2025 Ranger Lariat Battery Maintainer Connection Locations

[Onceaneagle]

I am not familiar with BMS other than what it does so I am wondering about how and where to connect my CTEK maintainer.

On the 2021 F150, I used the CTEK-supplied eyelet connector and left it attached. If I needed to use it, it was a fast connection to the maintainer. It did not have BMS, at least I never noticed it. I also have a CTEK attachment with the positive and negative clips that I use on my wife's Escape Hybrid, attaching to the positive jump start pin on the engine and an unpainted ground.

The CTEK video for BMS vehicles is not that helpful to me. So where do I attach the CTEK on the 2025 Ranger Lariat? Eyelets or clips? Any helpful pictures would be appreciated.

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[bigb]

Just connect the pos to the pos battery terminal and the neg to a body ground. If you look at your negative terminal, there is a cable going from it to the fender, you can attach to either side of that cable, or just to a bolt in the steel frame in front of the battery. There is a nice clean, unpainted 15mm bolt right there which is what I used just today for my NOCO.

If you notice there is a small black plastic unit attached to your negative terminal between the terminal and the cable. Simply put it contains a current transformer. The whole point is that all current passes through that CT which is how the PCM knows the state of charge at any given time, because it is keeping track of all current in and all current out. If you attached your negative charger lead directly to the negative battery terminal you would bypass this little box containing the CT and your charge current would not get counted resulting in inaccurate reporting to the PCM.

If you want pics I will get them tomorrow, in my jammies now.

 

[John E Davies]

This is the cleanest way. You can use a nearby chassis ground for the negative (-) eye terminal, but the closer to the BMS the better… I would use that chassis ground for a much bigger intermittent load like a winch or compressor.
https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/threads/battery-tender-charger-mounted-high-on-garage-wall.23619/

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Onceaneagle]

This is the cleanest way. You can use a nearby chassis ground for the negative (-) eye terminal, but the closer to the BMS the better… I would use that chassis ground for a much bigger intermittent load like a winch or compressor.
https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/threads/battery-tender-charger-mounted-high-on-garage-wall.23619/

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Perfect! Installed per the photos no problem. Thanks!

 

[GLW]

I have a question about the CTEK while it is hooked up.

When connected to the battery (as shown in the pics above), plugged into a wall outlet and left alone for several days does the truck hood need to be fully closed? Since my truck is kept in a garage I’ve been leaving the hood pushed down but not fully closed. Should I change this practice?

 

[Onceaneagle]

Don't think so. I park my vehicles in the garage. Unlike my previous F150, I see no gap by the left headlight housing and the grill to run the charging cable through and out, then fully close the hood. There is a left front fender lip on the Ranger next to the top of the headlight when you open the hood, but I found the cable to be really tight going underneath that lip and do not want to mash the cord. I suppose you could connect the battery maintainer cable to an extension cord and then run that extension cord downward through the engine bay, out the bottom, then across the garage floor to the outlet. You should then be able to fully close the hood but that seems a lot of bother to me. With my wife's 2024 Escape Hybrid, which goes into sleep mode a lot, I have to run the cable over the right front fender to get to the outlet, so I leave the hood slightly open. I also have a sign I made that I put on the driver's seat that reads: "Disconnect battery maintainer before starting vehicle!" Getting older every day.

 

[GLW]

Don't think so. I park my vehicles in the garage. Unlike my previous F150, I see no gap by the left headlight housing and the grill to run the charging cable through and out, then fully close the hood. There is a left front fender lip on the Ranger next to the top of the headlight when you open the hood, but I found the cable to be really tight going underneath that lip and do not want to mash the cord. I suppose you could connect the battery maintainer cable to an extension cord and then run that extension cord downward through the engine bay, out the bottom, then across the garage floor to the outlet. You should then be able to fully close the hood but that seems a lot of bother to me. With my wife's 2024 Escape Hybrid, which goes into sleep mode a lot, I have to run the cable over the right front fender to get to the outlet, so I leave the hood slightly open. I also have a sign I made that I put on the driver's seat that reads: "Disconnect battery maintainer before starting vehicle!" Getting older every day.

It’s my understanding that the truck will not fully go to sleep with the hood open. Thus, it will never fully charge the battery as all kinds of things are running when not in sleep. That’s my question, is it true that an open hood keeps the truck from going to sleep?

 

[bigb]

It’s my understanding that the truck will not fully go to sleep with the hood open. Thus, it will never fully charge the battery as all kinds of things are running when not in sleep. That’s my question, is it true that an open hood keeps the truck from going to sleep?

I can tell you the truck will not remote start with the hood open. I have left my hood open for days though, with a 2 amp charger connected and it was enough to keep the battery at 100% according to Scangauge 3.

 

[GLW]

I can tell you the truck will not remote start with the hood open. I have left my hood open for days though, with a 2 amp charger connected and it was enough to keep the battery at 100% according to Scangauge 3.

Thanks. This is very helpful as it’s not impossible to close the hood with the CTEK hooked up but a bit of a pain. Much easier to leave open.

 

[Onceaneagle]

Thanks. This is very helpful as it’s not impossible to close the hood with the CTEK hooked up but a bit of a pain. Much easier to leave open.

Where are you routing the CTEK charging cable so you can close the hood?

 

[GLW]

Kind of. It’s over the top of the fender. No through the grill or anything fancy like that. I just thought I could leave the hood open and leave it hooked up for several days. Now I question that.

 

[bigb]

You could always connect a SAE cable to the battery and route it down to the tow hook and bring it out there, then just plug in there instead of opening the hood. They even have magnetic ones which would be handy if you forget about it and drive away.

 

[GLW]

You could always connect a SAE cable to the battery and route it down to the tow hook and bring it out there, then just plug in there instead of opening the hood. They even have magnetic ones which would be handy if you forget about it and drive away.

I could and will do that if required. But the question is, does leaving the hood open while charging with the CTEK negate the effectiveness of the CTEK? If not, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing but I read things online that contradict each other. Go figure.
With that said I have been very impressed with the expertise of those on this forum.

 

[bigb]

There are not going to be any parasitic loads that exceed what the charger/maintainer can supply. I proved that with my 2 amp NOCO maintainer.
I also doubt that the truck stays awake with the hood open. or even with a door open. Modern vehicles have relays that de-energize loads after a pre-determined time, except for the normal parasitic loads which is why we put the maintainers on to begin with. I have also heard that not locking the doors results in things staying awake but in reality I don't know if that's 100% correct. What I believe is that when the key fob is in or near the truck it can keep certain things awake. There is also a motion sensor in the key fob so that probably lets it go to sleep anyway unless you are walking around near the truck all day with the fob in your pocket.

Personally I don't like having to open the hood every time I want to plug in the charger, and I don't like the extra wear on the hood release cable (which seems pretty flimsy to me) from excessive opening. I also park outside sometimes. So I mounted my maintainer and put the plug out at the tow hook.

 

[Onceaneagle]

I could and will do that if required. But the question is, does leaving the hood open while charging with the CTEK negate the effectiveness of the CTEK? If not, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing but I read things online that contradict each other. Go figure.
With that said I have been very impressed with the expertise of those on this forum.

I can't speak for the Ranger but I leave the CTEK connected to my wife's Escape Hybrid with the hood slightly open, for up to two weeks. The charger usually starts at three, gets up to full charge, and maintains it.

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