I have my car off the road till April. I was wondering how often I should "trickle" charge my battery? I don't want to spend $ on a "battery tender" when I have the time to use an already purchased 2 amp charger. I am quite capable of plugging it in every so often.

 

Allowing the battery to go up and down and .... is much harder on the battery than using a proper tender that keeps the battery at optimum level. They are very cheap and well worth it.

 

What Steve said. Get a Battery Tender. Amazon has them selling for $41.99

 

Can I use a regular trickle charger ? That's what they are for?

 

I'm not going to say definitely yes to your question. The Battery Tenders are designed to go to "sleep" when your battery is charged. Some trickle chargers are a constant charge. Also, the Battery Tender Plus is for all type (acid, gel, etc) batteries.

 

I winterized my car over the last week. New snow tires on the winter wheels, hardtop installed, fresh wash and wax to protect the finish over the winter. To keep it properly charged I try to drive it everyday

What a waste to park it over the winter!

 

DHARN 55

I know to drive is best..... this doesn't answer any of my battery questions considering what I am doing with my car over the winter...

 

You can use a trickle charger but the problem is you have no idea how low the battery is when you put it on and no idea when its fully charged. If the battery is disconnected from the car it won't take a lot to maintain it. Maybe 1 a week for 10 mins to keep it fully charged. If you leave it hooked to the car there is always a slow draw on the battery and it will be hard to tell where the level is at. Over charging is not good for batteries either and can cause damage. If you buy a floating charger it will add a lot of life to your battery and will pay for itself right away. You could use the trickle charger but then the only way to tell if its fully charged is to run out and test it all the time while its charging. Kind of a pain in the *** if you ask me vs just getting a proper charger and leaving it. Can it be done. Yes. With the price of floating chargers should you? No. I have a bunch of old school trickle chargers in my garage. I never use them anymore. Once you buy a new style you won't ever use the trickle again.

There you go. Ps. I also put winter tires on and a hard top. Lots of fun in the snow. You should try it.

 

I live in the Vancouver BC area. The only snow we get here is wet and "heavy". It is like driving in mud. Fortunately we only get a day or two of snow. The rest of the time is rain. Not much fun driving in either of these.

 

+1

I keep my battery charged the old-fashioned way!

 

Is there a problem with disconnecting my battery? Would the computer be affected not being hooked up to a power source?

I have the option of keeping my car on the road, BUT I CHOOSE TO TAKE IT OFF THE ROAD.

Thanks to all who suggest that I drive it all year long but this is NOT WHAT I CHOOSE TO DO. I am looking for help with the decision I am making.

 

I bought the Porsche OEM charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter - could not be any easier. I think you can get the same thing w/o the Porsche brand for about $50 from Ctek on EBay - you just plug it in to your lighter and it keeps the battery charged up - you can leave it on for months and do no harm.

 

Not sure how much more help we can be. Will it hurt the car to disconnect the battery? NO. Can you use the trickle charger to charge it? YES. How long should you charge it and how often? No perfect answer. Depends on the battery and how strong it is and what type? Are you going to hurt it putting it on a 2a trickle for 10 mins every week? Probably not. What we're saying is the trickle isn't ideal but you can use it. I have 4 different batteries from different toys that I have on my bench. I only use the floating automatic chargers. Use the trickle. The problem is if you forget to turn it off you can damage the battery. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Thanks to all of you. I now have new information to go with.

 

dont worry be happy