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Just received my Optima 400 Battery Maintainer and have 2 questions:
1) The manual says do not hook the Neg terminal of Battery to the tender-use a chassis ground. I want to set up the provided cord with a terminal lug for quick connect-where should I ground this cord?
2) When leaving the battery unattended and charging should I disconnect the Battery to prevent harm to the electronics?
If it has clips I would clip it to the battery posts and call it a day and go lay down.
If it has something else I would send it back and buy one that has clips.
A battery maintainer should be pretty simple to use and you should not have to disconnect the battery.
I've been using them for over 40 years.
Good luck!
Bob, I hooked my Battery MINDer to my car by using the Terminal ring provided with it. My MINDer also came with an alligator clip adapter and a cigarette lighter adapter. These can be purchased separately if you need extras also. Just be sure to verify polarity if you purchase them from a different manufacturer as all of them are not the same.
I connected the positive terminal (+) to the positive link on the side of the Fuse Relay Center and the negative terminal (--) to the negative terminal of the battery (it was just too easy to ignore). When not in use, I install the cover on the connector and lay it down beside the battery out of the way. I typically rotate it between two vehicles in my garage every other week.
I also see no reason to disconnect the battery from the car when it is plugged in either. Disconnecting the battery will dump most of the current data from the PCM requiring the car to be driven for ~ 50 miles before it can pass an emissions test (if your community does them) at an inspection station. It will also result in throwing a bunch of miscellaneous codes that will confuse the results the next time you really want to read the codes for diagnostic purposes.
If you want a more permanent attachment for a ground than a battery clip, there is a nice little bolt sticking out of the firewall just behind the battery with a nut on it, just waiting for something to be connected to it. The other ring terminal can be attached at the B+ post on the fuse box (positive arrow in the above post), then just leave the capped connector lying tucked in between the battery and fuse box or anywhere out of the way when you don't need it.
Battery clips and ring terminals don't fit very well on side post battery connections, and these other options are more reliable.
Your cigar lighter connection inside the car is hot 100% of the time. I just purchase a cig lighter adapter and connect it to the charger and charge the battery from there. That way its very easy to plug and unplug it and it in the car out of the way.
Using a charger on car WITHOUT a battery is BAD.
As long as there is a battery in circuit, there will be no harm to the cars electronics. If you have a SMART CHARGER, you can leave the charger connected for a long period of time without damaging the battery.
Battery Maintainer Hookup
