MTFCA Forum

Brooks, I use a battery maintainer on our '25 coupe. It lives in the unheated garage all winter. Works for me. Dave

I second what David said. Our one starter car is presently residing in a shop/barn that is right now, 2F. I go out once a week and plug in the cheap battery maintainer and within 30 minutes, it shows the battery to be fully charged. The last few years I'd just let it sit for 5 months and it would still start. Battery is now 5 years old and last summer was too pooped after 5 months sitting to crank...hand cranked it up and generator replenished battery. Now, with the maintainer on this winter, I expect the car will start just fine in spring. I tested it last week and it turned the motor over just fine at 10F.

Bottom line, buy a maintainer and run an extension cord to it...like I mentioned, mine only takes 1/2 hour every week or so to keep things up to snuff.

One of my cars sits all winter in the garage of our summer house where the temperature inside has gotten as low as 15 below zero. I keep a "smart" battery maintainer on it all winter and have never had a problem. I just bought a new battery last year and the old one was 7 years old.

At the local auto parts store you can buy a strap with two ends which fit over the terminals and when you pull up on the strap they tighten around the posts. With this tool you can pull the battery right up and out of the box. Wherever you locate the battery, it should be firmly attached so that it won't roll over as you drive the car. And if you pull the battery, you can bring it indoors to keep it warm. But it still should be kept in a fully charged state but not overcharged to last a long time.
Norm

I keep a battery maintainer on my '20. My car sits in an unheated garage. I didn't know about the tool to pull the battery so I made a wooden holder the battery sits on and pull it out with para cord. My original battery bracket had rusted out and been repaired, so it was easy to make a holder to put in the original bracket for it to sit on. I will check out the battery puller the next time I'm in a parts store.

Do you really think moving the battery to the truck will keep it warmer than in the battery box?

Because of today battery construction, we should not be using the post to lift the battery up. Yes I do it too, but if you do some checking there has been information put out there that says not to. The cases are not as thick and strong as they use to be. I don't think the clamp type will fit thru the door anyway so we really don't have a lot of choice other then to try and reach down and lift up or use the post type lifters.

I find it easiest to disconnect the battery then climb underneath and push it up and over to the side, then I can dust pick it out of the trunk. Jim