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Does any one use a battery maintainer to keep the battery fully charged at all times. As if I dont drive my 34 1101 for 7-10 days it seems like the battery is a little run down. as I have two new (this Spring) red top optima batterys in the car and the generator rewired from AER a year ago so it should all should be good? The charging rate is about 7 amp and it does not show charging until between 15 and 20 mph. So driving on a city street it is really not charging the cars battery and if I drive 4-5 miles at 35-40 mph it does not put the battery at fully charged only 50% according to the battery charger when I hook it up to the car batteries.

I do have cut off on the battery so I know the current from the battery is not being drawn off some where due to a short.
So wondering if any one has similar problems.

There should be no need for a battery charger or tender in normal use, so either you've got a parasitic drain somewhere, or just need to adjust your 3rd brush for a little higher charging rate. Just for comparison, for daylight driving I have my '34 Eight charging rate set to give about 5 amps at road speed, the battery (NAPA Commercial lead/acid) never needs external charging and is always at full charge; I'm not using lights, heater or radio. If you make more very short trips with lots of restarts or your car is not a quick starter, you will need a bit higher rate. Mine is a very fast starter, engine rarely makes 1 full revolution before starting. So, once you determine that you don't have some drain somewhere, why not adjust your generator to give about 10 amps at road speed and see how that goes?

We could use a bit more information. Are you using a battery disconnect switch when the car sits for those 7-10 days? Is your driving with or without lights, radio, heater? Have you checked to make sure you don't have a battery drain?

With your low charging rate, you might need 8-12 miles of driving to recharge for a single start, perhaps even more.

REDTOPs hold their charge longer than any Battery out there. Have RT in all my cars - no battery tender - and do very little Charger charging.

Hope u have a Bat Disconnect Switch. This should eliminate any drain when shes asleep + give u a restful sleep.

2 REDTOPs ???????????

I keep a Harbor Freight charger under the seat and 'permanently' connected to two Optima 6v batteries. Because I drive my car so much, my clock is always working and my 12v Neg ground cigar lighter, also. I drive short distances with multiple restarts. I just lift the back of the cushion, pull out the plug and plug it to an extension cord. I'm always confident my car will always start which may take 2 or 3 revolutions on the first attempt when the weather and car are hot. I know it's overkill, but my Getting Stuck card is fully punched after 60 years (this year) with this car, and now I never work about that.

I've probably posted this before, but here's the setup.

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I do have a battery disconnect switch on it and use it when the car sets any time. My driving is not with lights or the heater, radio on,, everything is off, and dont have that many restarts There should be no battery drain with the disconnect switch as their is no place for it to drain to, If my thinking is correct. And I have two red top batteries hook in tandem as well.
Owen at what speed does your amp gauage really move off of 0 and start charging?

At my Oregon shop with its extremes of temperature (especially inside the uninsulated building) I keep them connected through a charge controller to a 100 watt solar panel on the roof when I'm not there. Otherwise they get ruined in short order. In your case, though, for a driving car it should not be necessary so perhaps some work or upgrades on your charging system are in order.

When the car also has been setting for a week or so it seem like it takes a while for it to start as I put the steering throttle have way up and depress the accelator twice but it still seems like it takes a while turning the engine over before it fires. But once it is warmed up it starts right up with in a revolution. And not sure that the starter is turning it over fast enough or just the low battery, The connections all are tight on the starter.

Sounds like simple evaporation of some of the gas in the carb as the car sits for a week, a little more cranking is needed to replenish the fuel before it will start. Normal enough situation with today's gasoline, mine behaves similarly.

Have you adjusted your 3rd brush yet for a little higher charging rate?

I adjusted the genertor third brush so now it is charging about 10 amp at 35-40 mph so will see how it will do. Thanks to everyone as I appreciate all the comments and tips.