Battery prep for storage

[Nicketts]

Hey guys,
Hoping for some advice. Getting ready to store my '82. Have made most of the recommended preparations--suspect many of you are familiar. Got some fresh cab (anyone use it?) and a sonic device for backup. Sealed garage pretty well. It's not heated. My mechanic said don't bother to take battery out, just unhook the positive and put the tender on it. My question is: tender instructions say if leaving in the car, hook up the positive cable to ungrounded (pos) terminal and hook the negative cable to engine block or serious frame part. Well, we know where the battery is, so what is the correct way? Seems smart to unhook at least one of the terminals for winter but not sure how this will work. Gonna put this off as long as possible but want to be ready. Need to move South! Thanks.

[aj81spider]

Generally whenever disconnecting a battery you unhook the negative first. That way if your tool slips when unhooking the positive you don't short the battery to the chassis through the tool and create a giant problem. The tender says to hook to the positive and then to the car frame for the same reason jumper cables call for the same order. That is to prevent any spark that might be created by making the last connection to be away from the fumes of the battery and therefore not cause an explosion.

What I've done is to put a battery disconnect (something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Post-Battery-Mas ... ect+switch) on my negative post.

In the winter I unscrew it to disconnect it. I also have my battery tender permanently wired to the posts of the battery so I only need to disconnect and plug in. In this picture you can see the disconnect, and if you look closely to the right of the battery you can see the bottom of the tender (two mounting screws showing) and the plug.

[Nicketts]

Thanks AJ,
Seems like a neat and quick solution. Safer to turn on the tender when negative is turned off, I guess. Not sure I want to take the time to perm install tender this year though. Probably should bite the bullet and do it, since car will always be stored in winter. That part is inexpensive enough, for sure. Appreciate the advice.

[kilrwail]

Mine is on a tender whenever parked. The positive lead goes to the positive post and the negative to the chassis. I don't disconnect the negative car lead in winter - just plug in the tender and walk away. I've never had a problem.

[Nicketts]

Thank you Ontario. But tell me, where do you connect to the chassis from the trunk? Must be somewhere substantial enough? Appreciate your response--thanks.