Is it Necessary to Disconnect This Cable?

I allways disconnect one terminal when hooked up to a battery tender for 2 reasons:
1. It prevents the clock which happens to work from running continiously & other parasitic amperage draws...known and unknown
2. It disconnects all power to the fuse box and the fuel pump seriously decreasing the chances of a surprise bbq and subsiquent call to my insurance agent.

my
2 cents

 

Not necessary. I've never done it and have not had any problems on my 328. Certainly would do no harm to disconnect it either. Your choice. I don't like the idea of having to reset the old and somewhat delicate analog clock if the juice is removed.

 

Assuming your tender pos/neg are wired directly to the battery (not all do), it's your choice.

If you tender goes through car wiring, you can NOT disconnect the neg plug as the tender will become inoperative.

There are many pros for disconnecting the battery the greatest of which is peace of mind.
The only cons are loosing the clock and radio presets.


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I leave my chargers hooked up all the time. Heck, they're still running, when I do my, every other week, run ups. As to fires, seems doubtfull. IMHO.

 

I have found the only way to eliminate an unfavorable outcome is to 'create your own luck',

I would be devistated if I could have done something simple to prevent a sensless waste of a fine car.

As previously posted...it is piece of mind which dictates my decesion... this car sits at a warehouse often unattended between drives.
cheers

 

"I leave my chargers hooked up all the time."

I'm the opposite - I never use chargers for general batt maintenance. Just disconnecting the battery works fine for at least 6 months over the winter. I just connect it, hit the starter, and off she goes. I've had some bad experiences with unattended chargers and every time something goes wrong, the answer is "That's pretty rare." Maybe so, but "rare" is a lot more often than "never." A charger that's NOT connected can never cause a problem

 

A Battery Tender is a pretty low power device - not like a "proper" charger. If you leave it on a concrete garage floor with the cord stretched out so it's not near the car or anything flammable I think you are very safe. It could catch fire and likely burn itself up with no damage to anything else. Unattended fluorescent lights that are turned on (the type with a ballast transformer) are a bigger risk.

Not trying to make light of anyone else's concerns or experiences but it's also safer not to go outside to reduce the chance of being in a motor vehicle accident.

Yes, never using a Battery Tender is safer but.........

 

Isn't the point of using a battery tender to not have to unhook the battery? Even with the more modern and electronically sensitive cars, for example BMWs, it's recommended to hook them up with everything connected. I'd either use the tender with everything hooked up or disconnect the battery where shown.

Jeff

 

That's not really my understanding. More to keep the car ready to go at all times, reduce damage caused by deep discharge and help avoid freezing (and thus possible battery case cracking) of the electrolyte in discharged liquid lead-acid batteries during winter weather in cold garages.