Trickle charger recommendations?

[elagache]

Dear Walt, John, and mid-60s Buick owners who have to play the odds . . . . .

Maybe(?)  the fire threat is largely due to the enormous current potential of the battery the charger is connected to. A malfunction in the charger could cause hundreds of amps of current to flow thru the changer and..... poof!

Of course that is 100% correct.  There is an enormous amount of energy stored in a car battery and releasing it quickly is going to do harm.  However, that is always true and the battery charger is simply one way of many to do this.  Moreover, the engineers designing these chargers must understand the problem far better than any of us.

I must be to cheap or overly protective OR BOTH . I don,t use a maintainer for the simple reason I don,t like anything plugged in or on when i,n not around .
My thinking is 1st , how much money do I have invested in my car or cars .  2nd , how much is my building worth , with all the misc. contents .

. . . . . . . .

Thats just my 2 cents worth and what I do  .     

Okay, everyone is different, but before one gets too panicky it is worth pondering exactly how common this sort of event turns out to be.  There are easily millions of these chargers sold every year.  So the event in question is on the order of 1 in a million.  Sadly, I wish the odds of having an automotive accident with my wagon were that low.  I'll be the first to agree - caution is the better part of valor.  Still, if a technology exists that makes my life more pleasant and I have good reason to believe it has been implemented in a prudent and safe manner - I'm inclined to use it.  Of course we all need to be savvy shopper and try to make the best product choice we can given our understanding of the situation - what else can someone do in 2018?  If you start to distrust technology in general, how can you feel safe getting out of bed in the morning?

Cheers, Edouard

[elagache]

Dear cautious mid-60s Buick owners,

It just occurred to me that this question about trickle chargers might be an excellent topic for an email to the editors of Hagerty's magazine.  After all, if there is any sort of problem, Hagerty's should see the issue on the claims they get.   I just did a web search and the price of these chargers can vary by 1/3 or more.  So it is possible that some of the chargers on the market are dangerous . . . . certainly could be!   The 64 dollar question is whether or not the reported fires were caused by poorer quality chargers or something more fundamental.

I'd offer to write the letter, but I've already kind of stuffed their inbox with a rather lengthy item! 

Cheers, Edouard   

[option B9]

   I will admit that i purchased an inexpensive trickle charger years ago, but the few times i have used it i removed the battery from the Buick and charged it away from my garage using a lamp timer ( set for 8 hours) plugged into a surge protected power strip that's plugged into a properly grounded extension cord.  I also disconnect the battery cables when the Buick is not in use. I do a battery load test every year, if the battery is weak i simply get a new one. I get 5 to 6 years out of a Delco battery. And i trade in the old batteries. I don't like keeping old batteries around my garage, that's just another disaster waiting to happen.
    The only problem with a battery accessory I've had was with one of those battery disconnect switches, My wife (then Pregnant) & I were on the NYS Thruway heading to the BCA National meet in Buffalo NY in 2001. And i thought i smelled something electrical burning so i stopped at the next rest area, opened the hood of the White GS looked around everything looked OK. When i got back in the GS it would not start, totally dead ! I looked under the hood again and checked the battery terminals and the disconnect switch , everything was tight. I loosened the disconnect switch looked at it and saw that it had burn marks from arcing. I removed it threw it in the garbage and never had a problem since then. I'm glad that i caught it in time before it damaged my GS and ruined my vacation.

                                                         Tony

[Super65lark]

Interesting thread. Valid points made from everyone.
I run a Schumacher plugged into a surge protector. I have never had a portable with it and my battery works just as well as it did new, now 7 years old.
I think another thing to keep in mind is the age of your house. I live in a '95, with modern electrical equipment and fuse breakers. Of course, one must be sure that it has not been tampered with. (Mine had been pigtailed)
If you have an older electrical system then it is true, it may not be worth it.
When I leave town, I always unplug.

[GreatScat1965]

From the 'For what it's worth department" this is the setup I use. The plug is hardwired to the car and the plug tucks up behind the grill badge. I have similar plugs in 3 other cars that see limited use. I rotate the tender between the three cars. This style tender will bring up a discharged battery as well as keep it full.