When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
This is non-related (sort of). I have two Deltran maintainers for my cars. I like to keep the permanent terminals on the batteries to plug it in rather than using the alligator clips. I used the permanent terminals on my 2005 Corvette and it went right on with no problems. I also have a 2011 Malibu and a 2008 Impala SS.
On the Malibu and the Impala, when I try to put the terminal from the maintainer under the battery nut, and tighten it down, the eye/hole on the Deltran terminal is not big enough. It goes all the way down over the post but when I try to tighten the nut down with the iDeltran terminal underneath, the nut will not go down all the way. And the tapered nut crushes the terminal on The Deltran Wire. And the battery terminal on the car will not tighten down.
I assume I have a few choices. I can try to take a reamer ( which I will have to buy) and open the eye on the maintainer terminal. Or I can get another connector/ terminal with a bigger hole and put it on The Wire but that means I would have to cut the old terminal off and solder the new one on. Or I could get another nut and try to put it up on top of the battery Bolt. I believe there is enough threads to do that.
Have any of you ever had problems like this getting the wire from the Deltran maintainer underneath the nut on the battery? Or am I doing something wrong? It worked perfect on my Corvette but I can"t understand why it will not work on my other two GM cars.
Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks
Last edited by Jimmy W1; Dec 12, 2020 at 12:10 PM.
The last time I had to enlargen the hole on a maintainer, I used a drill bit, not a reamer, because I have drill bits on hand. Just go slow and easy and it should work, assuming there is enough meat remaining on the eyelet.
It's the taper of the nut that causes the battery cable to clamp the battery terminal tightly when tightened, so for this reason it's not a good idea to put anything under these. What I did with mine is to connect the positive connection to the terminal that the battery connects to on the fuse box and the negative connection to a chassis ground, as shown here.
It's the taper of the nut that causes the battery cable to clamp the battery terminal tightly when tightened, so for this reason it's not a good idea to put anything under these.
On my '06 there was enough room to simply put the eye on top of the terminal nut and add another (regular) nut. That's worked for 14 years and a few batteries.
On my '06 there was enough room to simply put the eye on top of the terminal nut and add another (regular) nut. That's worked for 14 years and a few batteries.
Just a comment: IMO it's not a great ideal to hook up unfused cabling to the the battery or any other main unfused power points under the hood like the fuse block power point. The results are spectacular if those cables short or +ve is accidentally grounded or becomes grounded. I don't know why you would do this unless you are hooking up a magnetic coupler to feed out from the engine bay, and IMO that should be fused as close to the battery as possible. Other than that, the console power point is fused, they make cheap adapters to connect the maintainer to the to the power port, and there is a convenient channel in the door sill so that the cable doesn't get pinched if you run it under the door. Just my .02 worth.
Just a comment: IMO it's not a great ideal to hook up unfused cabling to the the battery or any other main unfused power points under the hood like the fuse block power point. The results are spectacular if those cables short or +ve is accidentally grounded or becomes grounded. I don't know why you would do this unless you are hooking up a magnetic coupler to feed out from the engine bay, and IMO that should be fused as close to the battery as possible. Other than that, the console power point is fused, they make cheap adapters to connect the maintainer to the to the power port, and there is a convenient channel in the door sill so that the cable doesn't get pinched if you run it under the door. Just my .02 worth.
Mine is fused, if you follow the wire back from the yellow terminal in the photos, you'll see the fuse holder.
Mine is fused, if you follow the wire back from the yellow terminal in the photos, you'll see the fuse holder.
Yah, I didn't see that what with me viewing it on my phone. IMO you've taken the time and trouble to do it correctly. I have seen others having done this with no fuse and the kit that came with my maintainer had 3 adapters including 2 direct-to-battery, none of which had inline fuses except the plug end of the ciggy adapter which had it's own fuse.
On my '06 there was enough room to simply put the eye on top of the terminal nut and add another (regular) nut. That's worked for 14 years and a few batteries.
That is what I did on the positive terminal on the fuse black too. I picked up my ground on a small terminal close to the radiator. I lay the pigtail down between the fender and the fuse block when not in use.
A good thing about the way I have mine hooked up is if you need to disconnect the battery and you leave the maintainer plugged in it retains enough voltage to the cars electrical system so you don't have to reset everything.
Thanks for your comments, guys. First I'll try to put it on top of the battery post and add another nut to hold it down. I don't know what size the nut it is, but I'll figure it out. Thanks for everything. Good luck
Deltran maintainer problems......
