Battery Tender Hook Up

[Nicky Pass]

I don’t drive my 2020 JLU Rubicon 2.0T during Chicago winters ....I’ve been able to take it out almost weekly until the past 3 weeks because of horrible winter weather. There is soooooo much salt that the roads are white! I have a batter tender jr with alligator clips.....do I just hook it up to the positive and negative post and call it a day? Will this also charge the auxiliary battery as well? Any help is appreciated!

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[Rhinebeck01]

I don’t drive my 2020 JLU Rubicon 2.0T during Chicago winters ....I’ve been able to take it out almost weekly until the past 3 weeks because of horrible winter weather. There is soooooo much salt that the roads are white! I have a batter tender jr with alligator clips.....do I just hook it up to the positive and negative post and call it a day? Will this also charge the auxiliary battery as well? Any help is appreciated!

@Nicky Pass

Hooking up your Battery Tender Junior to the Main batteries, positive and negative terminals will charge BOTH the Main and the Auxiliary battery.

Just hook the tender up and it will do it's thing and automatically float/maintain as needed. You can leave it hooked up 24/7.

Thanks to the low amp output of the Battery Tender Jr., you do not have to worry about damaging the small 12Ah 200 CCA, AGM Aux battery, when you trickle charge it and the bigger Main battery at the same time.

 

[dchemphill1]

They are great....have one that I use on my lawn mower batteries and one for my Kubota tractor....extends the life of my batteries. Winter is hard on those batteries! I would not get to drive my jeep here in Omaha much if I did not drive it during the winter. Salt sucks but I try to wash it as often as I can when weather is warm enough.

 

[Kraty1]

I used the alligator clips initially but eventually connected the bolt ons for quicker access. Now even my wife can disconnect it hahaha

 

[neil]

I've three hooked up in the garage to two mere vehicles that are not getting out much.

 

[WranglerMan]

Those small tenders are ok but after my research they should be used to maintain a fully charged battery and not meant to do a charge like a larger charger maintainer, your best bet is to get one that does a bulk charge at .20-.35% of the rated amp hour of the battery in question, then you can use those smaller tenders to maintain.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Those small tenders are ok but after my research they should be used to maintain a fully charged battery and not meant to do a charge like a larger charger maintainer, your best bet is to get one that does a bulk charge at .20-.35% of the rated amp hour of the battery in question, then you can use those smaller tenders to maintain.

This post will undoubtedly just confuse the OP.....

The OP has a stock set-up. He wants to maintain his 2 stock batteries... one of the batteries is a tiny 12 Ah 200 CCA which muddy's the waters so to speak....

To answer his ? .... what he wanted to know...

YES, his low amp output Battery Tender Jr. is more then adequate to do what he wants to do....... and since the 12 Ah Aux is in the mix, he would be prudent/wise to stay with / use such a low amp output maintainer/tender when maintaining the two stock batteries together as he plans to do... ..... ...... as he mentioned in his post.

 

[Nicky Pass]

This post will undoubtedly just confuse the OP.....

The OP has a stock set-up. He wants to maintain his 2 stock batteries... one of the batteries is a tiny 12 Ah 200 CCA which muddy's the waters so to speak....

To answer his ? .... what he wanted to know...

YES, his low amp output Battery Tender Jr. is more then adequate to do what he wants to do....... and since the 12 Ah Aux is in the mix, he would be prudent/wise to stay with / use such a low amp output maintainer/tender when maintaining the two stock batteries together as he plans to do... ..... ...... as he mentioned in his post.

I just wanted to know where to actually clamp the clamps. I started it an let it run for 25 minutes so everything got up to operating temp.

 

[WranglerMan]

I just wanted to know where to actually clamp the clamps. I started it an let it run for 25 minutes so everything got up to operating temp.

If your plan is to use one of those tiny 1-2 amp maintainers then just hook pos to pos and neg to neg, both the ESS and main crank will see the charge, if you say just want to do the main or ESS then disconnect the ESS negative off the main crank neg and then put the pos to the main and the neg to the respective negative to charge batteries separately.

 

[DanW]

I've used a tender on mine while it sat a week or more and it worked just fine. It eventually charged both batteries, then maintained them.

I've had no issues with my batteries. But I'm at 3 years now so I'm watching them closely. I do not use the ESS, so I'm probably not putting much stress on them.

Ultimately, I'm going to replace them both with better batteries, such as pure lead AGM from Northstar (Batteries Plus version) or Odyssey. I've got a Batteries Plus version of the Northstar in my JK and it has been outstanding. Night and day better than the OEM or the Duralast Gold I replaced it with.

 

[chacomaya]

I keep a Battery Tender on mine, too, but mine lives in the driveway just outside the garage, so I mounted the tender inside the garage and ran wiring outside to near the Jeep. On the Jeep, I attached a covered, flush-mount SAE plug to the flat plastic shroud just behind the front bumper with wiring from that plug to the battery terminals. Works really well.

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