Battery charger, maintainer and propper use

[Lost1wing]

I’ve got a few of the lithium LiPo4 batteries and charge them with the Battery Tender. You would not want to use a battery minder on them. Also the NOCO chargers have a cold temp cutoff! Doesn’t do me much good in Alaska.

Battery Minder is just a name brand. They have a charger for Lithium as well. Same goes with NOCO, you have to buy the charger made for your application. I have chargers that compensate for temperature and some for lead acid only. All the chargers that I have for AGM are also compatible with lead acid. I don't have a lithium battery or compatible charger. If I was in Alaska, I would stay away from lithium batteries, unless parked in a heated garage.

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[nanook12]

You have to wake up the LiPo4 in the cold. Turn the lights on or just create a small draw. 10 - 15 min or so. Most all of our turbines were on Lipo4s and used 200+ amps to start. The lithiums are better than the lead acid in the cold. My snowmachine has a small LiPo4

 

[Lost1wing]

You have to wake up the LiPo4 in the cold. Turn the lights on or just create a small draw. 10 - 15 min or so. Most all of our turbines were on Lipo4s and used 200+ amps to start. The lithiums are better than the lead acid in the cold. My snowmachine has a small LiPo4

I still would think the AGM batteries would be best in the cold weather.

So you create a amp draw to warm up the battery? Is that to keep it from freezing or so you can charge it? Man, I hate the cold. I remember growing up in Chicago. We would pull the battery and keep it in the house on those cold nights. Then all we had to do was figure out how to open the hood to put it back.

 

[nanook12]

Our turbine aircraft have a warm-up button you push, located on the outside of the battery case. So while you were preflighting you had to remember to hit the button. They would spin twice as fast as the lead or agms

 

[nanook12]

We have heaters or pads on everything up here, you have to plug it in to get anywhere

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Reviving this thread: @ShadowsPapa can you please share a link for the 7-pin connector/pigtail that you have connected to your battery minder?

I used this -

And a lighter adapter.
That way if I forget, the lighter plug should just pull out of the part above, while that adapter above stays in the trailer connector.

 

[rbryant76]

So I have a 2020, that is not driven much and tend to keep it on a tender when I remember to plug it in.

I use a Noco Genius 5. I have it wired into the positive battery mounting points and the negative on the nut right near the IBS, not on the negative post itself as recommended.

New battery as well.

I have noticed that at random times, the Noco will detect a short on the battery and in turn stop maintaining the battery. From reading this could be due to the way the IBS is handling things and causing the Noco to think there is a short when in fact there is not. I know the battery is good.

Some solutions I am reading are to simply not keep the vehicle on the maintainer indefinitely. However, I can go weeks at a time without driving the JT.

It seems these newer vehicles with intelligent battery sensors dont play 100% nice with maintainers.

Any advice?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So I have a 2020, that is not driven much and tend to keep it on a tender when I remember to plug it in.

I use a Noco Genius 5. I have it wired into the positive battery mounting points and the negative on the nut right near the IBS, not on the negative post itself as recommended.

New battery as well.

I have noticed that at random times, the Noco will detect a short on the battery and in turn stop maintaining the battery. From reading this could be due to the way the IBS is handling things and causing the Noco to think there is a short when in fact there is not. I know the battery is good.

Some solutions I am reading are to simply not keep the vehicle on the maintainer indefinitely. However, I can go weeks at a time without driving the JT.

It seems these newer vehicles with intelligent battery sensors dont play 100% nice with maintainers.

Any advice?

No, the IBS can't do that. It handles nothing. If you read that, then you read bullshit. An IBS is only a shunt and controls NOTHING.
The issue is probably the noco. Not the cream of the crop for maintenance.
Ignore the crap you read. Those people are clueless
I don't own and never will own a noco. I use CTEK and BatteryMINDERS on all of our jeeps and my classic cars with no issues.
They have never failed me and I might go days and not drive my jt. My cars sit all winter.

 

[rbryant76]

Appreciate the input, any specific CTEK or battery minder do you recommend?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

NOT cheap, but quite good -

CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V
This one works so well that after about 20 minutes of driving after it's been on, the truck's system voltage drops back to 13.0 - indicating it recognizes the batteries are charged.

And I have 3 of the BatteryMINDER 1500 that I keep on my cars over the winter as well as the lawn tractor and even use now and then for the Jeeps.

 

[rbryant76]

I dont mind paying money for decent stuff..and now this NOCO POS wont even power on...thanks for the quick advice brother!

 

[Lost1wing]

I use 2 NoCo Genius 2d chargers. I just picked up a third but it is still in the box. The other 2 are both a couple of years old now, so I don’t have any thing bad to say about them. I do have several other brands like, Battery Minder, Battery Tender, CTek and of course a few Harbor freight Cen-Techs.

The only time I ran into a problem with a charger was with a bad battery. I was using an old Sears 10amp charger. The battery either started with a bad cell or overcharging it caused the bad cell. This old charger does not have any protections against over charging.

You are not the first to complain about NOCO chargers.

 

[nanook12]

I have the battery minder/tender types with no problems, one of those also charges LiFePo type batteries. We have problems with the Noco in the cold! They just shut off and refuse to work…

 

[Lost1wing]

I have the battery minder/tender types with no problems, one of those also charges LiFePo type batteries. We have problems with the Nico in the cold! They just shut off and refuse to work…

I have not used the Noco in the cold. I will give it a shot next freeze we get. I wonder if keeping it warm before plugging it in will work in cold temps.

 

[rbryant76]

So I have been running the CTEK. I got up to float after a day or so. Checked today and I am back in bulk. Vehicle hasn't been driven or disconnected from the maintainer.

This leads me to believe that maybe I have parasitic draw? I know these cars generally are pulling power all the time in some aspect.

I do have two SPOD units. I think deep sleep is disabled on them..but not sure if that would cause a large parasitic draw.

Battery is a tad warm too. Nothing alarming. I know during bulk charge - heat can generate.

After it reaches float, I am going to take it off and test voltage after a few hours to see what the numbers are and if something is really sapping power.

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