[Smilodon]

Among the little things I would like for my new G87 is a more convenient/permanent setup for charging the battery.

The car is full of gadgets and gizmos and it is even recommended in the owner's manual that you charge it if it is going to be sitting for a while.

In my case, this will happen at a pretty fair rate. Not ideal (charging by driving is more fun!), but it is what it is.

Anyhow, on my other/prior vehicles, I generally rig up a battery charger "pigtail", sometime routed to a discrete location on the exterior of the car (if practical). Such as the one that comes with a Battery Tender.

The M2 presents a little bit of a challenge for a number of reasons, and I was wondering if anybody had custom built or run across a good/safe commercially-available solution.

[Ojala]

You might look into a defa mini plug set in the grill. They are sold as exterior plugs for vehicle block heaters. They are easy to mount to the car and easy to wire to a small 2 amp 12v single channel charger like a Battery Tender. Swap the alligator clips for some other terminal attached to the charge points under the hood and you're in business.

[M2BOT]

Originally Posted by Smilodon

Among the little things I would like for my new G87 is a more convenient/permanent setup for charging the battery.

The car is full of gadgets and gizmos and it is even recommended in the owner's manual that you charge it if it is going to be sitting for a while.

In my case, this will happen at a pretty fair rate. Not ideal (charging by driving is more fun!), but it is what it is.

Anyhow, on my other/prior vehicles, I generally rig up a battery charger "pigtail", sometime routed to a discrete location on the exterior of the car (if practical). Such as the one that comes with a Battery Tender.

The M2 presents a little bit of a challenge for a number of reasons, and I was wondering if anybody had custom built or run across a good/safe commercially-available solution.

I simply used the O ring quick disconnect from my battery tender and hard wired them to the posts under the hood. The actual quick disconnect plug is in the engine bay so when I want to charge, all I do I pop the hood and connect the charger to the plug. No alligator clips.

I considered doing an external solution but I didn’t want the wire exposed to the elements.

[Smilodon]

I ordered a longer SAE cable from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZTBHYK) and ran it from the terminals under the hood to a place in the cowl just behind the hood. This lays in the area beneath the hood in front of the windshield.

This allows charging without having the hood open. I could have easily used the shorter cable that came with the charger and just opened the hood, but the car doesn't "like" the hood to be open, creating some weirdness in behavior. But the main reason is that over time, it is kind of a hassle.

The SAE cable end has a weather cover (although admittedly, it is kind of loose in my example), and I think it will be fine on a garaged car.

The connector will pull out without any damage if you forget to take it off, but I put a small stuffed animal on the hood to remind me to remove it.

I believe it is specifically recommended to do any charging from the terminals under the hood and NOT directly to the battery. Apparently it can confuse some of the status electronics.