Best battery product(s)?

[JEB]

@JEB I took a look at the Clore - definitely looks pretty powerful. Is it possible to use it with ring terminal harness? I used to ride motorcycles and would always connect a ring terminal harness to the bike's battery so I could plug it in when finished riding. I'd like to do the same with my truck. I definitely want something that will help with software updates. Do you think this battery tender could be sufficient?

@DanielG - I'm picking up a NOCO GB-50. Thanks!

@imnuts - I found this multimeter on Amazon and ordered it. The Fluke looks pretty nice but a bit to pricey for me. Thanks!

Thanks!

You have identified the one major gripe I have with the Clore charger. The alligators are hard-wired. If you wanted to use ring terminals, you’d need to cut the alligators off and wire in a connector.

As for the battery tender, I personally am not a fan of using any kind of battery charger—regardless of its amp rating—for programming that can’t be locked into power supply mode. The reason is that maintaining stable voltage is really important during programming. If voltage drops too low, the BMS can kick in and shut the truck down—really bad if you are in the middle of reprogramming a module. A battery charger is designed to maintain constant amperage but allow voltage to float. Not optimal for programming. By contrast, a power supply is designed to maintain constant voltage and allow amperage to float. The latter is much better for programming because it keeps the BMS happy.

The Clore might or might not be overkill depending on your programming needs. But it’s cheap compared to a bricked module.

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[imnuts]

@JEB I took a look at the Clore - definitely looks pretty powerful. Is it possible to use it with ring terminal harness? I used to ride motorcycles and would always connect a ring terminal harness to the bike's battery so I could plug it in when finished riding. I'd like to do the same with my truck. I definitely want something that will help with software updates. Do you think this battery tender could be sufficient?

That charger would be fine for maintaining the battery, but with only 0.8A output, that's about all it would be good for. Trying to recharge a dead battery with that would take a couple days. I also wouldn't use it for any programming operations, though I'm guessing that isn't a big priority. The NOCO Genius 10 charger has battery clamps, ring terminals, and a power supply mode. Not sure if there are other options that have all 3 or not.

To confirm for doing OTA's I'm fine with my battery tender that goes up to 5 AMPs? 10-20 AMPs seems crazy to require for a 12v car battery.

There's only one OTA (so far) that has caused issues requiring a charger from what I've seen. Most will download and install without one. The 5A charger I had did ok for programming on my Powerboost, but just barely for the long updates (IPMA & CCM I think?). I grabbed the NOCO Genius 10 mentioned above on Prime Day and sold the Genius 5 I had.

 

[SuperRaptor]

I have the NOCO 5, but I'd only be doing Forscan and OTA's with it which sounds like it'd be fine?

 

[JEB]

I have the NOCO 5, but I'd only be doing Forscan and OTA's with it which sounds like it'd be fine?

I’m not going to give you advice I wouldn’t take myself. I previously used a NOCO Genius 10–a substantially more capable charger/power supply—for programming. I didn’t care for it. Voltage dropped too much for my comfort during longer programming sessions and I didn‘t like the idiot lights. So, when the 20A Clore went on sale I snapped one up. I’ve been much happier since—consistently higher and more stable voltages now. But my preference for the Clore is just my opinion. Take it for what it’s worth. Opinions are like assholes—everybody has one and most of ’em stink.

 

[imnuts]

I don't use any charger for Forscan, only FDRS.

 

[SuperRaptor]

I’m not going to give you advice I wouldn’t take myself. I previously used a NOCO Genius 10–a substantially more capable charger/power supply—for programming. I didn’t care for it. Voltage dropped too much for my comfort during longer programming sessions and I didn‘t like the idiot lights. So, when the 20A Clore went on sale I snapped one up. I’ve been much happier since—consistently higher and more stable voltages now. But my preference for the Clore is just my opinion. Take it for what it’s worth. Opinions are like assholes—everybody has one and most of ’em stink.

That's good to know. Is programming including Forscan?

 

[JEB]

That's good to know. Is programming including Forscan?

No, not to me. FORScan (at least for now) is mostly just tweaking a configuration file. Writing to a configuration file is not power intensive. Takes only a few seconds. @imnuts is correct that a charger isn’t really necessary at all for small changes like this if your battery is charged and reasonably healthy. When I refer to programming, I am referring to loading new software into the module (reflashing). Depending on the module, it can take a long time and put a large draw on the battery.

 

[SuperRaptor]

That's good to know thank you. Has anyone else found when they plugged their NOCO in it showed the factory battery at a 50% charge? It took a while to get it show fully charged with mine, around 3 hours or so before it said it was tending.

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