Went to start my 08' in storage and battery is totally dead. put a smart charger on it hooking it up under the hood, but it's not charging at all.
Do I have to charge it directly from under the trunk? Has anyone had this problem?

 

I have not had this problem, however if it is totally dead a direct charge to the battery is your best bet.

 

The battery may be below 4 volts. Most chargers won't work if so. Also, if your using something like a battery tender it may take 10-15 hrs for the battery to charge fully. Jumping the vehicle is your best bet. Try a different ground too.

 

It definitely will charge form the remote terminals under the hood but probably not the best way to bring it back from the dead. If it is totaled, get yourself an Optima replacement. I bought one for a project car I started working on over 5 years ago. The car hasn't been driven a mile in that entire time but that Optima still charges up and fires her right up.

 

I would recommend connecting a float charger if you are going to store your vehicles for a long time (>1 month). Just make sure it is a float charger and not a trickle charger as those will cook your batteries for sure. I've got Harbor Freight float chargers on all my batteries in storage. This includes everything from lawn mowers to a boat and "good weather" cars. Never had a dead battery since they where installed.

 

> The battery may be below 4 volts. Most chargers won't work if so.

Interesting. I guess I've always been lucky because every battery charger I've ever owned worked fine even when the battery was STONE COLD dead.

 

I've got Battery Tenders on everything. Are they trickle chargers or floating?

 

And don't forget to get the computer upgrade from your dealer under the recall notice. That upgrade turns off power if you accidentally leave it in accesory mode and walk away. I have a, umm, good friend (cough, cough) that did that once. I, I mean he, didn't realize it was still on when he got out of the car.

 

Can you take out the fob in anything but the "off" position? I've never had a "friend" do anything like that. Or is this a remote-start situation? Also ... what recall notice? Or is this something limited to the SRTs or R/Ts? There seems to be a lot more problems with those cars than there are with the SEs.

 

The battery tender is a float charger, once the battery is fully charged it will go into float mode. The battery tenders and battery minder type of chargers should not be used to charge up a very discharged battery. You should put a charge in them with a bigger charger first, one using 2-10 amps.
Then go with the tender to maintain the battery. The circuts in the float chargers can overheat and ruin it if it overheats. I use to repair those things, they are only meant to maintain batteries, and it states that in the instructions. Thats why they will not activate with low battery voltage, they do not want people using them on big automotive type batteries that are too discharged.