trickle charger

[Chuck Sea/Tac]

The fellow I purchased the car from also gave me a trickle charger that he used on a regular basis. I will be away for a month and am worried about leaving it attached for so long unattended. If I don't connect it while away can't I just plug it in and wait until the light turns green indicating the battery is fully charged? By the way, what's the difference between a trickle charger and a maintainer?

I wouldn’t even worry about a month!! Disconnect the battery, and don’t worry about it.

 

[Crankster]

Yeah, I did find the instructions online but it doesn't say anything about how long it can stay hooked up. The idea of a timer (as above) is really great and that's what I'll do.

Well everybody learns at their own pace, I guess

 

[eagle]

I try to hook up a trickle charger maybe once a month or so during the winter. Leave it on overnight. By the way, the 12 volt wallwort power supplies that we all have laying around from dead electronics make excellent trickle chargers. Measure the no load voltage, 14V is good for 12 volt, 7 volt for 6 volt. Use a 500mA or less size. Most of these type of power adapters use an internal thermal fuse so no danger of fire either. A 300mA charger can be left on the battery all you want.