2004 Can you Charge the Battery from Under the Hood?

[Alrhall]

Car in storage, Bat is dead, Trunk is full of stuff.
Too much current needed for Cigarette lighter chargers.
Can I charge the battery from under the hood?

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[PhilD]

Not really, you could try one of those jump starters that claim to use the cigarette lighter socket but really you should go to the source which is the battery in the trunk otherwise you are going via circuitry and could damage some of it.

 

[BluByeU]

Open the trunk from the behind the driver's seat buried in the carpet key slot. Put ignition key in slot & turn it will manually release the trunk & charge the battery directly in the trunk.

 

[hippymailman]

I wouldnt risk charging other than the battery in the trunk. you say its full of stuff, even full these trunks dont hold that much stuff.play is safe empty the trunk!!

 

[Aznav]

I think I already know the answer for this, but can someone confirm that, indeed, they are not there? My Volvo XC90 is equally, if not more, difficult to get to the terminals if I need to jump start it but it has two terminals in the front saving a boatload of time.

 

[hippymailman]

I think I already know the answer for this, but can someone confirm that, indeed, they are not there? My Volvo XC90 is equally, if not more, difficult to get to the terminals if I need to jump start it but it has two terminals in the front saving a boatload of time.

you are correct in already knowing the answer of no battery terminals in the front at all

 

[Warrbucks]

Best idea for any car or motorcycle buff is to install a pigtail for a Battery Tender trickle charger. Easy to plug, safe, very good for the battery, won’t hurt circuits.

 

[CodiakCB]

That's what I use and have a connector I can just plug it into the cigarette lighter.

Great question though, I didn't know either or look for one!

 

[Retro Bob]

you are correct in already knowing the answer of no battery terminals in the front at all

It's not easy to get to but there is a positive terminal on the bottom passengers side of the firewall. You can only get to it from the bottom of the car. It's where the red battery cable from the trunk connects to.

 

[bird-dom]

I ran into this issue with my 2002 when I did the dumb thing and disconnected the battery and closed the trunk while the convertible top and windows were up. I did a lot of searching and this post was the only one I found mentioning the terminals in the front of the car, so I wanted to share a couple photos.

I found the positive terminal, along with a little grounded bolt, under the passenger tire well cover. There are two plastic clips at the top that can be popped out to access. In the photos here, my tbird is on jack stands so the wheel is dropped low, and I had already entirely removed the wheel well cover, which required removing a couple clips under the car, so keep that in mind if the car is on all four wheels.

As you can see in the last picture, I clamped on a jump start battery, which energized the car computer long enough for me to open a door with the automatic window lowering function to clear the top, then I turned on the car with the key to lower the window completely.

The positive terminal was nicely marked with a red cover:



Closer shot also showing the small grounded bolt for the negative lead clamp:


My jump start battery clamped on, which allowed the car computers to power up and assist opening the door:

 

[Mach5]

I ran into this issue with my 2002 when I did the dumb thing and disconnected the battery and closed the trunk while the convertible top and windows were up. I did a lot of searching and this post was the only one I found mentioning the terminals in the front of the car, so I wanted to share a couple photos.

I found the positive terminal, along with a little grounded bolt, under the passenger tire well cover. There are two plastic clips at the top that can be popped out to access. In the photos here, my tbird is on jack stands so the wheel is dropped low, and I had already entirely removed the wheel well cover, which required removing a couple clips under the car, so keep that in mind if the car is on all four wheels.

As you can see in the last picture, I clamped on a jump start battery, which energized the car computer long enough for me to open a door with the automatic window lowering function to clear the top, then I turned on the car with the key to lower the window completely.

The positive terminal was nicely marked with a red cover:
View attachment 30650


Closer shot also showing the small grounded bolt for the negative lead clamp:
View attachment 30651

My jump start battery clamped on, which allowed the car computers to power up and assist opening the door:
View attachment 30652

Wow - you do learn something new every day. This is the first I've ever heard of this. Thanks for sharing!
(PS I keep mine on a NOCO Genius 10 charger w/pigtail, never had any issues whatsoever.)