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C-Tek

AndyS

Well-known member
Joined
25 Mar 2010
Messages
1,736
Hi All,
I'm going to the states for a month or so soon - so want to look after the battery while I'm gone. I was about to buy a C-Tek.....
Is the CTEK MXS5.0 Battery Charger suitable?
Are they OK to just connect directly to the battery? I'm sure I've read about some of you guys plugging in to the fag lighter.....

I've never needed to use one of these things before (I usually just come home to a flat battery after anything more than 2 or 3 weeks), so any help would be appreciated :thumb:

Cheers
Andy
 
I use it (I'm sure that's the model). You can get it with a connector that permanently attaches to the battery and sticks out from under the carpet, then just plug it in when you park up. The bonnet will easily close on the wire with no issue at all.
 
...oh, and when you discover that the holes in the connector are too small for your battery just use tin-snips to cut the O so it becomes a C and you'll find a bit of brute force and ignorance will sort the problem!
 

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AndyS said:
Hi All,
I'm going to the states for a month or so soon - so want to look after the battery while I'm gone. I was about to buy a C-Tek.....
Is the CTEK MXS5.0 Battery Charger suitable?
Are they OK to just connect directly to the battery? I'm sure I've read about some of you guys plugging in to the fag lighter.....

I've never needed to use one of these things before (I usually just come home to a flat battery after anything more than 2 or 3 weeks), so any help would be appreciated :thumb:

Cheers
Andy

I use the same C-tek charger and plug directly to the cigarette lighter socket ... it's permanently 'live' so connected directly to the battery when ignition is off , so it's ideal connection point.
The cable can go through the door , close door gently then give a wee tug on the cable to ensure it's free not nipped . The seals are pretty soft so do not clamp the cable.
Switch on charger to car/ normal mode and Bob's your uncle!!

No flat battery again!
 
I would put an inline fuse on the + lead close to the battery myself.

MC
 
That's the model I use. Straight from the cigarette lighter for my 996 C4S, but direct from the battery terminals for the 964 C4 (as the cigarette lighter isn't permanently live).
 
My lighter wasn't permanently live either.
 
thesmithsUK said:
That's the model I use. Straight from the cigarette lighter for my 996 C4S, but direct from the battery terminals for the 964 C4 (as the cigarette lighter isn't permanently live).

Hmm, I stand corrected on the ' permanently live ' statement on the older cars then , i ( wrongly ) assumed that it was similar to the later cars ....!

Just goes to show that Every day is a schoolday !

:thumb:
 
No probs here, I've used it straight from the battery for the last five years. You do need to cut through the positive and negatives to be able to get them to fit on the battery terminals, but seriously it's so easy to do. Then just plug the plastic bit into the charger cable, shut the bonnet and hey ho, not a flat battery...... mine at times has been connected for 6 months and caused absolutely no hassles :thumb:
 
CTEK sell a connector with larger holes if you want to avoid cutting.
 
I don't have access to my car at the moment but I don't remember cutting the standard connectors - I think they fitted the bolts that loosens/tighten the terminal on to the battery lug so used them as an additional washer there?
 
I've got a c-tek xs3.3 charger.
I drilled out the eyelets, to fit the socket flying lead to the battery, and as said here, it is easy to close the bonnet.
TBH a good quality charger like the ctek will not need an inline fuse as it has a lot of built in intelligence including a current limiter. spark inhibitor etc.

BTW The cigarette lighter needs a wiring mod to make it permanently live (which BTW is not possible on Tiptronics for some reason). a search on here or elsewhere will find out the detials.
J
 
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.
 
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?
 

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