I was intending to use the boost circuit of my charger to "jump" my 67 last week. It has a boost circuit. When I need to charge the battery, I disconnect the negative cable. In this case, I connected the charger in charge mode, 10 amps, but got distracted and "required" to perform some other household duties other than play with cars. Anyway, I wound up leaving the charger attached for several hours, maybe 8 or so, with the battery still connected. Could this cause any problems? I have developed an erratic run condition which I think is in the distributor. Could leaving the charger attached while battery is still connected cause any kind of problem?

points or hei?

If the key was off it shouldn't do anything. People charge their battery while connected all the time. The 10 amp setting is a little high but all you could really damage are electronics that were connected. Pretty much everything in these cars disconnects when the key is off.

Peter

I don't think there should be any problem with the electronics...even if you left the battery hooked up. The biggest trouble would be overcharging the battery and boiling away some of the electrolyte. But that would likely take much longer than 8 hours. Also, the battery charger is a constant voltage source, so as the battery charged up the amps should have come down...you wouldn't have been pumping 10 amps the whole time.

If you don't have a "sealed" battery, might want to double check the electrolyte level and top off with distilled water if it's low. Otherwise your problem is somewhere else.

Good Luck

There is no need to disconnect the battery
I've done it a millian times..well at least a couple of thousand smile.gif

I think most all chargers automatically lower their output amprege as the battery's voltage goes up so even though it's set on 10 amps, it may only be putting out .5 amp

I've got mine hooked up right now. Been hooked up since late October....

I've got the charger on the 2A "trickle" setting, and it's plugged in to a programmable HD lamp timer. It'll come on twice a week for about 4 hours.

Setup works slick, and the car's ready to go when the muck finally melts!

Originally posted by John D:
it's plugged in to a programmable HD lamp timer. It'll come on twice a week for about 4 hours.

Dang it wish I hadn't thrown away those timers now
couldn't think of any good use for them at the time

You should post that in "tips and fixes" forum

Battery Tender Plus has been recommended by a few people on other sites. Best price I can find even with the shipping and handling. Usually runs over $50.00. I'll try this outfit and let you know.
http://www.accwhse.com/batteryt.htm

Very pleasent customer service. Delivered price to my address was $44.36. Beat every price I found. Need something like this 'cause too many cars sit.