Battery tender

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Adam

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just ordered a batteryminder brand battery tender. guy from whom i ordered it swore that the optional cigarette lighter adapter i purchased was perfectly safe to use.

his reasoning: it's safe to charge the CSi's battery via its cigarette lighter because the cigarette lighters are wired-up for way more amperage than the 1.3amps @ which the tender will be charging my battery.

anyone have any experience with these things?

thanks in advance for any info you have.


Adam
 
When I took my shifter surround off and looked at the wires involved, they looked to be slightly thicker than the wires used for the window power. You could do a test by getting the same gauge wire and connecting the trickle charger up to a battery through a section of that wire. See how it does.
 
The light cables are more than sufficient for 1.3A; they can handle a solid 8A+. The fuse also works in reverse just as well and it will go before the wires. Nothing to worry about.
 
Let me see if I've got this right!

You plug the battery tender into the cigarette lighter to charge the battery! Obviously the power to run the tender (from the battery) is less than the power delivered by the tender (to the battery).

Perpetual power?

I'm the first to admit I may have this wrong!

David.
 
A bit wrong. The tender should be powered by AC or something like solar. When charging current is supplied to the battery by the tender.

The current does not flow to the tender from the battery when it is plugged in. The notion of current levels is only about the wiring; the cigarette circuit can handle 8A easily - more than enough for the tender charging.

Sorry, no perpetual power :cry:
 
I've used the battery tender that can be purchased through the dealer. It appears to be the same as other generic tenders that plug into the cig lighter. I've used this tender for three winters (the past three) while living in Pennsylvania and I never had any problems at all. Because the Cig lighter is powering a heat element it would have to be capable of carrying far more load than the tender will deliver (with a trickle) as a pass through to the battery.

Hey, have faith, just plug and pray!

Dave L
 
I have several BatteryMinders. I purchased one originally for my 2002 as it sits during the winters here in Seattle.

I then got one for my boat.
Another for my 740i after having that car sit for ~3 weeks caused the battery to have 'problems'...
I have one on my riding mower...
Another for my '68 Mustang convertible.
:shock:

You get the idea.

Yes - I run both the 2002 and 740i via the cig lighter outlet.
I have found that the accessories for the Battery Tender fits these units as well so...
25' extensions, cig lighter adapters and such (available for the "tender") work here as well.

Go for it.....!!!
 
update: i connected the battery minder via the cigarette lighter adapter. the charger shows no connection. the odd thing is that i know the cigarette lighter port is wired-up because the cigarette lighter itself gets hot when depressed.

anyone know how this could be?
 
The lighter is directly connected to the battery, through fuse #5. As long as it makes good contact it should work. I've had problems with cell phone chargers that do not mate well with the 12V on the cigarette lighter. Specially bad on my E24.

The other option is that the charger determines connection measuring current,and maybe the battery is fully charged or as high unloaded voltage and there is no current into the battery.

So:
- juggle the connector looking for good contact
- connect the charger directly to the battery and see if it reports
connection
 
I bought mine at Sears, hooked directly to the battery in the trunk, which has worked fine for a few years now. The only drawback is the trunk lid needs to be kept open a crack for the extention cord. Not a problem in my dry barn with a car cover over it.
 
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