I have the Deltran BT+ and am wondering where is the best location for the Negative clamp to go. It says in the instructions to use a part of chassis or engine block but the damn cable is awful short. Thanx in advance for any replies!

 

Hook the negative clamp to the negative post of your battery. Thats what I did on my C5 and am currently doing on my C6. Works fine.

 

I bought an adapter that plugs into the battery tender and into the cigarette lighter outlet. This way I do not have to fool with the battery. I keep the tender inside the car on the floor. It works great.

 

The cigarette lighter adapter makes the connection easy and you don't have to go under the hood to connect to the battery. Safe, clean and simple.

Good luck.

 

what he said!

 

This is a safety issue and instructions for all the battery tenders and chargers that I have seen are written this way. The reason for using a ground as far away as possible from the battery is that batteries can vent explosive gas which a spark when connecting the negative lead could ignite. Before I connect my tender to the power outlet source, I connect the positive lead to the battery's positive post first, then the negative lead to the battery's negative post. Then the last thing I do is connect the tender's power cord to an electrical outlet some distance away from the battery. This lessen the chance of a spark and keeps you away from the battery in the event of a mishaps. I reverse the procedure when disconnecting the tender by first unplugging the power cord from the electrical outlet.

Hope this helps.

 

 

Black to black and red to red.Negative to negative ----- and positive to positive+++++++.charlene

 

I'm positive...use the negative...terminal that is.

 

 

Perfect.Save the Wave.>George

 

Hi Charity,

Just a word of caution there is a huge diference beteween a trickle charger and a true battery tender. A battery tender knows when your battery is charged and shuts off, the trickles don't - over time they can damage and dry out a battery. I suspect most of the chargers that hook in throught the cigarette lighter are trickle type. A quality battery tender usually comes with a two prong plug which wires to your battery neg. and pos. so the main unit plugs in/out easily - there is also usually an option of aligator clips for short term hookups.

Don't scrimp on the cost. Battery Tender actually is a brand name and they make good units. I've used them sucessfully for years on my RV and motorcycles. Shouldn't be necessary on a car though unless you have some some sort of short causing a low voltage drain which needs to be found and fixed. If your putting up the car for the winter, it's probably just as good to disconnect the ground (neg) and recharge next summer (if needed). Why do you feel you need a battery tender on a car?

Larry

 

You are correct when you say there is a difference between a trickle charger and a true battery tender. However, the originator of this post, sweetcharity, said he had a "Deltran BT+". By this, I would assume he is referring to the Deltran Battery Tender Plus which is a "true" battery tender.

Most cars today, and the C5 is certainly one of them, have a certain amount of parasitic battery load that is considered normal. A vehicle's parasitic load is the amount of amperage used by the vehicle with the ignition key off, to support such items as the computer's Random Access Memory, radio station memory, the vehicle’s anti-theft device, etc. etc. Even normal parasitic loads can drain a battery of sufficient charge within a relatively short period of time of several weeks (3 or so) if the battery is not recharged periodically during this time.

One of the hardest things on any automotive starting battery (not to include the deep cycle type batteries) is repeated deep discharging. Several articles that I have read in the past have stated that automotive starting batteries can withstand only so many deep recycles (generally thinking is around 10 at the most) before sustaining sufficient damage to the point of permanent failure. The articles concluded that battery life can be prolonged by keeping automotive batteries charged to at least 80% of their capacity. For those that do not drive their cars on a regular basis, a battery tender may well be a very cheap investment to help them keep their batteries properly charged. I'm one of the fortunate ones that do not have to store their cars for the winter. However, I have a Deltran Battery Tender Plus which I use to keep our C5's battery properly charged whenever we are not driving it regularly.

Also, simply disconnecting the negative ground and letting batteries sit in the car until spring/summer is not a proper method for storing batteries during the winter and can be very hard on them. The following links talk more to some of the causes for battery failure, how to properly maintain batteries, proper methods for winter storage, etc.

Batteries… Did You Know

CAR BATTERY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Hope this helps.

 

Be VERY careful when you do that. My 67's positive is grey and the negative is a dingy red. STOCK!!

Best,

 

When i first got the battery tender i called the company and talked to the people their and asked them about their instructions and they told be it would be no problem to hook it up black to black and red to red and that is what i have been doing for the last two years............But others can do it the other way if that is what makes them happy

 

 

 

Good advice!