GEN 2 Trickle Charger Connection Point

I looked in the owner's manual and searched the forum but couldn't find the answer.

Can a trickle charger/battery maintainer be connected to the cigarette lighter plug in our trucks or do I need to get one with battery terminal connectors?

I ask because I know some vehicles don't accept a charge through the lighter.

Thanks

How long will your truck be sitting that you would even need to think Anout doing this ??!!

xBryanHoodsx said:

How long will your truck be sitting that you would even need to think Anout doing this ??!!

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Sometimes up to three months or four months at a time.

I would hook directly to the battery to ensure it works if there is no definitive answer about the cigarette lighter.....

shapiroeric said:

I would hook directly to the battery to ensure it works if there is no definitive answer about the cigarette lighter.....

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Agreed. Also, make sure your charger is powerful enough. Typical lawn tractor or motorcycle charger might not do anything for your truck battery.

smurfslayer said:

Agreed. Also, make sure your charger is powerful enough. Typical lawn tractor or motorcycle charger might not do anything for your truck battery.

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Huh? All he's doing is keeping the constant 10 mA draw from killing the battery. It's not like he needs a 75A charger to keep up with that tiny draw. Any battery charger/tender will be more than enough.

I just pop the hood and hook it straight to the battery on stuff I have sitting for long periods. Simple, easy, no extra wires to short like if you added a remote charge lead. Only downside is you have to keep the hood up unless the battery is way down in the engine bay.

Oh - I tried running a small (motorcycle size) tender on my Lightning, thinking that was going to help. It didn’t. I forget the exact length of time the truck was idle but it was about a month. The battery was there, enough for lights, not enough to start. Jumped it, drove it, drove again the next few days without incident.