Does anybody know of a battery charger that I could plug into the cigarette lighter? I'm going to leave my mini outside during the winter so something that would plug into the lighter and then plug it into an outlet in the garage is ideal.

 

I use the Deltran "Battery Tender Plus" for all my cars and bikes, and there's an available cigarette lighter adapter for it.

One thing to keep in mind, though - since the cigarette lighter in the MINI is on a switched fuse (i.e. it only provides 12V when the car's ignition is on), I don't think you can charge the battery through the cigarette lighter with the ignition off.

 

Get battery Tender Plus from Deltran, but you have to hook it up to the battery itself. It comes with gator clips with male & female plugs. That's what I used to use to keep my bike's battery charged & maintained all winter long.

 

Thanks for the help, which one should I get, the 12v or the 24v?

 

And also is it ok to leave the battery tender plus attached to the battery for long periods of time?

 

Get the 12V model for cars and motorcycles. You can leave it connected indefinitely, although if your battery is the type that needs periodic checking and refilling of the water level, you'll still need to do that.

 

The Battery Charger Plus is a great item but all you need is a Battery Charger Jr. They are about 35 bucks and most motorcycle dealerships carry them or you can get one for under 30 with shipping from e-bay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MOTOR...mZ120309635590

I have a couple of them--one for my Corvette and one for my HD. The one on the 'vette is on there continuously with no ill effect and I use the other one htroughout the winter.

The technology is a float-charger type and will cause no harm to the battery as it automatically cylces on and off. The kit includes clamps and also a plug for the cigar outlet.

 

Good suggestion on the BT Junior instead of the full-sized one. If you need to charge a car battery up from the dead, the BT Junior would take forever, but for maintaining a charge on a stored battery, it's just the ticket.