I've got a regular battery charger at the moment

But I'm looking at getting a maintainer, and also a mini booster pack to keep in the car

Has anybody got any stealthy installs for their maintenance chargers, or do you just plug them into the cigarette lighter

Reason I ask is that my car is outside most of the time, so I don't want doors, windows, and bonnets left open where possible

Thanks

 

CTEK makes a nice weatherproof unit that I have installed in all my cars. They work very well.

 

The Porsche battery maintainer works very well for me. You can lock the car with the windows up, because the wire is so thin, you just run it right under the door and shut it, no problems. It's about $60.00.

 

I got the same one since 2003. I was using it on my motorcycle. it is installed permanently with a plug (junction) about 12 inches from the battery. This wire and junction are part of the charger when purchase (see pic lower right corner) . The wire can be route outside the bonnet near the driver side wiper. The model is called "battery tender" I got the junior model and paid only $25.00!!! You can get a model for outside which is waterproof for $52.00 http://batterytender.com/automotive.html


Of course you will need also a travel adaptor to convert 220 Volt to 110 Volt....

 

The Porsche one I've seen is actually a CTek item

I'm thinking I'll get a CTek charger
Just interested to hear how people are using them?
Plugged straight into the lighter, hardwired to the battery, or something else??

I've got an optimate on my dads bike
It's hardwired to the battery with a quick release plug to save messing around

I was thinking about something like that for the car, but was unsure what to do with the connector

 

I have one like jpflip. I just leave the connector installed on the battery and tuck it away when not in use. I run it out the bonnet when I need to connect it and I have no problems closing it.

 

Used the Porsche cigarette lighter charger with no issues. Just plug it in, send wire out under the door and shut the door...Plug it in every time you park the car for any extended periods...

 

The Porsche tax is fully operational in the UK

Porsche badged CTEK 3600 £80
CTEK 3600 £40

By the way the CTEK works great as mentioned above, it also has a setting for motorbikes which is useful for me. Mine only charges at 3.6 amps so it does take a while to charge a flat battery fully. I don't find this a problem as I never let my batteries go flat.

If you leave it connected with the doors and bonnet etc closed make sure you don't drive off with it still connected

 

Mine is a charger/maintainer from Porsche. No problems so far.

 

I bought a Ctek Multi US 3300 for my car, but this is probably the ultimate piece of kit for this purpose. Here I am with a charger that lets my battery get down to 95% before pulsing it back up every so often when I could be maintaining a constant 100% full charge. I don't know what to do with myself.

 

That is the exact unit I have hardwired on my cars.

 

Has anybody got any experience of those mini battery booster packs that plug into the cigarette lighter?

I'm thinking of getting something like that to keep in my door pocket just incase my battery dies and I haven't got my jump leads to open the bonnet

They're something like these.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-CAR-BA...ht_2464wt_1037

What do you think?

 

i don't know about that thing. looks a bit gimmicky. everyone i know uses that ctek 3300 without issues plugged into the cig lighter w/ adapter. myself included. 70 bucks? on ebay w/ cig adpater.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean about it looking gimmicky

I didn't know if there was a 'proper' version available

I thought it might be a good idea to have in the door pocket incase you ever needed to pop the bonnet with a flat battery

I've got a CTek now, so I was looking at this for when you're out and about rather than as a maintainer

 

i just used to park my 993 on a hill but with our cars, you never know. voltage hogs for sure.