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Are you referring to the one in this thread? I'm not knocking the work that went into his system, and I'm sure it works ok, but sure seems to me to be a rather complicated way to have a solution that will unplug if you drive off and for get it. Unless you spend a lot of time away from home and need to plug in while away, it makes much more sense to me to just run the 2 wire 12V plug out the grill and leave the charger in the garage. If you forget it the standard 12V plug that comes with the charger will disconnect and let you drive away at least as easily as any 110VAC plug.
Are you referring to the one in this thread? I'm not knocking the work that went into his system, and I'm sure it works ok, but sure seems to me to be a rather complicated way to have a solution that will unplug if you drive off and for get it. Unless you spend a lot of time away from home and need to plug in while away, it makes much more sense to me to just run the 2 wire 12V plug out the grill and leave the charger in the garage. If you forget it the standard 12V plug that comes with the charger will disconnect and let you drive away at least as easily as any 110VAC plug.
Well each to his own - the easy pull out disconnect was a feature - but not my reason to do it. I just replaced the Schumacher with a much smaller NOCO 2A unit specifically designed for engine compartment build in - this one is weather rated and can just live in the front grille area. I just like to have a maintainer/charger in the car - I carry the cord for it in my tool bag (actually 2 cords: a short 6' one plus a 10' extension). I do also have a quick disconnect 12V pigtail for a 10A NOCO in the front plus pre-existing connections for any charger in the back. Its good to have options.
I'd recommend the 2A NOCO maintainer in the front as an easy, effective (and relatively cheap) solution for build in.
I keep all my non-regular use cars on Tenders when parked. They all have the same 2 pin quick disconnect that runs back to the battery. The garage has mostly 2 bank charger versions with extended leads. Since all the cars have the same quick connect, when I go on a trip in one of them, I grab the single compact Battery Tender and throw it in the back with the cigarette lighter electric jack setup kit.
The little 2A NOCO onboard looks like an ideal solution for permanent mounting. The 'smart' features like temperature sensitive charging rate are perfect, and something my more expensive CTEK doesn't include. The NOCO will also charge an almost-dead battery from as low as 1 volt. My CTEK, not an option; I have to use a conventional charger to get terminal voltage up before the CTEK will recognize the battery and do its thing. Alan's choice seems like the best solution so far for an onboard maintainer. There's a "portable" version with clamps for +$10, but since all the vehicles here have pigtails and connectors already installed, I'd save the $10 and add a matching connector. ***
*** I have a personal interest in getting everybody in the world to buy these from Amazon. Bolster my Amazon investment please. Additional growth will help help fund my "Bob Needs a Cayenne Twin-Turbo Electric Plug-In Hybrid For Winter Driving But Wife Says He Doesn't" secret savings account. It's literally gonna take everybody in the world though. Help a bruthu out!
I have trickle chargers, but this may end up recovering a few batteries that are marginal, before being installed on the 928.
I also ended up picking up a NOCO power entry plug to install on the daily driver, to easily allow plugging in an extension cord for the charger and block heater over the winter.
Br Bob - I used to have a CTEK and liked it quite a bit. I ended up donating it by mail to my son who was having battery issues far far away.
So I looked around and read a bunch of reviews and eventually picked up the NOCO Genius 10 (a 10A max charger). I do prefer it to the CTEK - it can charge FLA/AGM/Lithium batteries at 12v or 6v. Its does a fairly intelligent charge cycle with stage indication, float and intermittent float, and it will do quite good battery recovery (as good as the CTEK I think). It also has a forced charge mode that will charge a totally dead (0V) battery. It also has a supply mode that you can use for 12V equipment testing.
Its not cheap nor terribly expensive - but I think its a good value for what it does. No affiliation - just like the products.
I have trickle chargers, but this may end up recovering a few batteries that are marginal, before being installed on the 928.
I also ended up picking up a NOCO power entry plug to install on the daily driver, to easily allow plugging in an extension cord for the charger and block heater over the winter.
I did see that one before and liked the look of that for a motorhome/trailer etc - but where will you put it on a 928? interested to know your plans for it?
For my built-in charger I used IEC C13/C14 connectors, with a re-wirable weather sealed C14 trailing socket on the charger cable end. I initially had a panel mount c14 socket in the grille area - but actually in practice it didn't work well - far too fiddly to get the plug aligned & installed without groveling on the floor to look! So I switched to a free end trailing socket. Now I can push the C13 plug in through the grille - connect it to the C14 trailing socket in full view in front of the radiator then pull both back through the grille. the cable is firmly attached in the grill area. When not in use it just plugs into a dummy C13 plug attached to the plastic bottom in front of the radiator - keeps the terminals dry & clean of debris and stops the socket bouncing about when driving. This configuration has worked well (4 years of use now).
I did see that one before and liked the look of that for a motorhome/trailer etc - but where will you put it on a 928? interested to know your plans for it?
Unfortunately the daily driver is nothing so stylish as a 928, instead I putter around with a VW Jetta TDI during most of my travels.
My plans for it are to install the shore power connector down low on the driver's front corner, in the pop out cover filling the optional fog light location.
The charger it will be running is a Battery Tender Jr that is currently on my 928, while the smart charger will make a tour of a few possibly recoverable batteries before going into the 928.
Random assist for this thread. The Noco 2A maintainer dropped $10 in price on Amazon today. I had it in my cart for $39.95. Saw it was $29.00 today. Bought it.
Mostly for Speedtoys: here are some more details of my install. My NOCO Genius 2D is mounted forward of the radiator underneath/beside the headlight motor. It has a plastic mounting bracket 3M glued & screwed to the HD plastic support there. The NOCO clips in but also has a Velcro retention strap. Shortly after I took the photo - I popped the ground wire (red/black) under the velcro to keep it well away from the motor driven arm. The ground is connected at the ignition final stage ground (GP I) right above where it is mounted and the fused battery connection goes to the ABS connection point (you do need a smaller ring connector). The 110V plug was cut off and swapped for an IEC C14 trailing socket, this is retained with a cable clamp so it will reach through close to the middle of the grill and protrude just enough to keep the socket dangling away from the paintwork. In tests driving with it out & unplugged always causes it to fall back inside. In the grill area there is an IEC C13 plug with the cable cut off & filed flush and an angle ground onto one side. This allows it to be drilled right through and screwed down on an angle that allows it to act as an easily pluggable/unpluggable retainer for the trailing socket - keeps it located and the terminals dry/clean.
NOCO Genius 2D mounted forward/below headlight motor in grill area
C14 trailing socket just reaches through the ~middle of the front grill
C13 dummy plug screwed down - for retention/protection
C14 trailing socket attached in retention position
It is a bit fiddly to work on the installation in this area (likely more so if you are right handed!) but doable, I think it's a practical end result. For usage - I have found with my last system that its easiest to push the C13 plug through the grille - make the connection there (in full view with both hands) then pull it back through. You can see the bright red cable connections to the wall - chosen deliberately so its hard to miss it being plugged in. With the hood open its quite easy to see the status lights - and although a bit awkward - you can also see the status lights through the front grill. The exact frontal structure for mounting may be different on some years - but the space should still be there, the ABS junction point only exists on ABS (era?) cars of course.
Now - I still do need to take the old system out... that was was a much more complicated install since the Schumacher was not weather or high temperature rated.
11-05-2020, 10:11 PM
Who here had: Weatherproof tender in wheel well
