Battery tender charging through cigarette outlet?
 

Hi,
I could do this on my last car, but can you charge the battery through the cigarette outlet? I have a battery tender with the cigarette adapter and I would just need to plug it into my car when it's not driven for a while so I can make sure the battery is being maintained and conditioned.

I'm not sure if the FRS and BRZ can be charged this way...I don't like to charge the battery via access to the hood... appreciate any information to charging the battery the easy way.

That dose not make any sense to do on any car your not charging it because your using the battery's power to "charge it" I really hope this a is a prank thread

No, it makes perfect sense. It's 'backfeeding' - rather than connecting directly to the battery terminals, you're connecting to the cigarette lighter and charging the battery through that, with the current going the opposite direction it normally would. OP's talking about external power > battery tender > cigarette lighter > wiring and fusebox > battery, instead of external power > battery tender > battery. He's certainly not talking about battery > wiring and fusebox > cigarette lighter > battery tender > battery, that's not possible.

Unfortunately, AFAIK, the twins cigarette light outlets are switched by the ignition, so they would be disconnected from the battery when the car is off. I don't think it would work on these cars.

Just try it. Isn't there an indicator on the battery tender as to whether or not it's working?

It won't work on the FR-S because both the cigarette outlets are not powered when the car is off. You could either rewire one to be always on (I believe there is a DIY) or just hook a trickle charger straight up to the battery

Yes you can.

http://www.vat19.com/dvds/auto-jumpe...out-cables.cfm

That is designed to work when the ignition/accessory switch is on, unlike a trickle charger. It is still possible that a trickle charger won't work while the car is fully off.

Well the OP's question was whether or not you could charge it through the port and we know for a fact, that it can be.

The whole point of the battery tender cigarette adapter is is convenience.... Just crack the window, plug battery tender to the car and close the door and charge maintain the battery...your battery last longer being maintained.

I don't like to crack the hood and leave wires to drape onto the paint... My last car the cigarette was always powered so it was very cool to do this. Sucks that 86 cars are off...

Why I don't just try it? I like to research before I can potentially do something that can go bad and give more headaches...hence ask a question and also can be reference for others who store their cars or leave it parked for some time.

On my last car I got a pigtail with fuse and SAE end to permanently attach to the battery terminals. About $7 US.

When I needed to trickle charge, I'd hook up the tender set it somewhere in the engine bay and drop the AC plug end down through the bottom.
Close the hood and no mess other than an extension cord running under the car.

it won't cause anything bad if you just try it. worst case scenario is the battery tender just doesn't tend through the outlet.

this is a very good idea. I do it for my motorcycles and hide the pigtail under the rear set. @imom could do this and zip-tie the pigtail inside the engine bay, then pull it out and close the hood on the wire, keeping the tender outside of the engine bay while he's storing the car.

You can fish the SAE cord end up from underneath by dropping a piece of string down and leave the tender on the floor under the car.
Mine was in a carport and I didn't want to take the chance that the tender would walk off.

Well, I can say that I tried it via the cigarette lighter, and it did not work. (The charger and lighter adapter were good because they work in my 997 turbo)

If the outlet is not powered when the car is off, it will not work. But it can be done if you modify the outlet to always have power. For exemple you can intall an "add a fuse" in the fuses box, to power the outlet. There should be DIY's on that. Not super hard, but not exactly for newbie either.