[James33]

I read the thread on the battery tender but had a question. If I don't have the 12v adapter can I just attach the leads to the battery itself? Or is this just a PITA? Haven't even opened the battery compartment so don't know the difficulty of going this route. Some cars like my M3 has a convenient positive terminal and ground bolt to attach to. Guess the Lotus doesn't..

Thanks for any advice.

James

 

[ddimensia]

I have a CTEK charger that came with a pigtail I permanently attached to the battery. The pigtail just sticks out from behind the battery cover and makes it pretty easy to plug/unplug the charger when I need.

 

[lotus69f2]

Tender can be put directly to battery, but the pigtail adapter is certainly more convenient.

If you have an Evora the accessory plug in the boot is live and an accessory adapter can be used there. But in the Evora the boot lid need to be latched for the light to go out. If it isn't the draw will overwhelm the tender and the battery will go flat anyway.

 

[rcollum]

Kyle, is it possible to shut the rear hatch with the battery tender lead hanging out? I do that in my Jaguar with no problem. I am trying to rig up a short strand of LEDs to wrap around the lead, so I don't forget and drive off with it still attached.

I am also a CTEK user - I have one on the Elise (plugged into the handy, always-on outlet between the seats), and on my Jaguar XK, plugged into the pigtail I connected to the battery, attached in the trunk.

--Bob Collum

 

[Chitwood]

You can also plug a charger/tender into the 12V outlet between the seats.
I hang the battery tender from the garage door rails above the passenger side of the car. I leave the passenger window open to accommodate the wire. It's very convenient.
Note that I had to change out the Euro-spec socket with a US-spec part because the tender plug would not stay in.

 

[James33]

You can also plug a charger/tender into the 12V outlet between the seats.
I hang the battery tender from the garage door rails above the passenger side of the car. I leave the passenger window open to accommodate the wire. It's very convenient.
Note that I had to change out the Euro-spec socket with a US-spec part because the tender plug would not stay in.

Didn't think this would work as it's not active unless a key is on. That would be ideal if it did though.

 

[rcollum]

You can also plug a charger/tender into the 12V outlet between the seats.
I hang the battery tender from the garage door rails above the passenger side of the car. I leave the passenger window open to accommodate the wire. It's very convenient.
Note that I had to change out the Euro-spec socket with a US-spec part because the tender plug would not stay in.

Good point - I had forgotten I had to replace the power outlet in my Elise several years ago, as my Garmin GPS plug would not stay in.

It's my understanding that 'most' modern cars do not leave their power outlets on all the time; my 2007 Jaguar does not, nor does my wife's 2008 Smart. That's why most chargers have the pigtails included. I know several people put the pigtails on their Elige battery, and ran the lead out the left air inlet on the side of the car.

--Bob Collum

 

[RWLott]

Maintainer Hookup

There are better solutions. I use a Sears maintainer with an AC adaptor from AutoZone. I soldered flat spade connectors to the AC adaptor as shown.

Just plug the adaptor into the trunk accessory plug. Note the trunk is full of golf clubs, etc.

Make sure you "close" the trunk latch to turn off the trunk light. I simply use the car key as shown.

 

[Buckwheat]

Several of the chargers that are available today will plug directly into the charge cable that hangs out of the battery compartment. I have the original Lotus Charger that came with the car, but I use a maintainer from Sears with a higher amp output which does plug directly into the charge cable.

You could pop the battery door and connect directly to the battery as well.

As RWLott stated, all you have to do is close the trunk latch to turn off the trunk lights. But make sure you open the trunk before you attempt to close the trunk (You will hear a nice metal crunch if you don't). I forget to do this on occasion.

 

[JimHam]

There are better solutions. I use a Sears maintainer with an AC adaptor from AutoZone. I soldered flat spade connectors to the AC adaptor as shown.

Just plug the adaptor into the trunk accessory plug. Note the trunk is full of golf clubs, etc.

Make sure you "close" the trunk latch to turn off the trunk light. I simply use the car key as shown.

Good idea using the adapter/outlet in the trunk. I put the pig tail connector that came with my tender directly on the battery and leave it hanging out on the carpet. Plug the tender into that, flip the latch like you showed and I'm all set.

 

[KCZ]

Use the leads that come with a Deltran Battery Tender Plus and screw them to the battery terminals. A lot of dealers sell the car this way. Get an extension cable that's sold as a BT accessory and run that out the boot. The boot lid will latch with the cable in place, without leaving the lights on.

The only problem is access to the battery compartment which can be a PITA depending on your model year, and requires gentle treatment of any flimsily attached Velcro and removal of a bunch of bolts. If you have an earlier model, do yourself a favor, and replace the cargo net nuts with Rivnuts as described here, to simplify future access to the battery compartment. http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170/cargo-net-hooks-156065/ Also replace the boot lights with LEDs to help prevent future dead battery issues. An ounce of prevention is well worth it with these cars.

 

[chazzer]

All good ideas. I use the direct connect attachment wire to make a permanent connection to the battery terminals. Then you just plug in the pig tails that are inside the boot. Switch the two light bulbs out to LED's-- a must to reduce power drain like was stated earlier. You have to have the boot lid down and latched to turn off the two lights. I filmed the lights and just set the boot lid down snug but it does not turn off the bulbs unless latched. You can just close the electric latch like RWLott showed you earlier and then just set the boot lid down snug. (If I'm going to do that I put a section of red Ribbon in the slot when I use a screwdriver to latch the latch first.) That way I won't slam the latch while it's closed and break something.

 

[James33]

Done. I attached pigtail to the battery terminals and it's hanging out so I can plug in as needed.

On the LED bulbs- anyone have a list of which ones and part numbers/type?

 

[JLSELISE]

All good ideas. I use the direct connect attachment wire to make a permanent connection to the battery terminals. Then you just plug in the pig tails that are inside the boot. Switch the two light bulbs out to LED's-- a must to reduce power drain like was stated earlier. You have to have the boot lid down and latched to turn off the two lights. I filmed the lights and just set the boot lid down snug but it does not turn off the bulbs unless latched. You can just close the electric latch like RWLott showed you earlier and then just set the boot lid down snug. (If I'm going to do that I put a section of red Ribbon in the slot when I use a screwdriver to latch the latch first.) That way I won't slam the latch while it's closed and break something.

Another variation:
Since I only use the battery tender a few times a year, I remove the trunk light bulbs completely when the tender is connected via the 12V accessory plug. It takes less than a minute to remove or re-insert them. I use a wood coffee stirrer when prying the bulbs out to prevent an inadvertent short. (Also, the LEDs are always "cool" so it's easy to handle them.)

 

[chazzer]

Read this thread about the size of LED's you need for the Boot lights, interior and license plate. http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f17...fter-courtesy-light-left-changing-led-116622/ :UK: Interior bulbs are 40+mm (the 42mm will be good). You can bend the tabs to make 'em fit either way. The LED's are very cool and the light is nice from them.

 

[vkykam]

+1 on this.

Pigtail sits in the trunk, and the wire running out of the trunk is thin enough to be led out of the trunk and still close the trunk hatch.

I have a CTEK charger that came with a pigtail I permanently attached to the battery. The pigtail just sticks out from behind the battery cover and makes it pretty easy to plug/unplug the charger when I need.

 

[squidward]

I have two things attached to my battery and routed under the cover - a battery bug (that shows the voltage reading) and two eyelet terminals for charging with my 10A charger.