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C-Tek

Andyc11 said:
I've just got my OPC to put the connectors directly onto the new battery they've recently fitted to my GTS - I don't have the cigarette adapter though. Plan was to use the mains whilst parked up in the garage, would I be better buying the cigarette adapter and using that?

IMO use the direct battery connection.
easier to keep the frunk shut, rather then trial through the window
 
Tobesetc said:
Here's CTEKs answer to the fuse question:

The CTEK charger is legally certified as an electrically double insulated product.
This means that it has as it says twice as rigid insulation as for a product that need to be connected to protective ground.
Compare for example to a mobile phone charger or an electric shaver.

If anything goes wrong in general you are protected by the Residual Current Device (RCD) and fuses in the power installation in your house.
So, the CTEK chargers are very reliable and safe to use, but for extra protection, if you so wish, there is nothing that hinders you to fit on a fuse. If you do, put it next to the + pole.

What a load of crap. The fuse is nothing to do with the mains side. It is everything to do with having a cable connected directly to a battery which is capable of supplying many hundreds of amps. If you trap that cable and short circuit it internally or short the + side to the chassis then it will get awful interesting until something stops conducting. If you go through the cigarette lighter then it is fused in the car. I would never connect anything directly to a car battery without a fuse if it was permanently fixed in the car, nevermind if it was on loose wires which can more easily be trapped/damaged.

MC
 
So just so I am clear - I connect one of these to the battery (with the in-line fuse):



.....and just leave it 'till I need it.

Then when I go away, connect the C-Tec to the adapter and plug it in to the mains?



Sorry to sound dumb, but I've always thought that you needed to disconnect a battery before using a charger or it can play merry hell with the alternator?
 
That is it. Check it every now and to make sure it hasn't broken but otherwise all is good.

MC
 
I use mine for powering the DAB when it's not on charge.
 
Got the MXS5.0 delivered at the weekend, and got one of these too, which has the correct size eyelet - and a condition indicator. Bargain at a fiver :thumb:

Adapter.jpg
 
jhrfc said:
Andyc11 said:
I've just got my OPC to put the connectors directly onto the new battery they've recently fitted to my GTS - I don't have the cigarette adapter though. Plan was to use the mains whilst parked up in the garage, would I be better buying the cigarette adapter and using that?

IMO use the direct battery connection.
easier to keep the frunk shut, rather then trial through the window

The cable can go via the door , close the door , the seal doesn't nip it tight.. give it a pull to check ....
 
AndyS said:
So just so I am clear - I connect one of these to the battery (with the in-line fuse):



.....and just leave it 'till I need it.

Then when I go away, connect the C-Tec to the adapter and plug it in to the mains?



Sorry to sound dumb, but I've always thought that you needed to disconnect a battery before using a charger or it can play merry hell with the alternator?

C-Tek functions as a conditioner ( in addition to a charger) You will initially see the green Led on constantly ( after it's initial detection mode) then one the charge is complete it then 'conditions' the battery in a cycle mode ...
IMHO I think it's the best bit of kit I have seen out there to date .... anyone knows of a better one , shout up .... I swear by mine .... I use nothing else ....
 
Charger

I've used an Optimate - same sort of thing - hard wired to the battery on three Porsches over 17-years and had no problems at all. I leave the hood slightly open and bring the supply lead through the gap at the front. Previous owner used to close the hood completely with no ill effect on the wires being compressed by the seals.

Also got the Lidl version as back-up and made some leads so that I can plug that to the 'battery leads' in case the Optimate fails.

Not sure about the cigar lighter wiring on mine but did read somewhere of an owner using the lighter which was not suitable causing the dash wiring to fry. May have been an IB on Impact Bumpers but best make sure of your car's wiring first.
 
MisterCorn said:
I would put an inline fuse on the + lead close to the battery myself.

MC

Last weekend I noticed that LondonRob's connector not only has the inline fuse but also flashing lights... So obviously I bought one!

When it arrived the connectors were clearly 2mm larger than the un-fused one. So they fit perfectly with no cut required.

This makes me think that the one without the fuse that didn't fit a car battery isn't actually meant to be used with a car battery like it describes you can! Very odd.
 
Tobesetc said:
Last weekend I noticed that LondonRob's connector not only has the inline fuse but also flashing lights... So obviously I bought one!

When it arrived the connectors were clearly 2mm larger than the un-fused one. So they fit perfectly with no cut required.

.....and for just a fiver I think it's a must-have.
I particularly like the traffic light system to give a quick visual guide of the battery condition :thumb:
 
AndyS said:
.....and for just a fiver I think it's a must-have.
I particularly like the traffic light system to give a quick visual guide of the battery condition :thumb:

I'm not convinced the in line 'traffic light' system is that reliable. once disconnected it seems to go to Orange and Red quite quickly then reconnected it will go straight back to Green and thats on a fairly new Bosch battery.
 
Pretzel said:
AndyS said:
.....and for just a fiver I think it's a must-have.
I particularly like the traffic light system to give a quick visual guide of the battery condition :thumb:

I'm not convinced the in line 'traffic light' system is that reliable. once disconnected it seems to go to Orange and Red quite quickly then reconnected it will go straight back to Green and thats on a fairly new Bosch battery.

It's a bit vague isn't it but better than nothing I reckon.

According to the packaging a red light indicates anything below 60% charged so that's potentially still a long way from being a flat battery. It's quite a wide margin though and therefore not especially helpful for knowing if you have 1% or 59%. Hopefully a future iteration will have an actual digital % read-out.

Green indicates power above 80% so it's a fairly slim margin between green and red. I can believe that it wouldn't take too long to go between those two markers. I've just checked mine and it went from green to orange in 8 days without being connected. Does a battery ever hold 100% once it's been used? :dont know:

The connector makes it so easy that I guess the answer to keeping the indicator green is just to have it connected whenever the car's in the garage (which, being a 993, is most of the time obviously. :grin:)
 
Hmmmm .. very interesting - I've been using a few Ctek chargers for years on a variety of vehicles - bought the latest MSX5.0 a couple of years ago just for use on the 993.

I too obtained the traffic light connector to permanently fit to the 993's battery as the eyelets on the supplied cable were too small - very convenient.

I wonder how much juice the connector draws from the battery for the display? - I'm sure it can't be much, I've noticed that the indicator shows amber a couple of days after a really good run - I always plug the Ctek life support in when the 993 is in the garage, so it's not like the battery is left unloved for any period of time .. and being a pampered, less than a year old Bosch Silver S4 it should be in pretty good shape.

I use an old Ctek Zafir90 to keep my truck battery going - using the supplied connector cable (no indicator) now I'm tempted to buy an indicator connector for the truck and see if that battery loses charge according to the indicator like the 993 battery seems to.

NB: The truck is an old USAF GMC full size pickup, still on it's original battery from 1994 .. so it's definitely living on borrowed time, but with the Ctek keeping it conditioned - up to now it's been as good as gold! :lol:
 
MilSub said:
I wonder how much juice the connector draws from the battery for the display? - I'm sure it can't be much

~ 1Ah / month apparently.

Hopefully that's a small amount (it would be a self defeating product otherwise) but I really don't know enough about these things to know.
 

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