Battery Maintainer

[bfastr]

sounds like in your case a unit mounted under the hood is the best option. that way all you need is an orange extension cord and maybe an outdoor plug you can tap into if you are near one.

I don't think the 5A Noco is an outdoor rated unit, I did see their 10A unit is under hood rated and had considered it early on. thats the route I would go if I were you.

and dont feel bad about the OTA's. I was shocked mine went to 6.5. I am usually 6 months behind the crowd on here. but to be honest it seems like just when I find a work around for the last glitch they update and reset everything to the way I DONT want it.

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[Gros Ventre]

Yes, a maintainer will mask a failing battery. For example if the "stuff" spalled off plates (happens to all batteries over time) accumulates in the bottom and rises enough to short plate-to-plate, the maintainer will cover that up in the initial stages. What'll then happen to you is when you go out somewhere and park for a few hours, when you come back your battery won't have the gumption to start. So, use the maintainer when you're leaving the truck standing for an extended period, but don't use it every day.

 

[Borchelt]

I changed my battery for an Autozone H7 Platinum. The PB will not accept an H8 do to the generation equipment in the way. Here’s my battery tender setup so I don’t have to deal with running power cords or have the hood open to attach.

Added a NOCO Genius 10 charger permanent battery connect. I hate having to route an extension cord, open the hood and deal with positioning the clamps and then unhooking. I added a NOCO permanent battery connection and NOCO extension routed to the driver's side since that is closest to the workbench outlets. Hate having cords on the floor. When connecting to the battery, make sure you connect the black (neg) eyelet above the BMS module as shown by green arrow or a suitable chassis ground as @rugedraw did. If you connect to the negative terminal on the battery directly, it will bypass the BMS - Red Arrow. Might do a custom job and route the charger connection out through the fender XLT badge for a cleaner look and totally out of the weather. The end cap should protect it for now (garage kept) until I get some time for a custom fab. Make sure you do a BMS reset if you changed the battery as well.

 

[Mszczewski]

I've had my 10A installed and maintaining my Powerboost since I got it back in 2021. I wouldn't change a thing about it:
https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/posts/263506/

 

[PowerBoostSoCal]

With any AGM auto battery, use a newer model charger/tender/maintainer that is at least 7 amps and does have a maintenance mode. AGM batteries do not charge well under 7 amps due to the why they are made (basically the density of the lead within the battery) - smaller AGM powersport batteries (snow mobiles, jet skis, motorcycles) can be charged and maintained by lower amp chargers. AGM batteries are higher power output and require higher power input to charge properly. It is normal to have to charge batteries on modern cars that are not driven enough, there is so many things that draw on the battery all the time and if you do not drive at decent speeds (say 40 or above) for 20 minutes a few times a week the battery may not charge enough.

 

[cheesedogf150]

Great conversation around batteries here lately. So here is a thought. What be the harm in direct charging the battery and bypassing the bms?

So the battery reaches 100% so what. If I buy a new battery I’m going to charge it to 100% on the bench before putting it into the truck. I charge my various marine and power sport batteries which are also agm to 100%. Obviously no bms here but let’s separate the bms from the battery.

Just because ford limits it to 80% doesn’t mean I need to while on a tender. I’m talking strictly doing this for tender and not power supply while working on the vehicle. The auto overnight bms or bcm reset (I can’t recall which one it is) will re calibrate anyway.

Not trying to create a poop storm, just want to have a convo about my logic. Other than maybe a shorter batt life span for 100% charge. I’ll take it.

 

[Ranger621]

It's sad that even without buying an EV vehicle, we are having to plug in and charge our ICE vehicles.

 

[Spidergears]

Great conversation around batteries here lately. So here is a thought. What be the harm in direct charging the battery and bypassing the bms?

So the battery reaches 100% so what. If I buy a new battery I’m going to charge it to 100% on the bench before putting it into the truck. I charge my various marine and power sport batteries which are also agm to 100%. Obviously no bms here but let’s separate the bms from the battery.

Just because ford limits it to 80% doesn’t mean I need to while on a tender. I’m talking strictly doing this for tender and not power supply while working on the vehicle. The auto overnight bms or bcm reset (I can’t recall which one it is) will re calibrate anyway.

Not trying to create a poop storm, just want to have a convo about my logic. Other than maybe a shorter batt life span for 100% charge. I’ll take it.

The bms is how the truck knows the details about the truck like state of charge. So if you charge the battery and bypass the bms,the truck could think the battery has a lower state of charge than it actually does. So, the truck could still be putting you in powersave mode, or I guess it could improperly charge the battery. The truck can self correct, but it takes something like 8 hours of the truck sitting untouched for it to figure out the battery has been charged without it knowing.

On a new battery, you’re supposed to do the bms reset. But don’t do the bms reset unless you change the battery as it will reset the battery age.

 

[MetalCord]

On a new battery, you’re supposed to do the bms reset. But don’t do the bms reset unless you change the battery as it will reset the battery age.

Did NOT know this little bit of info. I guess I haven't really done too much harm since my truck is still pretty new. In fact, I just realized that since I reset the BMS after the last charging session with my NOCO Genius5... I haven't any lower power mode events. That's after letting it sit in the garage for the entire weekend not plugged in. Not sure what to make of that.

 

[HJMACC]

I have a 3.5 EB that’s scheduled to be built next month, after reading through the Battery Monitoring System thread and this one, it seems like I will be having to install something like the NOCO unit. Now that I permanently work from home, my standard weekly driving will be 1x/ week, maybe 25 miles, which will not be enough to keep it reliably charged. Would that be a fair assessment of reality/ long term reliability?

 

[AndreB]

I've had my 10A installed and maintaining my Powerboost since I got it back in 2021. I wouldn't change a thing about it:
https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/posts/263506/

hello, just my grain of salt. You might look into the Noco Gen5 series.

https://no.co/gen5x1

This version is smaller then the regular 5 amps Noco charger. Has temperature compensation, is IP68 waterproof, lead acid/AGM/Lithium/repair mode.

https://no.co/gcp1

Also, I installed 2 Noco external plugs on the plastic part of the front bumper (between the shell and the bottom steel bumper). I drilled a 2 inches hole, just below the head lights. With this, I have a permanent solution for plugging and extension for either the charger or the block heater.

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