OK, Did a search and though this subject (under float charger) came up, I have a slightly different wrinkle, and I'm looking for help. I replaced the battery in my '05 under a year ago with a quality piece from Auto Zone. As I use the car primarily for long distance travel, preferring to drive more economical transport around town, I've found it necessary to recharge the battery 2X now, after not driving her for 10 days or more. I purchased a quality tender and wish to use the leads with a ring terminal on the ends to permanently wire it up to the battery, to avoid having to remove the engine shield every time I plug it in, and hanging alligator clips on the side terminals seems rather flaky. Herein lies my problem.
The factory battery leads with plastic covers make it impossible to attach the ring terminals under the connection. I fabbed up some right-angle bars of flattened 1/2" copper tubing, drilled appropriate sized holes and was hoping to slip them onto the battery terminal bolts, leaving a tab at the top pointing forward, allowing me to nut & bolt the ring terminals securely under the engine shield. This short tender cord (approx 24") ends in a weather-proof rubber flat plug with rubber cover that I would leave exposed near the hood strut for easy access. To my dismay I find the bolts on the battery leads are so short they will not accommodate the thickness (approx 1/8") of the copper bars. To further complicate finding a hardware solution, these bolts are "captive" on the battery leads, preventing any substitution of slightly longer bolts. :banghead:
Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, what was your solution? Am I stuck using alligator clip connection and removing the dust shield every time?
Apologies for the long explanation. :bonkers:
Glenn
The factory battery leads with plastic covers make it impossible to attach the ring terminals under the connection. I fabbed up some right-angle bars of flattened 1/2" copper tubing, drilled appropriate sized holes and was hoping to slip them onto the battery terminal bolts, leaving a tab at the top pointing forward, allowing me to nut & bolt the ring terminals securely under the engine shield. This short tender cord (approx 24") ends in a weather-proof rubber flat plug with rubber cover that I would leave exposed near the hood strut for easy access. To my dismay I find the bolts on the battery leads are so short they will not accommodate the thickness (approx 1/8") of the copper bars. To further complicate finding a hardware solution, these bolts are "captive" on the battery leads, preventing any substitution of slightly longer bolts. :banghead:
Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, what was your solution? Am I stuck using alligator clip connection and removing the dust shield every time?
Apologies for the long explanation. :bonkers:
Glenn
