F360 Battery Charger RecommendationNew F360

Just bought a 2004 standard transmission F360!
I need to buy a trickle charger and everyone seems to recommend the Schumacher brand.
What model number do you guys like?
How do you mount it/fasten the connectors?

Thanks in advance!

Greg

 

I bought a CTEK 800 and mounted the plug connector to the battery in the event I needed to turn off the ground switch to the chassis.. I understand some owners mount their plug to the positive lead behind the drivers seat.

 

Congrats on the 360!

I always recommend the Deltran Battery Tender Plus. It's a tender, not a trickle charger which can overcharge the battery. The Deltran is reasonably priced and works well.

Do a search and you'll find good threads on the subject.

 

I use the same one. I connected the plug behind the seat, this way I just crack the window, run the cable in and connect at the plug.

 

Deltran all the way. Inexpensive and very reliable.

 

Ctek, never an issue.

 

CTEK 3300 with the permanent dongle at the passenger foot-well.

 

CTEK,

Just get the cigarrette lighter adapter, my car sat for 3 months this winter, started up perfect. No need to do any kind of pre-wiring.

 

same here, attached the lead from the trickle charger to the side post of the battery (under passenger floorboard)
I found one online, similar to this, gasp !!!!....lambo-branded one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FERRARI-MAINTENANCE-BATTERY-CHARGER-TENDER-3300-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5196764156QQitemZ350416683350QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_2551wt_800

The "permanent dongle" gets, ahem..... tucked under the floormat

 

http://www.saveabattery.com/CMT.aspx

 

Forget the footwell. Go to the terminals behind the drivers seat. Much less intrusive

 

That looks like a nice tender. It has a lot of features at a fair price.

 

You guys are doing more work than necessary. All you need to do is get a CTEK charger, and purchase the optional cigarette lighter adapter, then when you want to charge the car you just plug it into your lighter adapter. No need to run anything from the battery directly.

 

Looked interesting until they had a list of what it does then said "I'm not done yet ..." If it weren't for the source posting the link I would simply write them off as a midnight infomercial with minimal value.

 

On my CS the lighter shuts off with ignition so that won't work at least in the CS.
I went straight to connection behind drivers seat where I installed triple cig plug so any time I want unswitched 12 volt access I have it. Put my older Porsche cig lighter chrger on timer for 3 hours per day. Works PERFECT!

Maxer

 

...and you can leave your "permanent dongle" back there. Just as easy as the lighter once it's hooked up initially.

 

+1 My experience as well.

 

It is the best product out there.

Founder is a local guy and a car/motorcycle collector.





For all you guys going to the cigarette lighter......bad idea.


I have repaired some seriously burned up wiring harnesses because of that.

 

Thank you Brian. I will get one and replace my Deltran.

 

ok so which is the best tender?

 

Best tender? Drive it - she's got a built in tender and it's much more fun!

Seriously!

 

My cars are frequently running low on juice (just enough not to be able to turn the engine over) because I can go for a couple weeks between driving them. I always turn off the power, but I guess there's still a residual current drain even with the battery cutoff switch in the off position. (Anyone know if this is true?)

Unfortunately, I have no wall socket near my parking space in my apartment building so can't use the tender that came with the 430. The 360 and 550 don't have this feature anyway. To make things worse, even jump starting is not easy because the parking space is tight.

I'm thinking about buying a regular lead acid battery, keeping it topped up with a charger/tender in the house, and using that battery to "charge up" a car whose battery has run down by connecting it to the battery for, say 10 minutes. If the battery in the car is too depleted for that to work, I can use the extra battery to jump start (always a last resort). Does this make sense? Is there an easier work-around?

(I've seen some products with a built in battery but haven't seen one here in Hong Kong. No Autozone or PepBoys here. http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-IP-125-Instant-Starter-Battery/dp/B000TD6S9U/ref=sr_1_21?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1300264463&sr=1-21)

 

First of all, I would not jump start your car. I believe the "save a battery charger" can be used without being plugged into an outlet.

 

One of my favorite notes from the 360 Owners Manual, page 5.20: [English section]
"Do not use devices to be connected to the cigar lighter" Fair warning huh!

 

A while ago I was looking at a 360; service receipts included a hefty bill for replacement of wiring damaged by a plug-it-into-the-cigarette-lighter battery tenders. To rephrase what my slightly deranged uncle once told me (when I was 16), "if it wasn't designed for it, don't plug it in".