Dave H.

correct.

Garth S

Hey Mike - Glad to see Air Canada allowed you back to Rennlist! Priorities must be respected
This thread makes me think of snow .... not good!

JPTL

Just an update to this thread....
As I thought about my situation with my charger/maintainer doing more harm than good when hooked up via a pigtail, I decided to test it out again.
My "pigtail" is actually a fused 14 (or maybe even 12) gauge wire connected to the battery pos. terminal. I connect the negative alligator clip to the neg. ground strap coming from the battery compartment. A pretty stout & direct connection to the battery, I would think....
After making the connections, and turning on the charger/maintainer, "pop", the fuse immediately went. It was a 3 amp fuse, but I figured if I had the charger on 2 amp 'trickle' it shouldn't be going over that. Clearly it did. Maybe a surge, but that fuse went immediately.
I can only figure that with automatic chargers/maintainers, if they sense an undercharged battery, they go into charge or desulfation mode, and that is well over 2 amps - at least initially.
The only thing that I can figure is that this unit is getting some kind of false reading from the battery as a result of the connection via the pigtail, and it continues to charge even when the battery is at full charge. The unit works fine when connected directly to the battery.
So, it will be packed away and used only for direct charging.
On the topic of maintainers, I got a great deal on them at Harbor Freight. I know that some of their stuff is low end, but this unit doesn't seem too bad. They are running a sale on these right now ($7.50; normally $17) http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42292 When I got there, they rang it up as $5.99. I said hold on, let me get another.
I've rewired it to be a quick plug-in to my pigtail, and it's working great.

AO

Harbor Freight... here I come! Thanks for the heads up.

Alan

Like many of you I have the basic Schumacher maintainer - works well. I used to have it looped to a 2 pin connector pigtail to the battery that was tucked behind the tool tray - I never really liked this & having to drop the cable through the hatch. Was always worried I'd foget and try to drive off this way... (never did though...).

I have now installed it permanently into the car in the passenger side front fender below the headlamp. I built a splash shield for it and encapulated it for better moisture resistance. I also added an extra new cable to relocate the 2 LED's (that cannot possibly be seen where it is now located)... I plan for these to go to the dashboard at some point - currently they just go to an empty connector... The Charger leads go to the jump post in the engine compartment (a permanent connection via a fuse). The 110v power is routed to the lower grille area to an "IEC" socket connector permanently installed next to the Tow Eye. I got the rubber boot cover for this and filled it full of silicone for waterproofing.

Externally the 110v cable with IEC plug is looped through a cable clamp attached to my garage cabinets and can then plug directly into a wall socket one end and the nose of the car on the other...

Since I always drive nose first into my garage this ensures that even if I were to drive off without disconnecting it it will just pull right out with no damage. It does work very well... though I've only ever done this deliberately - I see the (bright orange) cable plugged into the nose much easier than into the tail end facing the other way.

BTW - inspired by the tow eye socket plug - I made a dummy plug for the IEC socket by cutting off a plug from a cable end & screwing a hook eye into the wire end for easy removal. This fills the socket and keep the pins clean while driving. I even made a groove for an o-ring to make it seal up better. Worked out very well!

Alan

SharkSkin

Alan, that's slick!

JPTL

I agree. Alan certainly took a quality permanent/concealed installation seriously. Very nice design, Alan. Did you have a mech. and/or electrical engineering background when you came up with this design? (if not, you do now).

GlenL

I'm amazed at all the stuff you guys are going through. Nicely done work.

Let me add a couple of views:

If you leave the battery in the car, it will drain over time and a maintainer is good.

If you pull, or disconnect, the battery it's not necessary to have one.

For winter storage I pull the batteries and put them in the basement. Right on the cement floor and, if you're wondering, the advice against that is an old wives tale. In the spring I'll connect them to a charger for a couple of hours. This is just a precaution and a test and each time they haven't really needed it. Never a problem!

Alan

J.P.

Engineering background? ... Errr yes you could say that...

If not I wouldn't even imagine half of the things I do
(...and no doubt I'd have a lot more free time...)

Alan

IcemanG17

Alan
Very nice setup...man you put some time into that...super clean!

TIMBERHOLLOW9310

I put a "Battery Tender Jr" on my under-hood connection tonight, but the darn thing keeps blinking red (indicates no connection). Is there a fuse to the jumper connection or could it be disconnected at the battery? I know my battery is in good shape. I am new to this 87 928S4, so appreciate any advice.

Whitesands

When I'm not using the car I connect a 13.8v 3amp power supply to the jumper post, done this for years on all my cars.

Rob Edwards

If you're not having luck at the jump post, just connect it direct to the battery. I have a deltran Battery tender Plus, which comes with a ring terminal extension that is long enough to attach to the battery terminals and snake the other end up by the ground strap. The battery door can still close and the spare tire stays in place. I assume the junior model has the same thing, if not, here's the accessory:

http://batterytender.com/accessories...l-harness.html


The only downside is that the rear hatch has to be cracked open while charging- I don't know if having the hatch open causes the red door lights to illuminate, but even if they do the current draw is not enough to prevent the maintainer from fully charging the battery.

Alan

There is no reason this won't work. Mine is connected this way.

The jump post is in the path to the Central Electric Panel - if there were a connection problem you'd know - because turning the key would do nothing.

Its most likely you have a connection problem with the maintainer - don't forget to check your Ground connection...

Alan

jpitman2

I mounted a heavy duty 12V socket (as used by 4x4 offraoders) under the license plate at the rear. It connects to battery through a hole in the rear of the case, direct to the terminals, with a 10A fuse in line. This means I can disconnect the battery earth to work on the car without disturbing the charge connection.
Figured the hole in the bumper cover is never going to be seen with the plate mounted, so....and before anybody asks, our license plate mounting holes dont match the std points well, so I have double mounted the plate via a piece of heavy ply wood (which is invisible to the normal observer), so I dont have the the plate mounted badly, or have to drill extra holes in it. IMHO there are many cars out there (of all kinds) with ugly plate mounts, and I hate them all.

jp 83 Euro S AT 52k, P110 Brian Long