Battery Charging

[ZJon]

Hello All
I have a trickle charger with a cigar lighter adaptor soldered on the end. Would this be a practical way to maintain the charge during the coming off-season?
V new to the bimmer world and don't wanna do anything I shouldn't...
Thanks

[E85STI]

I have always wondered myself about how safe trickle charging is when doing it through the cigarette lighter and it's thin wiring. Being that it is a trickle charge and not a full charge it may be just fine. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

[RightYouAreKen]

I prefer to trickle charge off the jump lugs under the hood. Most trickle chargers are only a few amps at most, so it should be safe for the cigarette charger wiring, but then you'd have to run wires in a window or something, potentially rubbing on the paint. I just use alligator clamps on the + jump lug and the ground lug behind the strut tower on the body and leave the hood cracked. Been doing this for over 5 years and it's worked perfect.

[RRSperry]

Agree with the post above. Use the post under the hood.

[Hagasan41]

I’ve always used the posts under the hood. I use the Ctek 7002 and have been for years without issue. Never been a fan of the cigarette lighter method.

[ChuckDizzle]

I would personally avoid the cigarette lighter. As mentioned above, I also prefer the posts under the hood.

[NeilM]

I’ve permanently installed a NOCO charging pigtail to the under the hood location in my car, which makes connecting the same brand charger both quick and reliable.

[ZJon]

Thanks all for the input on this
A little research and I now know that the lighter is connected up with size 2.5 wire (14 AWG equivalent) which is rated for 15-20 amps and my Schumacher trickle charger with the lighter adapter is only rated @ 2 amps output
Also, and learning as I go here, I see the ground circuit is also size 2.5 braun wire?! That's a first for me lol
I think that it would thus be okay to maintain the charge this way, but the point about running cables over the door is valid too - perhaps an old bath towel to protect the paint?
I did go out and get a Battery Tender rated @ 0.75 amps that has the NOCO adapter with ring terminals plus battery post clamps so have a choice at this point anyway...

[samy01]

You can use the lighter socket. It can typically handle 10A minimum on most cars. Enough for trickle chargers. If you'd send too much Amps through, the fuse would blow.

[SIIDEWAYS]

You can use the lighter socket. It can typically handle 10A minimum on most cars. Enough for trickle chargers. If you'd send too much Amps through, the fuse would blow.

This. I've had my hooptie on a trickle charger for about a decade and have never once had an issue.