Battery tender problem

[first one]

So I get the spring itch today, yea, it's only 45 degrees, but the sun is shining, the snow is all gone and the recent rain the other day had just washed all the salt off the roads. I carefully uncovered my car, took the battery tender off and excitedly hopped in my camaro and fired that mother up.....dead! Say what, but I had a battery tender on it for the last couple of months.

I hooked the battery tender up through the engine compartment. Maybe I should have hooked it up through the trunk. Last year, I didn't have a tender on it and it started just fine in the spring. Originally I purchased a Schumacker and it would give me a check battery error and wouldn't charge, so I purchaed a cheaper one, yeah bad idea I know, and it seemed to be charging fine, no errors. Does any know what might have happened or what I should do next year?

Oh, and I did jump my car and went for a drive. It's almost like driving it for the first time again after being stored all winter.

[dragon22]

I firmly believe a battery tender should be hooked directly to the battery. We hardwire them for people with BMW's, Mercedes and others with batteries in the trunk.

Anytime I have tried to test a battery/charging system at the remote boost points, my handheld machine gets upset and tells me to test directly at the battery.

These remote posts are fine for boosting...most of the time...but tenders and testing, at the battery. IMHO.

[first one]

Thanks AAC (Justin??). That makes sense as to why my battery was dead. I have read some posts where guys were charging from the remote posts and never heard there was a problem with doing this. My charger has a pigtail adapter with permanent connectors that can replace the current alligator clips. I think I will mount this to the battery permanently and fish it through somewhere maybe the spare tire drain hole and keep it there so I won't see a dead battery next spring after hibernation.

[hypurone]

Well I have to say that the actual Battery Tender brand has had no problems being hooked up to the jump points on mine for over a year now. The car has been non-op for varying lengths of time (up to a full month) and started every time. No indicator light issues and always correctly progresses thru the charging sequence changing to float mode with correct light indicators displayed along the way....

EDIT: Forgot to say that I am NOT using clamp type connections, it is bolted at each point. Also, you can see when you connect it right away whether it likes it and begins the charging cycle...