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I would like to find an alternate way to charge the battery in my 37 sedan other than having to remove the front seat bottom each time. A friend of mind that runs a auto repair shop suggested that I charge it through the cable leading to the starter. Just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions. I was thinking about adding a couple of leads to the battery that I could hook a charger to from under the car. Still not convent but better that always removing my seat and taking a chance at damaging the upholstery. Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

Make a pigtail that exits under the running board and then whenever you park the car for the night/week/month/winter attach a battery tender-type charger to it. In fact Battery Tender brand battery maintainer chargers come with a ring terminal pigtail that may be long enough out of the box. That way you don't have to resort to putting a fast charger on the battery. Modern maintainer chargers such as the Battery Tender brand are intended to be plugged in for long periods of storage, so there's no harm in leaving the charger plugged in. However, you will still need to make sure to check the battery water on occasion as many of these new chargers have an exercise mode that will cycle the battery a bit.

See attached photo for an example.

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It's very rare to have to use a battery trickle charger on my '34 (also battery under the front seat), maybe once a year during winter layup for a couple of hours. But when I do I make the connections under the hood; the negative at the starter motor cable connection, and the positive to a cylinder head bolt. The downside of doing it this way is that you pass up the opportunity to check the electrolyte level in the battery.

Your friend is correct I've be doing that for years. G

While we're on the subject of battery charging...
Has anyone heard of causing damage to the voltage regulator while charging a battery with it connected in the circuit?
An old timer told me years ago that you should disconnect the battery cables while charging a battery. He said the charging voltage may cause the contacts in the voltage regulator to stick or fuse together?
I've always have disconnected the battery cables every since he told me.

I haven't looked for any detailed schematics of the older charging systems like the three brush or the systems with only a cutout relay but in a modern system such as Packard used from the late 30s onward the fused point issue would not seem to be a likely problem. I doubt it was much different on the older systems.

As you can see, in a typical system the battery is connected to an open set of contacts on the cutout relay. The contacts will not close until a small voltage is being produced by the generator and is supplied to the ARM or GEN terminal after the engine is started. Once the engine starts, the residual magnetism in the generator is just enough to supply a small amount of voltage and current to pull in the relay.

Charging the battery without removing the cable would not do anything as long as the contacts are open as they should be when the engine is off. The average charger only puts out a volt or two more than the nominal battery voltage so in order to fuse a contact there would have to be something wrong with the regulator in the first place

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What is this fascination with charging batteries? Where did it come from? Modern cars with computers need it as there is a constant draw and they will go down in a very few weeks. There is nothing on your Packard drawing current except perhaps the clock and if you disconnect a cable for the winter you will still have way more than 90% charge in the spring. Even my cars with clocks that work sit for 3-4 months in the driving season with no inconvenience. Battery tenders are a lie.

To 57 Pack,

Old timers are to be respected and as I'm 71 I'm an old timer now. Old timers who give wrong information are another story however.

If charging a battery damages a voltage regulator then all cars would be damages, yes 100% of the cars and trucks on the road with generators and alternators as those units charge the battery whenever the car is running.

The car does no know if the electricity going into the battery is coming from a charger, the generator/alternator or another car with jumper cables.

Old timers?? Remember once upon a time tomatoes were considered poisonous, the world was flat and humans could not withstand any speed over 20 mph

Well Fred,
I'm also an "old timer" as I am 75.
The old timer I was referring to, told me this back in the 1950's.
I was just putting this out there to ask if anyone else had heard of this.
Just a question .

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Where did it come from? Science. Lead acid batteries perform best when they are kept at or near their full charge level, both from a lifespan and a capacity perspective. Lifespan as in the number of years a battery can go before needing to be replaced, capacity as in the amount of current a battery can deliver over time while being discharged. The main enemy of SLI lead-acid batteries is the formation of lead sulfate, which can mostly be prevented by fully recharging a battery after a discharge cycle. This has been well documented by peer-reviewed research journals.

So here are a few reasons to support the use of low-current automatic battery maintenance and storage chargers:

1) Rarely do the batteries in our cars see full charges under operation (mechanical voltage regulators aren't perfect), so recharging batteries after use can help extend their lives by reducing sulfation.

2) The self discharge rate of SLI lead-acid batteries is around 3% per month. While it'll likely still have enough cranking amps to turn the engine over come spring, the battery is only at 82% charged after six months of storage. Forcing a 30-amp generator to operate at 100% for an extended period to bring the battery back up to full charge results in wear and tear most of us would rather avoid. Vehicle manufacturers recommend charging a discharged battery with a proper charger rather than forcing the alternator to do it for this same reason. That discharge cycle also invites the formation of lead sulfate, so again keeping the battery at full charge helps prolong its life.

3) It's cheap insurance and helps ensure your car is ready to go when you are. Plus operating a 6-volt car, where the systems are more sensitive to a voltage drops, is much easier when you're starting with a full 6.3 volts.

Battery tenders aren't a lie, their use and value has been proven by rigorous scientific research. Your anecdotal experience may have shown you that they're unnecessary, but others have had different experiences.

The battery charging discussion goes hand in hand with the discussion of fitting battery disconnect switches. Just because my car hasn't caught fire spontaneously in my garage doesn't mean I shouldn't disconnect the battery when I'm not using the car. Why not guard against a known threat, even if it's a remote possibility? Again, it's cheap insurance.

But ultimately we're off-topic here. The original poster didn't ask whether or not he should charge his battery, he asked how to do it without having to gain direct access.