Dumb question on battery maintainer

Rruuff Day · Jan 30, 2020

I have 5 or 6 battery tender/maintainers as well as my chargers. You might want to check that one as it specifically says charger on it as opposed to maintainer or tender. I have another low output charger that adjusts charge based on the battery's charge level but never shuts completely down, as do the tenders. My tenders rarely come on as the float mechanism lets the battery discharge slightly before they activate. And the 1 amp setting is lots for maintaining your vette. You may be fine but just a tip.

Great vid by the way....

V8! · Jan 30, 2020

Thanks for the advice and concern, appreciated The charger says that its good for maintaining, but I'll monitor it as 1 amp is quite a bit unless it can cycle? At 37 and 58 seconds you can see it says maintain on the box. My corvette is not covered in the garage as I have to look at it every few days!!!!! I hardwired in a connection to the motorcycle so I move the charger between the two vehicles so I'm always checking it. Thanks for the thumbs up on the vid. If you look at 6:00 - 6:10 in the text message from my dog, haha I never though I would use that footage from my old car. Wanted to make the vid fun.

Thanks

YFCvii · Jan 30, 2020

Maintainers are a great investment in the cold. We just went through a long wind chill cold spell. Corvettes are in a garage and three daily drivers are exposed to mother nature. I became the neighbourhood battery booster. Everyone wondering how we were getting through it as they were plugging their cars in too. Difference being I had two things plugged in ... block heater (on a timer) and a battery maintainer. With remote door locks, a fair amount can be energized over night in the cold that will drain just enough for the battery not being able to crank. So I am a fan of a good maintainer (or three)

(Corvettes have their own for hibernation)

Tango · Jan 30, 2020

I brought the C7 battery inside the house and used this charger/maintainer. It was already there for my for my staircat stair climbing dolly. It worked great.

rfh928 · Jan 30, 2020

ByronF said:
I was testing out my battery maintainer this morning in preparation for winter storage of my 2019 Stingray. I have a CTEK Multi 3300 which has worked very well and reliably for the past few years keeping the battery up during winter storage for my SSR. In that case I used the included clips to attach to the power terminal under the hood because on that vehicle the battery was under the vehicle over the rear axle.
Now on my Vette I have a port in the rear compartment that takes a cigarette lighter style adapter which I have as part of my CTEK unit. So I hooked it all up and had the maintainer sitting outside the car (on the floor) as I checked out the lights on it to determine its status. After a number of hours it was still in charge mode which I know from previous experience with this unit was unusual. I also noticed that although the dash and infotainment displays had gone out the lights in the rear compartment were still on which leads me to believe that the unit will stay in constant charge mode unless and until I firmly close the rear hatch. I am reluctant to do this as I am concerned that I could pinch or short the charging wire.
So my dumb question for anyone who has a similar setup, how do you set yours up so that all the interior lights go off and the maintainer works properly?

This is my first winter with my 2019 - I wound up running the wire into the hatch at the furthest point towards the front of the car...there seemed to be more of a gap there than the rest of the hatch. Anyway, I gently closed it fully and it seems to be fine.

ddgermann · Jan 30, 2020

rfh928 said:
This is my first winter with my 2019 - I wound up running the wire into the hatch at the furthest point towards the front of the car...there seemed to be more of a gap there than the rest of the hatch. Anyway, I gently closed it fully and it seems to be fine.

You are correct. There is no problem letting the rear hatch close tight over the wire from your battery maintainer. I and others have been doing it for years. It will move if you give it a little tug after the hatch is closed tight.
Some months ago this was heavily discussed on a different thread and it was confirmed also (for the C7) the lighting will go out after some minutes as well if one prefers to leave the rear hatch ajar and not closed tight on the maintainer wire.

Dale124 · Jan 31, 2020

While we are on the subject, does anyone know what that little red collar type of thing on the 12 volt plug of the corvette battery maintainer is? It slides off, so I wasn’t sure if I should be removing it or leaving it on when I plug into the 12V input.

Tango · Jan 31, 2020

Dale124 said:
While we are on the subject, does anyone know what that little red collar type of thing on the 12 volt plug of the corvette battery maintainer is? It slides off, so I wasn’t sure if I should be removing it or leaving it on when I plug into the 12V input.

Leave it on, it looks like removing the red tip is made for another type of plug.

Rruuff Day · Jan 31, 2020

Dale124 said:
While we are on the subject, does anyone know what that little red collar type of thing on the 12 volt plug of the corvette battery maintainer is? It slides off, so I wasn’t sure if I should be removing it or leaving it on when I plug into the 12V input.

I agree with Tango. As long as contact is being made in the receptacle, don't worry about it.

Dale124 · Jan 31, 2020

The trouble is that i initially tried pushing it in half way, changed my mind, thinking that it might come off and get stuck in there, so I pulled it back out, and the red part stayed in the socket. I was able to pull it out since I hadn’t pushed it all the way in, so I decided to remove it And use it without the red thingy.

Tango · Jan 31, 2020

Dale124 said:
The trouble is that i initially tried pushing it in half way, changed my mind, thinking that it might come off and get stuck in there, so I pulled it back out, and the red part stayed in the socket. I was able to pull it out since I hadn’t pushed it all the way in, so I decided to remove it And use it without the red thingy.

It's a twist lock so if it stayed in there it wasn't locked in place.

Dale124 · Feb 1, 2020

Tango said:
It's a twist lock so if it stayed in there it wasn't locked in place.

Hmmmm, now I feel silly. I shall remedy this situation ASAP. Thanks, Tango.

YFCvii · Feb 1, 2020

Dale124 said:
Hmmmm, now I feel silly. I shall remedy this situation ASAP. Thanks, Tango.

Oh contraire ...
More silly is perhaps those who just wait for someone else to ask the question. Good chance many have now gone to check this out on theirs ... whether needing to or not (Hibernation OCD)

Tango · Feb 1, 2020

Dale124 said:
Hmmmm, now I feel silly. I shall remedy this situation ASAP. Thanks, Tango.

I'm not afraid to ask questions that's how you get full of knowledge. I've asked plenty of questions since I joined especially the guidance of buying a car. If it wasn't for all my questions I would of ended up with a 1LT where the seat bolsters aren't expandable and I would of been so uncomfortable forever. A 2LT was the solution.

Dumb question on battery maintainer

Rruuff Day

V8!

YFCvii

Tango

rfh928

ddgermann

Dale124

Tango

Rruuff Day

Dale124

Tango

Dale124

YFCvii

Tango

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread