Do you use battery tenders

[k]

I used a cut off switch, before my clock was repaired.

Worked fine for 11 years, with one Sears die hard.  Now, clock makes we want to use a Deltran battery jr. float tender.

- Is using the cigarette jack a smart move, as works fine on my modern ride?

- or should i use standard clips

Thanks

[tuultyme]

My cigarette jack in my 280SL and my 2000 C230 do not work unless the cars are running.  Be carefull with the cutoff switches; there was one on my car when I bought it.  It keep losing connection and distroyed an alternator when it happened while the car was running.

Bruce; 268Blaugrun(green) 1970 280SL; IL

[Peter van Es]

I have one and use it, especially in winter. In summer I drive the car at least once a week and don't need a tender.

Mine has a lead which you attach permanently to the battery, under the bonnet. It has a plug which cannot be plugged in the wrong way, which is attached to the battery charger. "plugging in" is just a simple matter of opening the bonnet, plugging in and leaving it slightly ajar.

I bought mine here http://batterytender.com/ and on the site you can see the lead if you enlarge the picture of the Battery Tender International.

I'm pretty happy with the product as it even allowed me to charge and revive a pretty depleted battery (took a while, but it worked).

Peter

Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual (http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php). Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280SL.

[mdsalemi]

I store my car "up north" in an unheated garage in the winter, and was always a bit leery of having anything plugged in in case of some kind of fire.

Earlier this year I met a car collector who has a large storage facility, basically unattended (but visited frequently)and in it, he has well over 100 pristine, 99-point show cars, nearly all of them Detroit iron, and also nearly all of them historically significant in some way, such as the car "Christine" from the Stephen King movie, the most expensive production US car from 1955, many "one-off" or otherwise low-production cars (i.e. Packard Caribbean) and thus all of them worth a bit of money.

Every one of these cars lives with the hood (bonnet) opened and attached to a Battery Tender.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

[Douglas]

Yesterday, I noticed that griotsgarage.com has a new Battery Tender III available as of the middle of this month.

I have two of their Battery Tender II models and they've worked fine. (Needless to say, you should always make sure the battery fluids are topped up if it's a traditional battery.)

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[gwuisman]

I'm also dealing with the the problem of keeping the battery in good shape during the winter stop. Not only for my SL but also for my boat. When looking around on the internet I searched the site of Vetus, a well known marine equipment company (see http://www.vetus.nl/us/catalogue_2008.html ). On page 60 of the catalogue (the link refers to the in US-English vesion), Vetus states to have a maintenance free battery that, while disconnected, only looses 3% of its charge in a month. They claime that you can harmless leave the battery in the boat without the need of keeping them 'under a charger'. For my car that would be a better solution than using a charger or tender as you always have the risk of not discovering problems when the car is not attended regularly. In my opinion the 55ha Vetus battery has an appearance which would perfectly suite our cars, isn't it?

Gerard Wuisman
08-01-1971 280sl

[ja17]

Hello,

Harbor Freight has battery tenders often for around $6.00. I have been using three of them the last couple of winters.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[hauser]

Joe, which one do you recommend?

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[Jonny B]

I have used one of the small Griot's battery tenders for the past four winters, I think it is the same one that Douglas references. This one has clips for the battery posts.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[ja17]

Hello hauser,
I really do not know enough about the others. Have had no experiences with the others. I suspect there are some nicer features on the more expensive ones.  I will let you know if one of these Harbor Freight ones fail anytime soon. For now there working fine.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[jpsenft]

I have 4 cars and one motorcyle on BatteryTenders...have never had a problem, no water loss, nothing.  Highly recommend.
FWIW, I purchase mine from motorcycle websites....prices are about $33-36, vice $59.95 retail.  Identical products.

1965 230SL
Silver Spring, Maryland

[Bob G ✝︎]

I am very happy with the CTEK unites I purchased model Multi US 3300. They have keep the batterys in my cars fresh and ready to start. I am going to purchase the model 7000 which is an up dated version of the ones I have with a few extra bennifits.
You can read about these chargers at www.ctek.com

Bob Geco

[Kenneth Gear]

I put my car in unheated storage in early December each year and take it out in late March or early April.  I have never used a battery tender and never had a problem starting it in the Spring.  The battery is three years old... one of these Springs I expect it won't start as the battery ages but I've been lucky so far.

Ken G
1971 280 SL Silver/red