Battery Maintainer (Trickle Charger) Onboard Install

Install summary of a slow charge on-board battery maintainer for at '17 Tacoma ACLB TRD OR.

Many people have dual battery/aux battery setups and there are many threads covering this but this is focuses on the starter (main) battery. Here is my story...

I’ve owned a Charger/Maintainer since my first car but never installed it and used it rather occasionally. Owning a new truck and living on the western slope of coloRADo where evening temperatures frequently dip below zero in the winter I thought it might be nice to keep the battery fully juiced for an easier start in the morning.

Parts:

• 12V/1.5A Automatic Shutoff Onboard Battery Charger by Century Mfg. Co.
• Charger Mount - this came from a different Charger we had
• Husky 3-wire 8’ Replacement Cord
• Cord Plug replacement (female)
• Heat Shrink (optional)
• Plastic tube (optional)
• Zip-ties (x2-3)

First I found a location for the Charger to mount that would allow its to reach the positive battery terminal and ground. I really didn’t want to extend these wires and knew I would need to have enough length to replace the ring terminals on. In many cases these wires will come with ring terminals factory installed but I had exchanged these with alligator clips when I first got the charger. The Charger Mount is nothing more than an L-bracket with a couple holes to bolt on the Charger. I found that the bracket would slide underneath the battery but on top of the battery tray. Between the pressure of the battery strap and the lip of the battery tray the Mount is snugly secured.

With the Charger mounted in place and double checking the Charger leads were sufficient length to reach the battery terminals it was time to beef up the strain relief. I did this with a small piece of black tube (optional) and some Heat Shrink.



The stock strain relief seemed very rigid and I’ve had too many wire jackets break at these points on other electronics (i.e. ear buds, phone charge cables, and laptop cords).





The next part of the install was using the Replacement Cord and Replacement Plug as a custom length extension cord. The stock power cord to the charger is only a couple inches in length so an extension cord is needed to reach outside the engine compartment.To avoid opening the hood each time I use the Charger, I wanted to extend the length to reach out the front of the vehicle. I ran the cord below the grill and above the bumper through the black trim insert that encases the fog lights.

I ended up with an extra meter or so of cord but I didn’t know where I was going to install the Charger and how I would run the extension when I bought the supplies. The black cord prong end can tuck away and blend in with the front of the vehicle.




I zip-tied this prong end first and then ran the rest of the unfinished end up to where the stock Charger cord was. I finish this part by installing the Replacement Plug on the end of the cut-to-length Replacement Cord finishing the extension. After plugging the Charger into the engine compartment cut-to-length extension, I was almost finished.


The last part of the install was to connect the Charger leads to the negative/ground and positive terminal.




After this was done it was ready to test out by plugging the bumper mounted plug into a powered cord.



Charging success!



This is my first install thread so I can only hope it was posted in the right location and that it is clear enough to be useful, so be kind.

 

Interesting, but I've never had battery issues here.

 

This is an interesting mod, and I actually see that it could be useful.

My coworker drives a newer Dodge Ram and recently had the battery replaced. He went away for a long weekend - 3 days - to come back to a dead battery and his truck wouldn't start. Now he probably has some others issues, but driving his truck less than half a mile to work and back then using his other car for family trips are probably chief among them.

So yeah...there's one case where it could have been helpful to have a trickle charger installed.

 

Your friend has an electrical leak somewhere draining that battery I bet.

 

Eeyup. That's those other issues that I mentioned.

 

that sounds like a really severe draw. I parked my CRV for a month (with an Optima Yellowtop) and it barely started. still started though

 

This is useful for people like me who often drive short distances on several days a week. 3 mile round trip drives were killing my battery. I wired a quick connect to the inside of the cab and plug in my charger there .

 

A block heater would serve you better in this situation. Keeping the engine relatively warm is easier on the battery than keeping it "topped off". Your still working the battery hard turning over a bone cold engine.
P.S. It gets sub zero in WI as well. No problems starting. Without a charger or block heater

 

Since i have retired I am only driving about once a week now. So i have also added a small 2amp battery maintainer / trickle charger.
Its the new

$40 NOCO genius2d : 2A 12V Smart Onboard Battery Charger - Direct-Mount Automatic Maintainer, Trickle Charger & Desulfator with Overcharge Protection & Temperature Compensation – For Lead-Acid Batteries

NOCO genius2d... Fully automatic and can be left on 24/7.

Rather than attaching the mounting bracket with screws to something under hood I used

$7 3M VHB 100x200mm~ (4" X8") Double Sided Foam Adhesive Sheet Tape 5952 Automotive Mounting Industrial Grade Very High Bond 5952 (1 Sheets 100x200mm)

3M VHB (very high bond) double sided tape to stick it right to the battery itself since its very small.