Battery charger damaged while battery in use?

[sifan]

I always hook up the battery charger to my car batter in the trunk and charge it before I go to work. Lately I find myself more often forgetting to unhook the battery charger before driving to work (must have to do with my old age). Will my battery charger get damaged under such a circumstance even though its power indicator still come up fine when I use it?

 

[shortyb]

You mean its still plugged in and you drive off? If so, then I think the power cord/plug would take a beating

.

If its still attached and you start the car, then possibly a voltage spike could cause some problems. Sounds like you need one of those red banners that pilots use that say "remove before takeoff".

 

[sifan]

I did unplug the cord, but left both clamps of the battery charger on the car battery while driving the car.

 

[Thermo1223]

Technically it should have diodes preventing backflow of electricity so I would say no but I could be wrong. It also depends on how old it is.

 

[shortyb]

Do you have a volt meter? Measure the output voltage of the charger. Or leave the charger off for a few days if possible to discharge the battery a bit. Measure the battery voltage, then hook up the charger. After a few hours take it off and let the battery stabilize another hour or so. If the voltage has gone up, you're probably good to go.

 

[Harvey]

sifan, I'm curious, why do you need to add a battery charger to your car? is the alt. bad?

 

[Thermo1223]

I thought just to keep in warm in the winter or nursing a near dead one until he gets a new one?

 

[tom slick]

I had a similar setup in a more industrial application and it didn't seem to hurt anything.

 

[another Todd]

It will not hurt it. At work we hard wire battery chargers into our trucks. When they are in the garage they are plugged in to keep all the batteries up (electronic loads always on).

 

[sifan]

That is comforting to know. I will leave it hooked up then. This way I won't wear out the trunk latch. Thanks.