Do you guys disconnect your battery when using a battery tender on your Z06?

 

By disconnect, do you mean the negative cable? No, my electrical system is live while my BATTERY TENDER PLUS is connected during periods of hibernation.

 

On occasion, without disconnecting the terminals on my '07 or '03 Z06, when I first connect the battery tender, I have experienced the "red" indicator light occasionally which indicates an "open" in the circuit or poor connection to the terminals. Disconnecting the terminals and only charging the isolated battery corrects the problem.
However for now, both Z's are sitting with battery tenders connected and terminals connected and all is well.... (i.e. "Green" 98% of the time with an occasional shift to "yellow" when charging.....
Hope this helps......

 

Thanks for the replies!!
I'm old school and was taught to always disconect the negative cable before charging but I guess the charge rate on the battery tender is low enough to not damage the electronics while the battery is connected.

 

I have numerous muscle cars and I used Battery Tenders for years. I found out about BatteryMinderPlus from a buddy at a car show and they are much better then the Tenders. The BatteryMinderplus actually charges and reconditions the battery. I now use them on 4 muscle cars with different types of batterys and they are great and also a money saver. They have actually brought back too life a few batterys that I thought would need to be replaced. They also do not overcharge like Tenders can do. Check them out:

BatteryMINDer Plus is the latest of a new generation of "Computer-On-A-Chip" technology chargers. It conditions "sulfated" batteries as well as automatically charging any type 12 volt storage battery without ever over-charging.

The BatteryMINDer Plus is a 3-mode charger/maintainer/conditioner that extends performance and life of all types and sizes of 12 Volt lead acid batteries. These include maintenance-free, marine, deep cycle, sealed and all popular brands of AGM dry-type, valve-regulated batteries.

I own the BatteryMinderPlus #12117 and I think you can find them for around $40 online. I have them hooked up to 12v old acid batterys and also gel/dry type batterys. Work also on 6 volts. I purchased one and used it for 3 weeks on a battery(my 69 Dodge) that was only taking about a 70% charge and it now charges close to 95-100%. I now own 6 of them. As you can tell I am thrilled with these things. They have saved me the cost of buying new batterys. In my Mopars and Boss 302's I have the reproduction batterys and they cost $200-$400 to replace. I still have an original NOS acid battery installed in (1994) in my 69 Dodge Coronet R/T and it like I said above is now holding near a full charge. Had one in my 04 Z06 before I sold it(I miss it) and these kept the original battery in new condition.

If you are looking at Tenders I would check the Batteryminders out before buying anything else...

 

The BATTERYMINDER products have some interesting features compared to BATTERY TENDER or CTEK. The price is comparable. Warranty is comparable.
I've looked and I cannot find where they're made though. Are they USA made or off shore made? Their website is apparently not up to date (server not found).
You commented "They also do not overcharge like Tenders can do".
People tend to use the phrase "battery tender" in a generic manner when speaking about any manufacturer of float maintenance chargers.
I've owned BATTERY TENDER PLUS (by DELTRAN CORPORATION) float maintenance chargers for several years. I've never experienced one over charge. They don't work that way.
Can you be more specific in that comment?

 

The Deltran Battery Tender is not just a low amperage charger. Once it determines a fully charged battery it then "floats" the battery at about 13.2 Volts (as if the car were running and the alternator were doing that). The battery tender won't overcharge a battery as a trickle charger will do if left unattended.

 

In cold weather storage Battery Tenders can over charge. I had a newer battery in a car 3 years ago and had a Battery Tender(Deltran) hooked up to it and it overcharged the battery. Only happened once and was most likely a defective Tender but it cost me $85 to replce the battery.