Battery charging

[Smrtphur]

New member here. Heres my contribution after reading up on various threads. Positive wire direct to battery head, negative to strut harness. Most of the cable is hidden under the battery tray cover and I can leave the cable in the engine bay until next season.

First time parking a vehicle for winter months so had to learn few things

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[galaxy]

Funny enough...I have used an Optima Digital 400 charger on my car since new. For the second time now, my charger has kicked off due to "Battery out of range Voltage >17v".

I've always used this same charger religiously since the car was new, and this has never happened...that is until I moved my charger pigtail negative from the battery post to the ground on the strut tower.

If I disconnect the charger and check the batt voltage, it's at a healthy nominal 13.Xv.

 

[svttim]

Used a Battery Tender last year hooked directly to the posts. Buy spring I had a bad battery. Cant say this is why but Ill be going to the chassis ground this time

 

[galaxy]

Used a Battery Tender last year hooked directly to the posts. Buy spring I had a bad battery. Cant say this is why but Ill be going to the chassis ground this time

Odd for sure! But we know these batteries suck at best. I’d venture to guess yours was coincidence. After literal years of charging mine directly to the post, my gremlins are too far fetched to be coincidental. Maybe. In the interest of science backed by years of charging with no issue, I’m swapping back to direct post to see what happens.

But, I’m also smart enough to admit I don’t know, and something could just be funny going on with this battery. I use this same charger on other cars (admittedly with not as smart/complex a charging system) and I’ve never seen voltages as high as I see on this car lately.

I figure worst case, this battery craps out and I get to go buy an AntiGravity!

 

[galaxy]

OK, now I’m suspecting my charger. I just hooked it up to my other mustang (2012 GT) and within a couple minutes, it ran up to “out of range, greater than 17v”. Odd. On the 350, after it had stabilized and was “maintaining” it was sitting around 15.8 - 16.3v (no, or very low amps). Had never seen numbers that high before. Not using this thing again.

 

[Bitten in '69]

Deltran makes a good product, I've used them for years. But, recently (last 10 years) I've been using the CTek products. I like that they will charge a dead battery which the Deltran will not do.

 

[Voodoo_350]

When using a CTEK battery charger/maintainer do y’all recommend leaving the hood open?

 

[Postal Bob]

Never do, even in the winter with a cover on the car. The charger is very low current, and charge rate, so there's really no heat buildup up like in a rapid charge. And it's basically maintaining the battery, not bringing a dead battery back to life.
When you're driving your car, and the alternator is also charging your battery, is your hood open? Ever see pictures of all those warehouse full of collector cars hooked up to battery maintainers? All the hoods are down.

 

[m3incorp]

I would also keep in mind that having the hood open makes it easy for something to climb in vs having to come up from the bottom.

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