Battery tender/float charger on Yellow Top battery

Since it's quite solidly our 'toy' car, the DeLorean tends to sit for longer than the other cars (the Elky aside, but since it still doesn't run that is I believe understandable) between outings. There is a slow drain somewhere in the electrical system that does not do the battery's charge any good over the time it sits, so now that I've got a garage again I want to keep it hooked up to a tender to keep it charged for when I do get the chance to drive it.

Will the cheap Harbor Freight float chargers work for this, or do I need something fancier/more specialized? The car uses an Optima Yellow Top so it can't be quick-charged, but I'm not looking for a fast charger (have one of those, but it's not practical to use for this even though it will do trickle charging). Thanks!

Easy answer: battery disconnect. A yellowtop will happily sit for months and months without a draw. You'll lose your clock and stereo settings (if applicable) of course.

I have a battery tender that has a specific AGM setting. I use it on my track car since it sits about a month between trips to auto-x. Can't think of the brand though...

In reply to Ashyukun:

You might want to read this: Charging Optima YellowTop

I have used my yellow top for over 10 years. First as the only battery in my rally car, then as the start/boost when I switched to an ultra light battery when converting the car to a hillclimber. The only charger I have used was a processor controlled unit made specifically for these batteries before Optima offered their own branded chargers and is no longer available so there is no point in me listing the brand/model. It meets the above charging requirements for bulk, peak, and continuous charge and my battery seems as strong now as was when new.

We've started to use CTEK chargers. They seem to work well even with the yellow tops, and that's saying something. Optimas changed about 3-4 years ago, so 10-year-old ones are no indication of how the current crop will last.

http://smartercharger.com/battery-chargers/#CTEK%20Multi%20US%204.3

Keith Tanner wrote: Easy answer: battery disconnect. A yellowtop will happily sit for months and months without a draw. You'll lose your clock and stereo settings (if applicable) of course.

I use this method although I have a $900 truck not a presumably garage kept toy DeLorean.

failboat wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Easy answer: battery disconnect. A yellowtop will happily sit for months and months without a draw. You'll lose your clock and stereo settings (if applicable) of course.

I use this method although I have a $900 truck not a presumably garage kept toy DeLorean.

It does have a battery cut, was installed when I put in the alarm system/door poppers- but it does feed power to the stereo to maintain it. I drive it about once a week on average, so resetting all the stations and settings would be a definite pain without that. The (fused) power wire from the head unit runs to the direct-power lug on the cut-off. Would have been nice to have the alarm on it too, but since the door lock system it tied so much in with the rest of the electrical system it would still leave a lot of other stuff powered too. Would love to find a head unit with a built-in battery backup or some other way to cut off everything completely though.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll look into those and see what looks like the best balance to get!

In reply to wclark:

http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-tender-jr-12v-0_75a-battery-charger.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=021-0123&utm_campaign=PLA&gclid=CO6HkJrOnL4CFcpcMgod1lgAdA

I use one of these with my optimas and motorcycle batteries....works fantastic and a great price for a well known name.