Battery Charging

Mopar488

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My car sits a lot with the alarm on and I had a weak battery during the winter. I have a Shumaker 12 volt 2/12/75 amp charger. The factory manual says not to charge the battery with it hooked up. I guess this means at the terminals under the hood and at the battery behind the real wheel. Has anyone charged at the under hood terminals? Or is it best to unhook the leads from the battery for a charge and hook the charger directly to the battery?
 

GTS Bruce

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I charge at the under hood terminals all the time with no problems.However my charger maxes out at 12 amps.Don't know what wold happen at 75 amps. Bruce
 

Jack B

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The charger manufacturer is worried about two things. Any accidental reversal of the +/- leads could damage the rectifier bridge in the alternator. The second item a high rate charger also could release a dangerous amount of hydrogen gas in a contained area.

The battery tender shuts down the output when it senses the reverse connection, thus, protecting the alternator. Secondly, the battery tender uses low variable charge rate to reduce the release of hydrogen and extend the battery life.
 

Hisserman

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Mopar488 --

Get a Schumacher battery tender and mount it as shown:

449Schumacher-med.jpg


Then all you have to do is stick an extension cord in the side gill of the car and hook up your tender. Painless! :2tu:
 

Steve Miehe

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I am using the same charger as Hissermann. However, if you want to hide the unit a bit more, you can use the bottom bolt that holds the windshield washer bottle to the inner fender well. Also allows you to hide the (+) and (-) wires a bit more by running them around the back of the under hood fuse box. Downside is that you have to open the hood to plug it in....
 

Hisserman

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One other detail on my install -- I keep a plastic cover over the three prong plug end to keep out water (you can see it was raining the day I took the picture!). I think the cover came off a new drill I had bought at Home Depot -- I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.
 

AviP

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I don't see why you would want to mount the unit in the car as pictured. The Battery Tender comes with detachable wiring. Go with the Battery Tender.
 

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