Usually I use alligator clips when I hook up the battery tender.Does anyone use the O ring terminals that are supposed to fit on the battery terminal bolts & then leave them hooked up permanently? Also O ring doesnt seem to fit over the battery bolt what do you use?


Thanks

 

I bought the EverStart battery tender from Walmart. Its a 1.5 amp charger that costs about 25.00 and is totally automatic. It has a couple of lights on it where one indicates power and the other indicates if the battery is charged. Normally this unit is made to permanently install in the vehicle next to the battery with the plug laying there and youre supposed to just run an extension cord to it and plug it in, but I didnt want to do that. It comes with two leads that come out of the charger and are about a foot long with big round terminals on the ends for the battery. I cut the leads off from the charger in the middle, stripped the insulation, used some butt terminals and added about 10 inches of 16 gauge wire. On the other ends of the speaker wire I got some quick disconnect connectors from radio shack. On the quick disconnnect terminals the positive lead is guarded by rubber insulation so it wont touch anything metal in the car. On the other ends that have the large round terminal rings, I connected the positive to the bolt that is right next to the fuse/relay box just forward of the battery since that is a direct cable that goes straight to the battery. While loosening the nut on that stud I held the wires tight against the stud so there wouldnt be any loss of voltage to the systems and memory, then took the nut off, put the positive round terminal on, then put the nut back on and tightened. For the ground wire i removed the hood bumper stud thats just to the aft right corner of the hood, installed the ground terminal and retightened. So now I just have the leads that are connected to positive and negative with a quick disconnect on the other end. I have an AC source with 6 outlets mounted on my ceiling in my garage. I mounted the charger to the ceiling next to it for power and then spliced the same speaker wire and ran it along the ceiling with a staple gun to the side wall and down and it just hangs there. So when Im gone for a while I just pop the hood, plug the connectors together and then plug the charger in and forget about it. Otherwise the wire that I made that sits in the car can be tucked down around the fuse/relay box and you wont even see it. I actually have 2 of these chargers and the other I did the same exact thing for my Harley which has the same small wire installed to the battery which hangs out below the seat. This way I just plug it in without having to fool with aligator clips or worry about the clips falling off and grounding against the frame and so on. Hope this helps.

 

Solder on connectors that fit and use the supplied plug. I've used Battery Tenders on all my vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles) that set and they have done wonders for battery life--especially with the little bike batteries. All the best. :yesnod:

 

Need to go look at mine, I use the gator clamps, you could drill the holes larger to fit the battery clamp bolts.

 

Ditto! The clamps are fine if you just attach it once in awhile. You could do permanent install with "O" connectors and have a wire "tail" / plug under the hood, ready for a power cord. :)