On Board Trickle charger

irishkpo

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Location
Minnesota
Current Ride
'23 - Raptor - Code Orange (mine) AND '24 HLE 2dr - Yellowstone (wife's)
Current Ride #2
Rental Car of the week...
So unfortunately my Bronco sits for weeks on end at times. I travel a lot for work and only get to drive it on the weekends basically. Sometimes if we take my wife's bronco (HLE) for a weekend road trip, then mine might sit for two-three weeks at a time. Raptor only gets used if we're heading off-road that weekend. Two years old and only 10k miles. Hers on the other hand is a pavement princess and get driven daily.

Anyway, The other weekend I got hit hard by the deep sleep issue. Went out the the truck and it wouldn't even unlock. Tried to jump it with the other bronco and it still wouldn't start. Sat on a charger for about three hours and then I was finally able to get it to turnover.

So to prevent this from happening in the future I went out and bought a small trickle charger that I plan to mount under the hood.

NOCO 2D - Went with it because it had ring terminals.

Considered looking for a spot for one of these on the front bumper also. Then thought better of it since I don't think I really want to knock a 2" hole in the bumper. Actually, could use two of them since I could run a second one for the engine block heater.... Why they hid that up under the hood and not down by the gap in the bumper is beyond me.

Before I do this, thought I'd ask quick if anyone else has done it. Was hoping that someone had a good idea on where to mount it. Otherwise, if no one has done something similar then when I install it next weekend I'll post some pics.
 
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I use several of these Battery Tender units. I then attach this pigtail to each battery & run the end to an accessible location so the actual charger is on the outside for ease of use.
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I use several of these Battery Tender units. I then attach this pigtail to each battery & run the end to an accessible location so the actual charger is on the outside for ease of use.
Similar idea. I just wanted the tender permanently mounted in the truck. Don't know why..... I just did. Probably because I have them mounted that way in both my boats with a shore power outlet like I posted earlier. Then I can just park them in the garage and run a extension cord when I leave the cabin and that way if I can't get up to the cabin for a couple of weeks/months they are ready to go. For the Raptor I plan to just put the standard 110V plug where I can have it easily accessible.
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I use several of these Battery Tender units. I then attach this pigtail to each battery & run the end to an accessible location so the actual charger is on the outside for ease of use.
Perfect, I have half dozen hooked up the same method and on at all times except for when the vehicle or boat is in use.
Similar idea. I just wanted the tender permanently mounted in the truck. Don't know why..... I just did. Probably because I have them mounted that way in both my boats with a shore power outlet like I posted earlier. Then I can just park them in the garage and run a extension cord when I leave the cabin and that way if I can't get up to the cabin for a couple of weeks/months they are ready to go. For the Raptor I plan to just put the standard 110V plug where I can have it easily accessible.
I don't recommend installing the charger itself in or on the vehicle, use the pigtail for ease of hookup, the chargers do get warm and need adequate ventilation along with a clean environment. I also use these 25' extensions from Amazon on a few of the vehicles allowing the chargers to be placed in a location for quick glance to check status. Note there are various lengths available.

Photo below shown hooked up to charger that's outside of Raptor. I always use wire loom for wiring protection.
IMG_4369.webp
 
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Similar idea. I just wanted the tender permanently mounted in the truck. Don't know why..... I just did. Probably because I have them mounted that way in both my boats with a shore power outlet like I posted earlier. Then I can just park them in the garage and run a extension cord when I leave the cabin and that way if I can't get up to the cabin for a couple of weeks/months they are ready to go. For the Raptor I plan to just put the standard 110V plug where I can have it easily accessible.
Understood however, if you wheel your rig, I wouldn’t suggest mounting it in the engine bay unless you have a VERY secure method to ensure it doesn’t become a pinball/projectile in there and damage stuff. YMMV
 
I run a Battery Tender with the permanent pigtail to the battery on my motorcycle, S2000, and will be doing the same on the Raptor. I don't drive them enough to keep them charged on their own.
 
Well I installed it this morning. I went with that particular NOCO 2D unit since it specifically says it was designed to be permanently hooked up and installed in an engine bay. I did add wire loom to the wires to give them some vibration protection. Decided to just install it on the fuse box cover like I did with my rocklight controller which is the box behind the charger in the picture.

The unit clips into a bracket that I bolted through the fuse box cover. That backet clips in hard and then there is a velcro strap on top of that to hold the unit into the clip. I'm not worried about it going anywhere.

1742747700276.webp
 
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Well after a couple of weeks with the unit on the truck and plugged in I have to say I'm a little frustrated with it. Manual says that if it is Pulsing Red that the battery is below 75%. Green pulse means it's above 75%. Solid Green 100%. That a 40 AMP Hour battery should take about 24 hours to charge..... two weeks plugged in you would think that it would get above 75% at least. It has been Pulsing Red the whole time. I even took it for a two hour drive over the weekend so the battery should be topped off.

Wish there was a way to see what the Truck's Computer thinks the battery charge is.
 
Well after a couple of weeks with the unit on the truck and plugged in I have to say I'm a little frustrated with it. Manual says that if it is Pulsing Red that the battery is below 75%. Green pulse means it's above 75%. Solid Green 100%. That a 40 AMP Hour battery should take about 24 hours to charge..... two weeks plugged in you would think that it would get above 75% at least. It has been Pulsing Red the whole time. I even took it for a two hour drive over the weekend so the battery should be topped off.

Wish there was a way to see what the Truck's Computer thinks the battery charge is.
Perhaps the BCM is cock blocking your electron flow. Just for yucks & chucks try connecting the negative lead to the nut on the actual battery terminal and see if that provides joy.
 
Well after a couple of weeks with the unit on the truck and plugged in I have to say I'm a little frustrated with it. Manual says that if it is Pulsing Red that the battery is below 75%. Green pulse means it's above 75%. Solid Green 100%. That a 40 AMP Hour battery should take about 24 hours to charge..... two weeks plugged in you would think that it would get above 75% at least. It has been Pulsing Red the whole time. I even took it for a two hour drive over the weekend so the battery should be topped off.

Wish there was a way to see what the Truck's Computer thinks the battery charge is.
Park it and hook everything up. If you can move the charger temporally where you can view it with the hood closed helps. Once everything is set, start the vehicle and turn off the auto headlights, doors closed etc. Moniter the display on the charger with the vehicle running and hooked up to the charger. See if it eventually displays the steady green light 100%. It shouldn't take but 5 minutes or so. On some of my vehicles it will sit at 75% until I do this, not sure why. If it works put it back the way you had it and just know you may have to let it run for a minute once you plug the charger in to get that 100% reading.
 
Thanks guys. I'll be home Friday and give both of those a try on Saturday.
 
FYI, I connected to the negative charger harness after the Ford battery management system on the negative battery post as recommended in the owners manual. Never experienced any charging issue that I'm aware of with either Bronco connected as shown in my post above.

Screenshot 2025-04-02 135508.webp
 
TurboS I think you're probably right. Like BSchurr mentioned above it is probably the BCM that is affecting the chargers ability to really read the battery.

I hooked it up that way because I remember a Youtube video about the BMS system and that if you were dead you had to make sure you recharged through the BCM so that it would recognize the charging and not have to wait the 8 hours that it mentions in the screen shot above to recalibrate. I'll see if i can find the video. Hopefully I saved it....
 

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