Battery Charging Location
 

Question, will be away for 7 weeks and purchased a Battery Tender and wondering if it matters where I connect, battery in trunk, which is a little hard to get to, or OK to connect under hood at fuse block front left? Thanks.

I always connect the tender under the hood.

Yup, you can use the underhood +/- contacts, they were added specifically for this reason.

Agreed. I use the under hood terminals. Works great!

Great, thanks guys

I go direct to the battery for the winter months. It's not that hard to connect to...:noidea:

Come on, you need to pop (and typically destroy) a christmas tree clip and peel back the trunk liner to access the positive terminal. Not exactly what I call "not that hard".

A few people built a "charging port" into the floor or the rear bumper/diffuser using something like this, now that is an interesting solution that's indeed easy to use :smoking:

Well, luckily for me, I have an "in" with guys at my dealership and the last time I was there asked them for some of those clips and got about 12 of them. Since I winterize my car once a year and destroy a clip each time, they should last me about 12 years I figure:D:D. I'll continue to go direct to the battery since most mechanics I spoke to/with say it's better to hook a tender directly to the battery. Sure, use the posts under the hood if you like:thumbup::thumbup: Still, it's not THAT hard to connect a tender to the battery..Come on, Arpad!!!:happyanim: That said, the charging port IS an idea to think about for sure!:w00t:

The fuse block under the hood is a good way to go. Your trunk will remain closed, so the trunk light won't be on continuously.

Owners Manual says you can jump under the hood, so………….

I just have a permanent plug and play tether like I have on my bikes, but I have yearly winter storage

The battery minder manual says to hook it up directly to the battery. The Camaro owners manual says to jump the car from the terminals under the hood, but jumping and charging are two different operations. In the case of jumping, you want the voltage to be as close to the starter as is practical. For charging you want the voltage to be as close to the battery as practical. There will be a voltage drop while traveling through the wiring involved. I’m sure it’s not enough to keep the battery minder from working, but it’s not the optimal condition.

Agree! :thumbup:. Makes sense to me! :happy0180: I just figured for long winter storage(6/7 months) it'd be better to hook the tender straight to the battery...:noidea::thumbup:

Okay, okay, I just don't like destroying parts as part of "normal" maintenance procedures, however small they may be :D The liner is also prone to creasing and tearing near the christmas tree clip, so there's that, too.

By the way, I updated my post that I forgot to press submit on last night with a link. Also, here is a page with several ideas: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...=540177&page=2

I've used the the underhood terminals for years with an Optimate 6 charger, never any issue, it is able to charge at its max amperage (5 amps) via these ports. Closer to the batter would certainly be better, if the positive battery terminal was reachable without messing stuff up, I'd feed voltage in from there.