NOCO Genius 2D Onboard Battery Charger Install

[Killroy Was Here]

Thanks to @trilifter7 for his post in the "What did you do To your Gladiator today?" thread on Nov. 23rd for making me aware that the NOCO Genius 2D Direct Mount Charger/Maintainer and GCP1 Port Plug are out there.

Have been keeping the battery in my Mojave on a NOCO Genius Pro 25 when not using it for more than a few days, but having to open the hood to hook up the clamps each time was getting old.
So below is the method I cooked up for mounting the NOCO 2D Onboard Charger so that it's condition indicator light is easily viewed, and locating the GCP1 Port Plug in both an easily accessed yet stealthy location.

Starting with the GCP1 Port Plug, I decided to use the bumper bracket frame bolt circled below as a good solid mounting point for a plug bracket.

Using some 16ga 304 stainless steel sheet that I had laying around, fabricated a mounting bracket.

In stock form, the cord exits the plug port at the 6 o'clock position, and also has a drain hole located there for the plug cavity.
Since I needed the cord to exit at the 10 o'clock position for my installation, I blocked off the original drain with some ParBond industrial sealer, then drilled a new drain hole at my new 6 o'clock position.

Simply rotating the rubber cap before assembling to the bracket lined everything up as required.

After spraying some matte black paint on the bracket, it mounted up well with the cord heading in the direction I wanted to route it.

The size of cord plug end for the port is molded rather large with a large tab protruding from the side. This can make passing the cord end through tight areas a challenge, if not impossible.
I wanted to pass it through the opening between the right front body mount, and the lower right corner of the radiator. This necessitated some careful trimming of the excess plug material with a razor blade. This was made easier by warming the plug material with a heat gun. Below are before & after results side by side.

The cord plug now was able to be passed through the opening & into the engine compartment.

Next I fabricated a mounting bracket for the 2D Charger using some 1" X 1/8" mild steel strap material that I had on hand.
This bracket uses the battery hold down bolt as a mounting point, and will hold the charger up along side the battery for easy viewing of the condition indicator light.
The charger & bracket can be easily removed with the hold down bolt in the event that the battery has to be replaced.

The plastic mount bracket that comes with the charger has holes that are counter sunk for the supplied mounting screws.
Being that I wanted to rivet this to my steel bracket, I enlarged the counter sunk areas in the plastic, as well as the backside of the rivet holes in my bracket so that the rivet heads & stems would be as flush as possible & not interfere with the charger snapping in place, or rubbing on the side of the battery case.
After riveting in place, I peened the rivet stems flat on the backside of the bracket.

After removing the air filter box, routed the power cord from the charger forward, and plugged it into the corresponding plug from the GCP1 Port Plug.
The charger cord routing is indicated by the yellow hi-lighted line running parallel to it. There is also a cable tie pointed to by the red arrow that is rather hard to see in the image. It is holding the Port Plug cord away from the electric power steering pump so that it wont rub.

Here are the end results.

Hope some of you find my rambling in this post to be useful.
Am happy with how it came out, and even happier that I don't have to open the hood to connect my big NOCO battery charger/maintainer clamps on the battery posts every time.

Dave

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[jeepers29]

Thanks to @trilifter7 for his post in the "What did you do To your Gladiator today?" thread on Nov. 23rd for making me aware that the NOCO Genius 2D Direct Mount Charger/Maintainer and GCP1 Port Plug are out there.

Have been keeping the battery in my Mojave on a NOCO Genius Pro 25 when not using it for more than a few days, but having to open the hood to hook up the clamps each time was getting old.
So below is the method I cooked up for mounting the NOCO 2D Onboard Charger so that it's condition indicator light is easily viewed, and locating the GCP1 Port Plug in both an easily accessed yet stealthy location.

Starting with the GCP1 Port Plug, I decided to use the bumper bracket frame bolt circled below as a good solid mounting point for a plug bracket.

Using some 16ga 304 stainless steel sheet that I had laying around, fabricated a mounting bracket.

In stock form, the cord exits the plug port at the 6 o'clock position, and also has a drain hole located there for the plug cavity.
Since I needed the cord to exit at the 10 o'clock position for my installation, I blocked off the original drain with some ParBond industrial sealer, then drilled a new drain hole at my new 6 o'clock position.

Simply rotating the rubber cap before assembling to the bracket lined everything up as required.

After spraying some matte black paint on the bracket, it mounted up well with the cord heading in the direction I wanted to route it.

The size of cord plug end for the port is molded rather large with a large tab protruding from the side. This can make passing the cord end through tight areas a challenge, if not impossible.
I wanted to pass it through the opening between the right front body mount, and the lower right corner of the radiator. This necessitated some careful trimming of the excess plug material with a razor blade. This was made easier by warming the plug material with a heat gun. Below are before & after results side by side.

The cord plug now was able to be passed through the opening & into the engine compartment.

Next I fabricated a mounting bracket for the 2D Charger using some 1" X 1/8" mild steel strap material that I had on hand.
This bracket uses the battery hold down bolt as a mounting point, and will hold the charger up along side the battery for easy viewing of the condition indicator light.
The charger & bracket can be easily removed with the hold down bolt in the event that the battery has to be replaced.

The plastic mount bracket that comes with the charger has holes that are counter sunk for the supplied mounting screws.
Being that I wanted to rivet this to my steel bracket, I enlarged the counter sunk areas in the plastic, as well as the backside of the rivet holes in my bracket so that the rivet heads & stems would be as flush as possible & not interfere with the charger snapping in place, or rubbing on the side of the battery case.
After riveting in place, I peened the rivet stems flat on the backside of the bracket.

After removing the air filter box, routed the power cord from the charger forward, and plugged it into the corresponding plug from the GCP1 Port Plug.
The charger cord routing is indicated by the yellow hi-lighted line running parallel to it. There is also a cable tie pointed to by the red arrow that is rather hard to see in the image. It is holding the Port Plug cord away from the electric power steering pump so that it wont rub.

Here are the end results.

Hope some of you find my rambling in this post to be useful.
Am happy with how it came out, and even happier that I don't have to open the hood to connect my big NOCO battery charger/maintainer clamps on the battery posts every time.

Dave

Do you have a link for that plug? I have the tender on order but must have missed the plug.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Do you have a link for that plug? I have the tender on order but must have missed the plug.

NOCO GCP1 15A AC Port Plug, 125V Power Inlet Socket, and Waterproof Electrical Outlet Receptacle Box with 16-Inch Integrated Outdoor Extension Cord https://a.co/d/cyU0fuG

 

[Killroy Was Here]

Do you have a link for that plug? I have the tender on order but must have missed the plug.

Here is a link to the NOCO web site page for the AC Port Plugs.
I used the GCP1 w/16" cord. They also make them with longer cords.
https://no.co/products/accessories/gcp

Hope this is a help.

Dave

 

[jeepers29]

Here is a link to the NOCO web site page for the AC Port Plugs.
I used the GCP1 w/16" cord. They also make them with longer cords.
https://no.co/products/accessories/gcp

Hope this is a help.

Dave

Thank you. Helps alot.

 

[AHenry014]

Have that same NOCO plug on my Diesel truck for the block heater. Its a pretty slick product.

Nice job!

 

[Chestnut]

On my WRX and ATV i just mounted a pigtail with ring terminals on the battery. I then just connect the charger plugged into the wall into the pigtail.

I like your idea it's slick but i also hesitate with the ability to have a 120v short on my vehicle.

 

[wachuko]

So the 2AMP charger is enough? No need to spend more for the 5AMP charger?

Just want to confirm before ordering...

I have everything at home on a trickle charger... wife makes fun asking if all my vehicles are electric...

With all the threads I have read on battery issues, figured I will not risk it with the Gladiator. Going to install a pig tail and keep it on a battery tender as well...

 

[wachuko]

I went ahead and ordered the 5amp version of the charger. Thank you to the OP for documenting this.

 

[Killroy Was Here]

I went ahead and ordered the 5amp version of the charger. Thank you to the OP for documenting this.

The 5 amp unit will work fine for you as well.

Aside from the added amperage, the 5 amp unit also has the ability to charge 6Volt batteries, plus other additional features that I really didn't need in an onboard charger/maintainer.

I already have the big Genius Pro 25 charger if I have a need to charge the 6 Volt batteries for the antique cars, plus the capability to select either 5amp or 25amp charging rate.

Happy that you found the post helpful.

 

[NotSo Bright White]

Thank you for your post! This motivated me to install the Naco Gen 2 on my Gladiator. I only drive it once a week to the beach so my ESS is never charged enough to work properly. I don’t care if it works as it is annoying as hell but it is a great indicator of your battery health.

So I ordered the Naco Gen2 and did the install. Now pay attention as my mechanical abilities are insane. I installed the red wire to the red post and the black one to the ground. Now for the advance work. I velcroed the tender to the fuse box using 15 pound Velcro. Then wire tied the plug to the fender liner. Yes, I wish I had your abilities to mount a plug but I wanted to make sure it worked. Ok, I don’t have your mechanical skills!

I plugged it in and it charged for two days. Drove it to the beach and nothing. Same message as always: ESS NOT READY,BATTERY CHARGING. Plugged it in and a two days later drove it to the mountains to take my daughter skiing. ESS READY!

So thank you for the idea. In time I will mount a permanent electrical socket in the rear bumper!

 

[Killroy Was Here]

Thank you for your post! This motivated me to install the Naco Gen 2 on my Gladiator. I only drive it once a week to the beach so my ESS is never charged enough to work properly. I don’t care if it works as it is annoying as hell but it is a great indicator of your battery health.

So I ordered the Naco Gen2 and did the install. Now pay attention as my mechanical abilities are insane. I installed the red wire to the red post and the black one to the ground. Now for the advance work. I velcroed the tender to the fuse box using 15 pound Velcro. Then wire tied the plug to the fender liner. Yes, I wish I had your abilities to mount a plug but I wanted to make sure it worked. Ok, I don’t have your mechanical skills!

I plugged it in and it charged for two days. Drove it to the beach and nothing. Same message as always: ESS NOT READY,BATTERY CHARGING. Plugged it in and a two days later drove it to the mountains to take my daughter skiing. ESS READY!

So thank you for the idea. In time I will mount a permanent electrical socket in the rear bumper!

Hi Tim,

Very happy that you found the post useful.
Like they say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat". Your install sounds perfectly fine to me.

These only put out 2 amps, so can take a little time to top off the batteries depending on the state of charge when you plug it in.

Low & slow is the key to getting a fully saturated charge into a battery to maintain it, so this NOCO Genius 2D unit is a perfect fit for the job.

I also mounted one of these along with the GCP1 Port Plug in my '01 Ram 2500 Cummins to keep both of it's large Group 27 1000CCA batteries topped off.
Through the winter months it sits in the shop with the plow mounted patiently waiting for when the snow flies.

Dave

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hi Tim,

Very happy that you found the post useful.
Like they say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat". Your install sounds perfectly fine to me.

These only put out 2 amps, so can take a little time to top off the batteries depending on the state of charge when you plug it in.

Low & slow is the key to getting a fully saturated charge into a battery to maintain it, so this NOCO Genius 2D unit is a perfect fit for the job.

I also mounted one of these along with the GCP1 Port Plug in my '01 Ram 2500 Cummins to keep both of it's large Group 27 1000CCA batteries topped off.
Through the winter months it sits in the shop with the plow mounted patiently waiting for when the snow flies.

Dave

2 amps is fine for a battery not dead. Keeping them up, float situation, topping them off, 2 is plenty. But a lot of folks have found out it's not intended to be a "battery charger". It's a maintainer and for that it's great. Maintenance should never take much in amperage.

I have battery tenders for my classics and lawn tractor and such and use the SAE type 2 pin connectors and extra ends so I can simply disconnect that connector and use the "tender" on another rig for a while. Otherwise I'd need 5 of the bloody things! (plus a 6th for other batteries I have in my shop)

 

[Killroy Was Here]

2 amps is fine for a battery not dead. Keeping them up, float situation, topping them off, 2 is plenty. But a lot of folks have found out it's not intended to be a "battery charger". It's a maintainer and for that it's great. Maintenance should never take much in amperage.

I have battery tenders for my classics and lawn tractor and such and use the SAE type 2 pin connectors and extra ends so I can simply disconnect that connector and use the "tender" on another rig for a while. Otherwise I'd need 5 of the bloody things! (plus a 6th for other batteries I have in my shop)

I never claimed that I intended to use this to charge a dead battery, only maintain it when the vehicles are not being used for extended periods.

If I have a dead battery, I use my big NOCO Genius Pro 25.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I never claimed that I intended to use this to charge a dead battery, only maintain it when the vehicles are not being used for extended periods.

If I have a dead battery, I use my big NOCO Genius Pro 25.

Yeah, I know you didn't - but a lot, perhaps thousands, of people search forums like this for answers. Having been involved with, and administered another forum for over a decade, just letting lurkers and searchers know - these are great for maintenance, for charging, look to their higher output (and highly rated) other real chargers.
My bad, I did not make clear (not even a little bit) that it wasn't directed toward Ohio.

The setups here are interesting - from the neat 110v AC plug setup (pretty cool - I'll go the 12v route for my own), but for those who dedicate this device for their JT - that's a neat option.
If I ever add a block heater - this is a great idea. No hanging cords in the grill.

There are some real creative puzzle solvers here.
Even when I don't do something the same way others have, or do the same thing (like in this thread), there's nifty (oh, that ages me) ideas here I'll take away for the future.
This thread is what these places are all about.

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