I lost the directions to my old battery tender so I was wondering do I have to unhook the car terminals to the battery or can I just leave it connected and conect the tender right to each battery terminal? Is that a big no-no?

 

You can leave them connected. That is why they have the quick disconnect in the line.

 

Don't they advise hooking the negative to ground, not the negative terminal?

 

You can do it either way. I have had my tenders bolted to each terminal for many years with no ill effects.

 

I leave my battery connected and clamp directly to the terminals.

 

Are you guys sure that's the best idea? I've always been taught to hook negative to ground when charging or jumping a battery.

 

Connect to an exposed metal area on the engine when jumping with another battery to prevent the remote chance of an explosion due to concentrated out-gasses from the dead battery and a spark near the battery when you make the connection and complete the circuit.
I always connect my charger before powering it up, so no chance of a spark.
Electrically the terminal and chassis are the same point. It is a negative ground system.

 

I bought the additional cigarette plug n' play and just do it that way. Way easier in my opinion.
Good luck.

 

I have one of those on my BMW charger, it is easier. A little more of a pain to run the wire under the cover, though. But, I don't have to get to the battery so it's a good trade off.

 

Ooooo cool. I gotta look for one of those.

 

I use this myself. My car has been on Battery Tender for a month now

 

Just following up on earlier comments. When jumping a car, the jumper cable will have a live voltage on it and it will spark when you connect it to the battery - thus the potential for explosion if the battery is out gassing. With a battery tender, they should be connected with the tender off - so no voltage and no potential for a spark. Then plug in/turn on to charge. So it is OK to connect it at the batter terminals

 

Yup. Way easier and the quick connects make it easy if you want to fire up or move the car once and a while. My car has been connected for about a month too.

 

This is the one I use Mark.
If you want the cigarette plug and play, you have to buy that seperately. I also bought the extension to make sure it will reach into the car.

http://smartercharger.com/products/b...multi-us-3300/

 

Tony I would like to find an end that would fit onto mine. It would make it easier. Yours is very cool though. I'm using a battery tender jr. But they don't make a lighter adaptor for it. I clamp it onto the battery.

 

About the cigarette charger (AKA, power port) version - I think this is not compatible with all cars. A lot of new cars disconnect power from the power port when the car is off (it appears to be on a relay). I know our Focus disconnects, but the Mustang seems to be OK.

 

Yes. I know it works perfect for the Mustang because this is my second year using it with the cigarette plug in. I also made sure it would work properly before being this specific brand of "smart charger".

 

Ok, so you are fine then hooking it up to the terminals. Good to know.

 

Yeah,...that's the way I did it with the Hugger Orange SS.

 

I have my battery tender hooked up to the terminals and keep the battery hooked up to the car. I have it this way on a total of four vehicles and one ATV. On the ATV and the Ford vehicles, I leave the quick connect connectors on the battery clamps because they have bolt on assemblies I can hook the eyelets to. On the Chevy trucks, I use the clamps.

Wayne