmental conditions.