worf928

I've got several of these:

http://store.carcareonline.com/batte...er-12volt.aspx

A couple of months ago Harbor Freight had them on sale for $29.95 each. It comes with modular clips for the post and fused ring terminals. I run the latter out of the battery box through the hole behind the clamp. Add a little self-stick velcro to the inside of the bumper cover and it's a permanent reversible easily-accessed but hidden install. You do need to use a shorter bolt for the clamp though.

Marine Blue

Dave when I come up later this month I'll take a look. I'm leaning towards the rear mount point and running the wires out the bottom.

This is something I should have done a long time ago.

dr bob

Bob, I have that one also, and have many years of service from it. Chasing a wacko electriical issue, I decided to buy the newer version of that one. It didn't cure the basic issue, but I did get to see that it's better than the old ones we both have. At less than $25 the new one is the same price as the old one was way back when. Not saying you should change, but I also haven't seen those on-board ones on the shelf anywhere for a while.

Afshin--

I haven't seen a good stealth way to route and connect the wires in the back without either having a pigtail dangling, drilling a hole, or risking damage to the rear hatch seal with a cord passed through and the hatch closed.

voskian

I don't close the hatch when it's plugged in. I have all the interior lights in the car in the off position and the small red lights on the door are burnt out so no draw there. The car is always garaged so no problem leaving the hatch resting on the latch. Works for me....This is the second maintainer in 14 years also, the first one gave up the ghost after about 9 years and the one in the car is about 4years old.

jpitman2

I have run my battery charge leads (fused) out of the box and through a hole in the rear bumper cover, to a heavy duty cigar lighter type socket (with a cap over the hole) with a positive centre connection, mounted under the license plate. Dont have to open any panels to connect or disconnect. I leave a maintainer hooked up whenever its parked. Last battery did 7 years.
jp 83 Euro S AT 52k

Marine Blue

Since I don't have the trickle charger yet I'm not sure what the included wires look like but after looking at the pictures you all have posted I was thinking of doing something more permanent from underneath the car. Basically label the positive and negative wires and neatly run them down the side of the battery and through the hole which is immediately under the battery. The wires could then be zip tied to something cool underneath the car were only I can see them. Yeah it would be a PITA to connect but not too bad. This would allow quick connecting while keeping doors/hatch closed. Does this make sense?

borland

No, front post does it without any trouble. But you can do it any way you want. This thread started out for front post, then went to rear? Just get it done. Don't ruin another battery trying to decide.

Most of the chargers come with different (modular) ways to make the battery connection. Like this popular Duracell Maintainer.. I like the small clips, so I soldered them on to make mine a little different.

Marine Blue

Borland you're right. Initially I wanted to just hook up the maintainer to the front post using the included hand clamps but after seeing how everyone else has theirs hooked up I'm convinced that the best solution is to use the more permanent wire and just plug/play.

My friend at work is letting me borrow his trickle charger today so the battery will be ok (hopefully). This will give me some time to look at some installations at Dave C's place and then decide what I want to buy/install.

I still like Bobs method as well but I really need to look under the hood to make sure I can hide the wire so I don't get dinged during concours.

Thanks again!

No_Substitute

I'm lazy

jmichos

This may be a bit of a red herring but can I just ask if you have an alarm/immobiliser? The reason being that if you do, then you need to take into account whether the trickle charger you buy has a sufficiently strong voltage to keep the battery charged including the electrical drain of the alarm.

The same thing happened to me last year in my 87 s4. I had a trickle charger attached but the battery drained anyway due to the alarm constantly being on. Apparently if I had a bigger trickle charger I would have been ok.

Marine Blue

Good point.

My car only has the stock alarm system, nothing aftermarket.

I did put a trickle charger on it last night and as of this morning it's still charging. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the battery will be ok.