Trickle Charger Question

[chitowndad]

So this winter when I put the Boxster in storage I plan on hooking up a trickle charger. I was wondering, can I hook up the charger to the battery permanently (wired to the terminals) and simply plug it in when I need to. The trickle charger that I have has clips to hook up to the terminals which I was wanting to cut off and wire it directly to the terminals. So if I hook it up like that and leave the trickle charger connected all the time, including when I drive it, will this hurt the trickle charger or my battery?

Do most of you guys use the cigarette method?

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks,
-Steve