engine bay mounted battery charger/maintainer options?

[jalikaria24]

so for my truck since i do alot of short tripping, of course the battery isn't in the best shape. usually what i do is i plug it in once a week with my noco genius. i don't have a garage and pretty soon here its going to start getting super cold here in canada. as cold as -30 celcius. i was looking and hoping to find a battery charger that i could mount in the engine bay area next to the battery and then leave the cord sticking out of the hood similar to a block heater to make it easier for me to just plug the charger in rather then always opening the hood and hooking up the charger etc.
i don't know the truth and i am not very electrical minded but i believe when i spoke to noco, they said my current noco genius g3500 isn't recommended to be mounted in the engine bay as the frequent change in temps would be bad for the charger. i am not sure how true that is, maybe there is some experts here that could help?

1. any recommendations for chargers that i can mount in the engine bay for a good price? i can deal with the mounting myself, however i want a charger that won't stop working or break since the engine bay area will obvs be hot regulrly when running and then cold when sitting outside and rinse and repeat
2. is it okay still to plug the charger in the day's its really cold like -30? i dont want to ruin the charger etc

thanks!

 

[eljefino]

#2 of course, it will keep the battery warm from within. 100% recommended.

Heat kills chargers, you ain't gonna have any of that. If you mount it to a fender it won't get much engine heat. Maybe even sandwiched between the battery and fender, I don't know how your engine bay is laid out. Mounted securely, the car body will be part of the heat sink.

 

[Pelican]

so for my truck since i do alot of short tripping, of course the battery isn't in the best shape. usually what i do is i plug it in once a week with my noco genius. i don't have a garage and pretty soon here its going to start getting super cold here in canada. as cold as -30 celcius. i was looking and hoping to find a battery charger that i could mount in the engine bay area next to the battery and then leave the cord sticking out of the hood similar to a block heater to make it easier for me to just plug the charger in rather then always opening the hood and hooking up the charger etc.
i don't know the truth and i am not very electrical minded but i believe when i spoke to noco, they said my current noco genius g3500 isn't recommended to be mounted in the engine bay as the frequent change in temps would be bad for the charger. i am not sure how true that is, maybe there is some experts here that could help?

1. any recommendations for chargers that i can mount in the engine bay for a good price? i can deal with the mounting myself, however i want a charger that won't stop working or break since the engine bay area will obvs be hot regulrly when running and then cold when sitting outside and rinse and repeat
2. is it okay still to plug the charger in the day's its really cold like -30? i dont want to ruin the charger etc

thanks!

Have a look at CTEK I have one and it has all the wires for battery mounting, easy peasy, with this you install the wires and when needed you plug in the CTEK and you disconnect it the same way. CTEK is also waterproof, but you could leave it in the engine bay with the hood down. It's not as cheap as the Noco, but it's so much better built inside.

 

[jalikaria24]

#2 of course, it will keep the battery warm from within. 100% recommended.

Heat kills chargers, you ain't gonna have any of that. If you mount it to a fender it won't get much engine heat. Maybe even sandwiched between the battery and fender, I don't know how your engine bay is laid out. Mounted securely, the car body will be part of the heat sink.

great thanks for the reply!
so it should not even be a problem running the charger when its really cold out too right?

ahh makes sense yeah the charger would be mounted near the battery anyways and i don't think it gets that hot near the battery anyways. i think i have space between the battery and fuse box or maybe on top or infront of battery and fender.

the thing i was scared about is the heat cycling like for example going for -30 to ambient back to -30 back to ambient etc if you know what i mean. if i think about it, car electronics don't get affected but wondering on thoughts regarding battery charger

 

[Astro14]

If by “ambient” (which means the prevailing outside temp) you mean, “engine operating temp” or “under hood temps with engine running” then I would expect that to quickly kill the charger. Read the Noco owners manual for your charger. It will give you a range of temperatures for which the unit was designed to operate.

I’m willing to bet that your engine under hood temp is far above that range.

But I don’t see the advantage of mounting a charger under the hood. Lots of inexpensive charger connectors are marketed that would allow you to put the charger somewhere else, and still connect directly to the battery. For example, for about $10, I got a 25 foot extension for my Battery Tender which allows me to have the charger in the garage while still connected directly to the car’s battery.

 

[Danno]

I used to have these installed on our Canada fleet, it would be energized when the truck was plugged in. Worked very well.

Battery Tender 022-0157-1 Waterproof 12 Volt Power Tender Plus Battery Charger: Amazon.ca: Automotive

 

[Dave9]

I would consider a different option. Leave a charger/maintain inside where it's more protected, then run the ~14VDC output (which is a relatively safe voltage should any mishaps occur) outside to the vehicle.

It takes very little current (in the grand scheme of things) to keep a battery maintained, but even if you just want a top-off, it still shouldn't be much over a couple amps needed for a few hours.

Also, you wouldn't need a wire or plug dangling out. If you go with low voltage DC then you could mount a DC barrel or other form factor weatherproof jack on the grill area, or anywhere else that's more protected from snow and ice buildup.

 

[michael007]

Noco makes a new line of chargers that can be mounted in the engine bay.

Genius 2 (2amp) or the Genius 5 (5amp)

I bought the genius 2 and then bought a magnetic plug called the voltsafe to attach to the bumper.

This way it's easy to plug in if very cold out and it can disconnect on it's own without damaging anything in case someone drives off without unplugging.

Also connected to the magnetic plug is a battery thermal wrap and the engine block heater.

 

[Number_35]

Similar situation here! Several years ago I installed a NOCO Genius 1100 (1100 mA = 1.1 A) under the hood. It's been good. It has a 4-light display, showing the battery's state of charge (25, 50, 75, and 100%). It's interesting to see how low the battery can get in the winter, due to several factors - high starter draw, use of blower fan and rear-window defroster, short trips, etc. And of course the cold battery has less capacity.

So when I plug it in, it often displays only 25 or 50% charge, in spite of the car having been been run regularly.

 

[circuitsmith]

I would try to mount it somewhere in the space between the front clip and radiator

 

[Jetronic]

#2 of course, it will keep the battery warm from within. 100% recommended.

Heat kills chargers, you ain't gonna have any of that. If you mount it to a fender it won't get much engine heat. Maybe even sandwiched between the battery and fender, I don't know how your engine bay is laid out. Mounted securely, the car body will be part of the heat sink.

It depends how the air coming off the radiator is routed in the engine bay. Maybe run a small hi/lo thermometer in the location you are interested in and check how hot it gets there? Otherwise, don't keep the charger there for summer?

 

[michael007]

I've got a CTEK battery sense hidden behind the charger and it monitors temperatures.

Every engine bay is different but at least for this vehicle, it shows the top temperature in this area was 60C (140F). The charger isn't operating while I'm driving and NOCO includes a mount to attach it to the engine bay so I'm not worried about the exposure.

.

 

[JHZR2]

NoCo sells an underhood charger, and I suspect many others do too.

But for me, I prefer not keeping electronics like that in the cramped engine bay. I just get an eyelet set with an SAE plug, and connect it (sometimes it needs to be extended on + and/or -), and hide the SAE plug someplace easy. Then I can attach any battery charger I want, and keep it wherever I need.

 

[billt460]

I just keep a Battery Tender Jr. outside on the garage floor, plugged in. The input line is cable tied to the grill, and hardwired to the battery. No need to expose the charger to any heat under the hood. If I want to take it with when I go somewhere, the charger is small enough to throw in the glove compartment.

I have to walk past the front of the vehicle to get in, so there is no chance I'll forget to unplug it.

 

[y_p_w]

Have you thought of maybe hooking up a pigtail connector? Inside is not a good idea since most of these chargers aren't meant for those kinds of vibrations. They're meant to sit on a bench in the garage or maybe on a concrete floor.

There are some maintainers designed for boats. As far as I know the internals are the same as those used for car chargers, but they're usually designed to be mounted somewhere.

 

[michael007]

Have you thought of maybe hooking up a pigtail connector? Inside is not a good idea since most of these chargers aren't meant for those kinds of vibrations. They're meant to sit on a bench in the garage or maybe on a concrete floor.

There are some maintainers designed for boats. As far as I know the internals are the same as those used for car chargers, but they're usually designed to be mounted somewhere.

The noco genius 2, 2D and 5 all come with a mounting bracket and strap. I had just chosen to use a ziptie.

Highlighted the marketing showing it should be fine to use in the engine bay: