battery tender for storage
 

how many of you guys/gals keep your car tendered with a battery tender?
it feels great to start it up after 3 months of sleep, and it springs to life
love it

yep - schumacher - around $25 from Walmart.

My tender is on the car in the garage year round.

I had mine on the deltran battery tender plus for the winter. It snapped right over.

Is there any reason that a battery tender shouldn't be left inside the cabin/trunk while charging? A friend parks their coupe in a parking garage, and it would be better to not have the tender itself left in the open.

If it fails and gets on fire.

My car may not be used for 3 to 4 days every week so i want something quick and simple to plug and unplug.

How about that tender that BMW sells that goes into the lighter... is that any good?
I'd rather not open the trunk and lift up stuff so that lighter tender looks pretty simple.

For the Schumacher tender from Walmart is there any other way to connect it without all the hassle of going into the trunk?

It does come with quick connect kit to hard wire it but I just use the terminals in the engine compartment.

I forget the details but a Z3 got on fire under the hood using a tender.

That's one of the big ones that had come to mind. I may just help them secure it to the car somehow. Maybe some coated cable or the like.

^ I'm going to look at an external connector for mine.
I'll probably pick up connections from the engine compartment terminals.

I'd prefer to keep the tender out of the car.

I get mine out of storage in a week...we'll see if the tender worked for the last 6 months

Thanks Ron

I've had the BMW tender for years, as I purchased originally for use with my Z3. Living in Wyoming I may go a month or even months not driving the roadster, so the tender was a necessity. The BMW tender is quick and easy, plugging into the car's cigarette lighter. I now use it also on my Z4 and even on my X3. I was a non-believer as to the need for it with the X3 until Wyoming went through its gawd-awful fall/winter this past year with constant temps down around single digit or worse. I often walk to work so even my X3 can go for days without being driven. Got in the X3 after a week+ of those temps and just sitting, tried starting it up and it barely started, and the clock and all similar items needed resetting. Talked to the BMW folks and they told me use the tender also on the X3. So now whichever one is not being driven gets put on the tender.

Will be taking the cover off tomorrow and firing her up for the first time since nov. I have one on the harley also. It turned over 2 times and rumbled so will see how the roadster does.

Nice man, yeah i think ill go with the plug in lighter one. It's the best fit for what i need.
Thank you for the post. :thumbup:

BMW is the same as this: http://batterytender.com/automotive/...-at-1-25a.html

But with BMW logo and higher price (got to pay for the logo).

If you are just not driving for a few days or even a few weeks, you don't need one (or at least, you shouldn't need one). We have one on our Roadster over the winter, as it can go months without driving.

I use one that came from Harbor Freight [only $5.00] and it has worked great.

Given my experiences with Harbor Freight electrical and electronics, I definitely wouldn't leave that in or near my car.

:)

I bought a cheap knockoff, supposed to be "intelligent", battery maintainer in the fall of 2008. I hooked it up to the battery in November and looked forward to a happy battery in the spring. In March I had a dead battery that had been boiled dry!:mad:

This past winter I just hooked up my regular charger for a day or so every month. I gave the "intelligent" unit to my son to keep his motorcycle battery up to snuff, with warnings to not leave it hooked up.

It seems that not all of these maintainers are created equal.:dunno:

There is a REASON I recommend the Battery Tender and Battery Minder.

My Battery Minder has been on me generator battery for over 5 YEARS.

Tender
 

How about 8 years on the original battery! Thats from using the Battery Tender.:thumbup:

+1 for Battery Tender
I wouldn't use anything else.