Using battery trickle charger over winter

[road warrior]

i also advocate a solar panel charger, which by its very nature is a trickle charger that will never need resetting.
I park my motor home up for long periods of time ( months) and use a very cheap 20w thin charger and its never let me down - even through winter and even snow. i use a larger one when i go to france but the principle remains the same

 

[ronk]

Mine is a cheapo from Makro many years ago . From memory it cost about £8 - it is for golf cart battery maintenance- it cycles up to 13.5v and down to 12.5 volts and no Settings to make - just clip only the under bonnet posts in November and remove in April.
It shows two lights - green = charge and red= discharge- no fancy buttons or settings - if the power goes off, it goes off.
Power comes on then so does it!

 

[warmasice]

Ive got mine setup like this

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

 

[Argyll Andy]

Ive got mine setup like this

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

 

[Zed Baron]

That picture was a longtime ago with an aldi charger. I binned that as I noticed the powerlead was showing the copper cable where it joined the unit. So I invested in a ctek, that's pernamently fixed to the garage wall and you can buy an extension piece for the cable connectors, long enough to run the length of the car. Only issues is the negative connector can't reach the stud on the offside turret (cable too short) so I connect to a bolt on the nearside turret

 

[warmasice]

Ive got mine setup like this

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

That's really handy! Do you have any closeup pics of the terminals? Particularly interested in how you've connected to the positive terminal. Thanks!

 

[warmasice]

That picture was a longtime ago with an aldi charger. I binned that as I noticed the powerlead was showing the copper cable where it joined the unit. So I invested in a ctek, that's pernamently fixed to the garage wall and you can buy an extension piece for the cable connectors, long enough to run the length of the car. Only issues is the negative connector can't reach the stud on the offside turret (cable too short) so I connect to a bolt on the nearside turret

Cheers for that. Useful to know. My Aldi one's going in the bin too!

 

[Argyll Andy]

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

That's really handy! Do you have any closeup pics of the terminals? Particularly interested in how you've connected to the positive terminal. Thanks!

Sorry, no pictures as I’ve sold that car but from memory on the positive terminal there’s a hole/slot and the CTEK extender has a circle terminal on it so I got and 8 or 10 mm bolt, washer and nut and connected via that. The red plastic cover still slips over the post. You can just see the bottom of the circular connector sticking out from the bottom of the red cover.

The negative is the same circular end and I used a bolt, again an 8 or 10 and screwed onto an earthing point on the bulkhead. There was enough thread left to do that without disturbing anything else

Pictures of the additional connector I bought, the one on the left is the additional one with a traffic light system to show battery condition and is fused, the one on the right is the standard one but there are others of different lengths. HTH

 

[warmasice]

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

That's really handy! Do you have any closeup pics of the terminals? Particularly interested in how you've connected to the positive terminal. Thanks!

Sorry, no pictures as I’ve sold that car but from memory on the positive terminal there’s a hole/slot and the CTEK extender has a circle terminal on it so I got and 8 or 10 mm bolt, washer and nut and connected via that. The red plastic cover still slips over the post. You can just see the bottom of the circular connector sticking out from the bottom of the red cover.

The negative is the same circular end and I used a bolt, again an 8 or 10 and screwed onto an earthing point on the bulkhead. There was enough thread left to do that without disturbing anything else

Pictures of the additional connector I bought, the one on the left is the additional one with a traffic light system to show battery condition and is fused, the one on the right is the standard one but there are others of different lengths. HTH

Great information.. never noticed the hole on the positive terminal, I'll have a look.

 

[warmasice]

Ive got mine setup like this

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

Hi Andy,
What type of nut did you use for the negative lead? I can see the same mounting point on my car.. it's the 5mm stud right? The wide thread pattern appears be the type to which a plastic nut would attach. Do you know if a metal nut would work? I don't have any 5mm laying around and so just checking before I order!

 

[Argyll Andy]

Would it be ok to hardwire the quick connect cable to the battery?.. would this cause an issue with the IBS sensor or anything else?.. I know BMW recommend the front, but wondering if wiring to the battery would be an option?

I had mine hardwired like this. My understanding is they shouldn’t be hardwired to the battery for the reason you’ve raised. I had mine velcroed onto the top of the strut tower which allowed me to run the charger up the side of the wing/wheel so the bonnet could be fully locked and alarmed

Hi Andy,
What type of nut did you use for the negative lead? I can see the same mounting point on my car.. it's the 5mm stud right? The wide thread pattern appears be the type to which a plastic nut would attach. Do you know if a metal nut would work? I don't have any 5mm laying around and so just checking before I order!

I honestly can’t remember, I just used something I had in the toolbox so 5mm may well be correct but it was definitely metal whatever one I used. It’s was just a standard nut, nothing fancy or different thread iirc. Sorry, not much help, maybe worth nipping along to your local garage and asking if they have one to fit and try them while there until you get the correct one?

Also noticed in my original post I said bolt, numpty :headbang:

 

[enuff_zed]

If you're worrying about connectivity with a plastic nut but that's all you can get to fit, then you could place a metal washer under the head of the nut.

 

[warmasice]

Thanks lads. Nuts and washers ordered.

 

[warmasice]

All done. I've hardwired a Noco X connect cable to the positive and negative mounting points in the engine bay.

I used a bolt of the correct size that would fit through the existing hole in the positive post without the need for drilling:


Here's the cable attached with nut, bolt and washers.


The red cap still fits over quite nicely:


And here's the negative lead connected to a chassis stud with a washer and nylon locking nut:

 

[Argyll Andy]

All done. I've hardwired a Noco X connect cable to the positive and negative mounting points in the engine bay.

I used a bolt of the correct size that would fit through the existing hole in the positive post without the need for drilling:
20220205_143457.jpg

Here's the cable attached with nut, bolt and washers.
20220205_144229.jpg

The red cap still fits over quite nicely:
20220205_144245.jpg

And here's the negative lead connected to a chassis stud with a washer and nylon locking nut:
20220205_163528.jpg

Excellent, glad you’re all sorted and put in pictures of the stuff I forgot too :lol:

 

[Zed Baron]

Ive got mine setup like this

I've just done that tonight with my ctek

 

[Argyll Andy]

I've just done that tonight with my ctek 20220210_200534.jpg

Keeps it all nice and tidy