Charge battery in car

[Rat407]

Question,

I have my 65 Impala that sits more than I would like it to but with gas prices and it not being a 100% complete on the restoration it isn't the most comfortable to drive with no interior, not to mention it just doesn't want to start in the cold weather. Big block blues. Anyway, I was looking at putting a trickle charger on it to keep the battery charged. Is it a bad thing to just hook up the charger without taking the cables off? Not like the car has the electronics of today but then don't want to hurt anything else.

Thanks

 

[7TFord]

I was always having problems with the battery in my restored 70 Mach 1. Everytime I wanted to use the car the battery was too low to turn the Cleveland V8 over. Bought a "Battery Minder" and all is well now.

http://batteryminder.com/batteryminder.cfm

 

[N2OIL]

Since your battery sits with power to a solenoid you should not have an issue with a battery minder or trickle charger. Good day

 

[S2000driver]

I use a DC adapter rated at 500mA at 12V to trickle charge the battery in my occasional use car.

I think it was from an old cordless phone base. Put two alligator clips on the end and I use it on my S2000.

No harm, half an amp is only 1/100 of the battery's capacity, I keep seeing that C/100 is a good trickle charge. At this low of a current the voltage of the battery will never exceed about 12.8 Volts no-load.

quote:

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Originally posted by Rat407:
Question,
Anyway, I was looking at putting a trickle charger on it to keep the battery charged. Is it a bad thing to just hook up the charger without taking the cables off
Thanks

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[The_Jeff]

Always hook the battery cables up to the charger before plugging it into the wall. With no load they can put out ~18v. Not to mention it'll spark when you connect it to the battery, which might ignite hydrogen fumes floating around.

Aside from that, if your battery is any good at all, it'll soak up the voltage transients.