Can anyone recommend a good battery trickle charger? I hear you can get one that charges thru the cigarette lighter. That would be convenient if it works. Thanks, Ken

For a few bucks more you can get a smart charger.
They're safer than a trickle charger and are more 'kind' to a battery.
A popular one for 'Vette people is the Ctek 3300.
I got mine through Amazon for $40.
Funny story:
I talked my nephew into getting one for his car as it sits idle for long periods of time. I recommended the Ctek, but he got the 'special' Porsche charger. Turns out the 'special' Porsche charger is a Ctek 3300. The only difference is his charger has "Porsche" printed on the front. Oh yeah, and his cost $140.

dan

http://www.batterytender.com/

Whatever you decide on, make sure it is compatible with the type of battery you have in the car.

Looks like the 'Porsche Tax' is about the same as the 'Corvette Tax'

I found that if I just disconnected the negative off my fully charged Optima Red Top battery, that was good enough. The longest it sat was close to 18 months, and I just reconnected the negative, and it fired rigth up with no problems.

Thanks guys for the input. It helps.

Watch out for chargers as they cause fires fry electrical components etc.. I use a good one only to get the battery up to charge and only with the battery cable disconnected. Do not need to leave it on while the car is stored as Cossak states you can just disconnect the neg cable and the battery will stay charged a long time. If you dont drive the car enough to overcome the parastic drain then an overnight charge should do it. If the car isnt charging then the battery, cables, belt and alternator need to be investigated.

Thanks for the input. I just think I need to drive the car more. Battery was new last year.

I use the Trickel charger on my Optima red top everytime I park it in the garage. It plugs into the outlet and cuts off automatic when charged. I try to drive my corvette once a week in the winter but sometime I go two weeks. My battery and charger are almost four years old with no problems. The charger cost around $60.00. I think they also give your battery a longer life.

Me 2!!!!!

Hi, I am a recent new owner of a C5 and I have 2 CTEX 7002 chargers. One is on the C5 and the other is on my Street Rod. The Street Rod has an Optima yellow top in it and they take a different charge than the battery in the Vette. Optima batterys takes a deep cycle charge. The CETX 7002 has an Optima charging position on it for Optima batt. I gave $100.00 apiece for the chargers from a BMW site but I see on Amazon.com they are around $91.00

Welcome Ron

Any chance you have pics of either car available?

Yeah I have pictures but I can't figure out how to upload them yet. My C5 is my 4th Vette. I've had a 60, 68 triple black roadster, and a 71 coupe over the years. I know what happened to all of them or where they are now.

Battery Tender by deltran is a very good unit ya can get it thru the Eklers catiloug not sure of price they have several models Dave

Dave...you can save yourself well over $25.00 by ordering this until through Amazon.com.
Mike