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Old 12-09-2018, 03:56 AM   #11
Terri Kennedy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JST View Post
So this is maybe a dumb question, but what's the best way to hook one of these up so that I don't have to use the clamps every time I want to set it up? Ideally I'd like to hard wire a lead so that I can just plug the car in after driving; most of these come with leads that appear designed for that purpose but they aren't large enough for a 12V car battery.

Or is what I'm looking for dangerous/non-existent?
Here is what I did on the Atom. The ring terminals won't go directly on the battery. However, if you un-do the bolts that hold the battery terminal clamps shut, you should be able to slip the ring over the bolt and re-assemble the clamp. You can pickup the negative from anywhere on the frame. On older cars, some people use one of the bus bars in the fuse box for the positive and a nearby chassis point for the negative.

It is important to remember that you have the tender connected, otherwise things can get exciting when you move the car - hence the "remove before flight" streamer in the link I posted.
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Old 12-09-2018, 07:57 AM   #12
John V
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Maybe? How do those mount on the terminals? Are you supposed to put them on the screws that tighten the cables on the posts?
Undo the bolt that goes through the battery clamp and put it through the ring terminal, then re-install to the battery. Then it's a simple plug / unplug of the included connector.
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Old 12-09-2018, 09:18 AM   #13
equ
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I do exactly this, put the charger lead rings along with the rest of the wiring on the battery terminals of the bikes. Do motorcycles have bodies as ground? I've always connected the negative lead to the negative terminal.

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Old 12-09-2018, 12:47 PM   #14
rumatt
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Originally Posted by JST View Post
Maybe? How do those mount on the terminals? Are you supposed to put them on the screws that tighten the cables on the posts?
Yeah exactly. This is it.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/produc...iABEgIYSfD_BwE

I installed one on both the e46 cayman.


Is this for the boxster? The only catch is that on the Cayman the nuts wouldn't come all the way off the bolt. The bolt seems to be modified to prevent removal. I ended up damaging the battery terminal clamp by forcing it.

If the nut won't come off nicely, I'd modify the battery tender ring to make it a "C" instead of a closed ring and slide it on the side of the bolt.
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Old 12-09-2018, 01:22 PM   #15
John V
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Quote:
Originally Posted by equ View Post
I do exactly this, put the charger lead rings along with the rest of the wiring on the battery terminals of the bikes. Do motorcycles have bodies as ground? I've always connected the negative lead to the negative terminal.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Every motorcycle I've ever owned has had the frame used as ground.

That said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with connecting directly to the battery terminals.
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Old 12-09-2018, 03:48 PM   #16
JST
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Cool, thanks—and good tip on the modifying the lead on the charger. Thanks.
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Old 12-09-2018, 08:09 PM   #17
lip277
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I have about 10 of these things around the garage and shop. I keep one hooked up for each item that I have that (pretty much) has a battery....



The boat, lawn mower, 911, E23, E38, F250... The Mustang has a special one that is for AGM batteries... I have had great luck with them in keeping the batteries going while whatever they are attached to sits.... and sometimes sits... and sits...

I have a mix of hookups: clip, hard mounted and cig lighter.
Like what Terry said.. driving off with one of these hooked up would be not so good. So - for the clip and hard mounted ones - I drape the cord over the side mirror so I will see it before I drive off.

Battery Tender is also ok. I have just had good luck with the BatteryMinder version.
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Old 01-23-2019, 04:19 PM   #18
Jeff_DML
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of course I lagged getting and setting up my batter tender so the battery is dead. Anyone know if I can use the tender to charge the battery?
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Old 01-23-2019, 04:34 PM   #19
kognito
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of course I lagged getting and setting up my batter tender so the battery is dead. Anyone know if I can use the tender to charge the battery?
Might take a few weeks. output on tenders is not very high
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Old 01-23-2019, 05:03 PM   #20
JST
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff_DML View Post
of course I lagged getting and setting up my batter tender so the battery is dead. Anyone know if I can use the tender to charge the battery?
Yeah, you should probably just invest in a charger (or one of those jump packs). The tenders are an order of magnitude less powerful than the chargers (15 amp v. 1.25 or so).
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