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Don't know if any of you are interested in doing this, however?
I got tired of removing my stuff from the trunk and then having to remove the base/trunk cover to attach the battery maintainer/charger. So, I ran an electrical wire from the positive terminal so that it sticks out several inches once you replace the base/trunk cover. Now I just plug in the plus/positive wire from the maintainer to this wire and attach the negative/ground wire, via alligator clip, to the right chromed exhaust pipe. Works great.
Word of caution: The threads of the positive terminal bolt must be slightly off because it is somewhat difficult to remove the small nut that holds the main positive battery terminal on to the battery. What I wanted to do (and which I eventually did once I figured it out) was avoid removing this nut and just attach my wire via an eye hook which I crimped on to the wire, to the remaining exposed bolt with another nut. Just couldn't find a nut that would screw on without giving me that feeling I was cross threading something. Once I discovered that Ford had apparently made the threads slightly off so that the original equip. nut mentioned above would not come loose on its own yada, yada. However, make sure you do get a nut that is correctly threaded for that bolt.
The maintainer I'm using is one that I purchased from Harbor Freight for less than $10.00 on sale. Also had to cut the red positive wire about six inches or so back to remove the alligator clip. Then attached a female elect. connector to the end of the red wire coming from the maintainer and a male elect. connector to the end of the wire of the alligator clip so that I can still join the two wires together for use on other applications. You obviously need to have a male connector on the end of the wire coming from the positive battery terminal. Also used an extra female connector, the end of which I plugged with goop for extra protection, to plug into the male connector sticking out from the base my trunk when not attached to the maintainer. All connectors are the type that have a plastic boot over the actual metal contact which prevents any accidental grounding of the positive wire.
If anyone chooses to do this, I would suggest putting some heat shrink tubing on the wire where it comes out from the trunks removable base just for some extra protection. I didn't think to do this until I had my connectors crimped on so I had to wrap that part of the wire with some elect. tape just to make sure the already coated wire was well protected. Be sure to use good quality electrical wire. I used a piece of lamp chord wire that had had a better plastic/rubber cover on it than the automotive wire I was considering using and it appeared to be of heavier gauge. I would say the gauge of the wire used should be at least as heavy as the wire coming from the maintainer just to be on the safe side.
You are also going to have to find a way to turn off the damn trunk light during the charging process. I use a dowel that presses on the switch when the trunk is lowered onto the dowel. However, I think the light might turn off on its own after several minutes if the trunk is left in the up position.
Hope this make someones life a little easier when I comes to maintaining their battery.
Santini
I got tired of removing my stuff from the trunk and then having to remove the base/trunk cover to attach the battery maintainer/charger. So, I ran an electrical wire from the positive terminal so that it sticks out several inches once you replace the base/trunk cover. Now I just plug in the plus/positive wire from the maintainer to this wire and attach the negative/ground wire, via alligator clip, to the right chromed exhaust pipe. Works great.
Word of caution: The threads of the positive terminal bolt must be slightly off because it is somewhat difficult to remove the small nut that holds the main positive battery terminal on to the battery. What I wanted to do (and which I eventually did once I figured it out) was avoid removing this nut and just attach my wire via an eye hook which I crimped on to the wire, to the remaining exposed bolt with another nut. Just couldn't find a nut that would screw on without giving me that feeling I was cross threading something. Once I discovered that Ford had apparently made the threads slightly off so that the original equip. nut mentioned above would not come loose on its own yada, yada. However, make sure you do get a nut that is correctly threaded for that bolt.
The maintainer I'm using is one that I purchased from Harbor Freight for less than $10.00 on sale. Also had to cut the red positive wire about six inches or so back to remove the alligator clip. Then attached a female elect. connector to the end of the red wire coming from the maintainer and a male elect. connector to the end of the wire of the alligator clip so that I can still join the two wires together for use on other applications. You obviously need to have a male connector on the end of the wire coming from the positive battery terminal. Also used an extra female connector, the end of which I plugged with goop for extra protection, to plug into the male connector sticking out from the base my trunk when not attached to the maintainer. All connectors are the type that have a plastic boot over the actual metal contact which prevents any accidental grounding of the positive wire.
If anyone chooses to do this, I would suggest putting some heat shrink tubing on the wire where it comes out from the trunks removable base just for some extra protection. I didn't think to do this until I had my connectors crimped on so I had to wrap that part of the wire with some elect. tape just to make sure the already coated wire was well protected. Be sure to use good quality electrical wire. I used a piece of lamp chord wire that had had a better plastic/rubber cover on it than the automotive wire I was considering using and it appeared to be of heavier gauge. I would say the gauge of the wire used should be at least as heavy as the wire coming from the maintainer just to be on the safe side.
You are also going to have to find a way to turn off the damn trunk light during the charging process. I use a dowel that presses on the switch when the trunk is lowered onto the dowel. However, I think the light might turn off on its own after several minutes if the trunk is left in the up position.
Hope this make someones life a little easier when I comes to maintaining their battery.
Santini
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