Should work assuming you have a good ground connection. I'd check it with a meter, charger off, to see it you are getting to the battery. May need to clean the body stud, or find an alternative ground point. A trickle charger can be connected to the always on CCP as well, but you still need a good ground inside.

The joys of having the battery inside under the seat !

 

Difficult to see for sure in your picture, but the negative needs to be connected to a stud with bare metal - not one with a plastic cap. Other than that the jumper points should be fine for trickle charging so maybe double check other possible loose connections or charger settings.

 

"Official" ground point for jump start is circles in red. Bare metal bolt by bottom rear hinge.
Seem small for jump, but I guess "good enough" never used it .... thankfully.
But A-OK for trickle charge. That's where I put the clamp for my 4A charger, and it works just fine.

 

Thanks. I will try the new ground location and let you guys know.

 

Unless the CCP has been changed since 2016, that is not the correct spot for a trickle charger. Power should only flow out of the CCP.

 

I'm curious why you say that like a rule?

I have a B2B battery charger connected to CCP2, it is bi-directional. It will pull 120 amps from CCP2, but if it senses the starter battery is low, it will push 30 amps back into CCP2. I've seen this working, and it works great - as long as CCP2 is alive. If I had a smaller B2B charger (IE, not 120A) - I could connect it to always-on CCP1.

I do agree using CCP would be terrible for jumpstarting, the amps would quickly cook the relays. Why is it a bad choice for trickle-charging ?

 

Only hook a trickle charger directly to the battery or at the underhood jump start location.

 

ccp1 has worked great for me for months 🤷‍♂️

 

Exactly. TRICKLE vs. high current jump starting. My always on CCP on my 2018 are rated for 65A, way overkill for an amp or two of trickle charging. Even a heavier maintainer of 5A wouldn't phase it.

 

Before hooking battery tender to Van for extended parking; I got in touch with battery tender company and the bemm. They both told me the same thing and that is what I posted.
Not sure about the ins and outs or whys and whatnots but they said not to and I did not .
It was explained to me and I took them at their word.
There's a whole lot going on under that driver's seat. Problems people have show up after they have messed with that can bus wiring.

 

That's odd... I've got the BEMM open and I don't see anything like that.

IMHO, CCP is a perfectly good place for trickle-charging, but the problem is that there often isn't a great ground nearby. That's a solvable problem, there is a ground under the floormat in the center, and also the Cargo-hook attachment spots can make a good ground.

Like I said, my system will often push up to 30-amps back into the starting battery via CCP2.

The second challenge is that CCP2 will disconnect some time after shutting off the van. That's less of a problem with CCP1.

 

That's odd... I've got the BEMM open and I don't see anything like that.

Things may have changed in the nine years between the van build dates. I have one CCP.
At the time, I was able to call the folks at bemm.

 

Forgot to mention I'm using a 2amp trickle charger. I wonder if that amperage is too low.

 

I am pretty sure my 2022 owners manual advises – several times – do not charge the van battery via the CCP or the lighter socket.
Meanwhile, Eco flow offers me van battery charging via the alternator cable to the CCP.
and it sounds like plenty of folks are charging their van batteries through the CCP using chargers, tenders/maintainers, direct solar panel hook us and God knows what else?
So, should I dig my way through the firewall or take a chance on setting the driver’s seat on fire?

 

I've seen some that have a 175A and a 65A, one always on, the other on the timer, don't remember which is which. On my 2018 Cargo, I have three 60A that as far as I can tell are always on. It could even be the difference between Cargo and Passenger versions and such.

 

Pre-2020, Transits either had ONE CCP (60A, full-time) or three CCPs (60A each, full-time). 2020+ Transits either have ONE CCP (60A, full-time - just like the older models) or ALSO have a second CCP, which is 175A fused and turns off when the engine is off (plus some time).

Previous to 2020, Transits either had a single 150A alternator OR a single 250A alternator. 2020+ is either one 250A alternator or two (dual - they work in tandem) 250A alternators.

 

I have a 2017 and have a CTEK charger and quick disconnect hooked up to where @njvagabond posted under the hood. Has been running fine for the past 2 winters.

I put the CTEK charger in a plastic ammo box that is cut with a plexi window on the side (siliconed to ****). Gives quick indication of what is going on

 

My van is a 2023 with dual batteries and dual alternators. It has both a CCP1 and CCP2. I’ve had a Victron BlueSmart IP67 12/25 Amp connected directly to CCP1 for two years. Anytime my van is connected to shore power, the BlueSmart charger keeps the chassis batteries topped-off. There has been no adverse issues.

During the build process (which took much of the first year), the van was not driven very much, and the charger prevented any issues with the battery going flat.

As far as I am concerned, CCP1 is the perfect attachment point for a charger to maintain the van’s chassis batteries. But, YMMV.

 

I copied Irontent and it's been working great for me as well. Going into/out of the van endlessly during the driveway build hits the van lights a lot and does a number on the battery (along with the parasitic loads). Hauling out the old Schumacher and popping the hood got really old after half a dozen times.

 

I'll add another vote for charging starter batteries via CCP1. Adding a shore power input so I could put a battery maintainer inside the van was the very first change I made.

I have the Victron 25A charger too... but it only gets used to charge house batteries. Starter batteries are kept topped up by a 750mA battery tender.

 

Hauling out the old Schumacher and popping the hood got really old after half a dozen times.

Agreed! Been doing just this for 18 months now. It never occurred to me to use CCP1 instead.

I’ve had a Victron BlueSmart IP67 12/25 Amp connected directly to CCP1 for two years.

Is it ok to leave it connected and powered on even when the engine is running? Or do you have a fancy cutoff setup to power off the charger when the ignition is switched on?

 

Agreed! Been doing just this for 18 months now. It never occurred to me to use CCP1 instead.


Is it ok to leave it connected and powered on even when the engine is running? Or do you have a fancy cutoff setup to power off the charger when the ignition is switched on?

I asked Victron about this and they said it is fine to leave the battery tender plugged in while the engine is running.

 

I leave it connected to CCP1 all the time and the charger is powered whenever I'm connected to shore power. And, I will start the van with shore power connected when home before disconnecting shore power. But, I usually don't keep the shore power connected for very long after starting the engine. The longest time I can remember is to let the defrost run to melt the ice/snow, and seldom longer than 15 or 20 minutes.

The Victron charger seems to be bullet proof. Again, YMMV.

 

Just wanted to give you guys and update. The 2amp charger didn't work so I tried a 10amp charger. It worked fine.

I'm guessing there is a limited how low of an amperage your trickle charger is to get it working.

 

Mine is 1.5A: Amazon.com: Schumacher Electric 1.5A Car Battery Charger and Maintainer, 3-in-1 Solution, for 6V/12V Power Sport, Automotive, and Marine Batteries, SC1355 : Automotive ...

 

Mine is 1.5A: Amazon.com: Schumacher Electric 1.5A Car Battery Charger and Maintainer, 3-in-1 Solution, for 6V/12V Power Sport, Automotive, and Marine Batteries, SC1355 : Automotive ...

Weird..then I have no clue why my 2amp wasn't working. I tested it with a 100ah lithium battery and it worked fine.

 

I asked Ford BBAS about using CCP1 for trickle charging, here's their response:

You can connect to CCP1. You would establish a chassis ground point (that does not bypass the Battery Monitor Sensor). You would simply follow BBLB guidance to make a single lone connection to the chassis.