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CTEK Battery Changer - educate me please!

nickjonesn4 said:
I'm sure other chargers are good. The reality is that Ctek are the industry standard. All car storage operations and dealers use them because they work really really well. For the sake of £30 difference I would go for the CTek as it's total piece of mind.

The recondition function has cured a long running battery problem on my AMG.

C-Tek charger is my 1st choice ... it is a good piece of kit , easy to use , ergonomical controls are good and functions are adequate ..... MXS 5.0 is the best of them IMO

They are NOT infallible however and although supposed to be IP 65 I had a failure recently in our wintery weather when the snow melted of underside of DD car returned into the garage.... water seems to have got in ... I heard an unhealthy sizzling sound and it was tripping the RCD in the power circuit.
Replaced with the spare charger ( meant changing to the comfort connector tails direct to the battery, as it was the non-comfort early connector ) but now back up and charging ok.

I bought an Optimate to try out when opportunity permits and that one looks almost as functional as the C- TeK.

PS
There are instances though when the C-Tek smart charger ( and this type of charger ) cannot see the internal resistance of the battery if it drops too low ... it will not sense an start charging.

If you find that you have this , simply connect ( Viz mag wording ) a healthy battery in parallel until charging starts,then you may remove the healthy battery, the charger will only charge the unhealthy one obviously.
 
jhrfc said:
I'm pretty sure a wiring mod needs to be made to make the lighter permanently live.
I think over the years a lot of cars have had this done. but it is not possible on tip cars. (i know cos i have one.).
I connected the eyelet cable to the terminals in the frunk and plug it in form there.
J

Hello.
I managed to modify my 1996 tip so that the lighter socket was live all the time. It was quite easy. It saves having to lift the bonnet each time you park the car and also reduces the risk of driving out the garage with the charger still connected.
You need to install a fused link (15A fuse)with a spade connector at each end from a perm live unused circuit in the fuse box to the the lighter socket.
It was a while ago now so I can't remember which circuit I used. You just have to make sure the circuit you link from is rated at about 15-20 Amp so the cig lighter will still work without causing problems with the wiring.

I used a CTEK on the 993, but I also have one of the cheap ones from Lidl which is excellent for the money.
The only working difference I have noticed between the two is that if you have a power cut (which happens regularly where I live) the CTEK will return to it's charging state and continue to work. Unfortunately the lidl one doesn't and just switches back to standby.
 
I recently bought a Ctek MXS 5.0 and have a couple of questions. I have removed the bonnet bulb and turned off the interior light which seemed to stay on when the bonnet was open, but the light that illuminates the ignition remains on. How can I use the charger and still be able to close the bonnet? Would I get away with leaving the cable coming out of the bonnet but then close the bonnet? I realise it would probably put an indent on the cable but can't see a way to do it without having to remove the undertray to bring the cable through one of the grommet holes in the frunk.
 
Hi Albionmuz,

I place the cable from the charger on the corner of the bonnet and gentle press the bonnet down. Second year doing this and with no issue. Hasn't left a mark to date and means you don't have to remove boot/frunk bulb.

HTH
 
Jet Jock said:
Hi Albionmuz,

I place the cable from the charger on the corner of the bonnet and gentle press the bonnet down. Second year doing this and with no issue. Hasn't left a mark to date and means you don't have to remove boot/frunk bulb.

HTH

Thanks for the very quick response. Do you mean the corner up by the window or at the side down by the bumper?
 
Albionmuz said:
I recently bought a Ctek MXS 5.0 and have a couple of questions. I have removed the bonnet bulb and turned off the interior light which seemed to stay on when the bonnet was open, but the light that illuminates the ignition remains on. How can I use the charger and still be able to close the bonnet? Would I get away with leaving the cable coming out of the bonnet but then close the bonnet? I realise it would probably put an indent on the cable but can't see a way to do it without having to remove the undertray to bring the cable through one of the grommet holes in the frunk.

Hi,
I simply push the catch all the way down - so it appears as closed and no lights come on, but then leave the bonnet on the 1st catch. As long as you don't forget to use the release catch before you try to push the bonnet back down all is good.
No crimped cables or alarms, and you can quickly get in the bonnet to check status without unlocking.

Cheers
Andy
 
Albionmuz said:
Jet Jock said:
Hi Albionmuz,

I place the cable from the charger on the corner of the bonnet and gentle press the bonnet down. Second year doing this and with no issue. Hasn't left a mark to date and means you don't have to remove boot/frunk bulb.

HTH

Thanks for the very quick response. Do you mean the corner up by the window or at the side down by the bumper?

Sorry, down beside the bumper.

Baz
 
Jet Jock said:
Albionmuz said:
Jet Jock said:
Hi Albionmuz,

I place the cable from the charger on the corner of the bonnet and gentle press the bonnet down. Second year doing this and with no issue. Hasn't left a mark to date and means you don't have to remove boot/frunk bulb.

HTH

Thanks for the very quick response. Do you mean the corner up by the window or at the side down by the bumper?

Sorry, down beside the bumper.

Baz

Thanks for the advice, that is exactly as I did it yesterday when I put the car back in storage for a few weeks.
 
AndyS said:
Albionmuz said:
I recently bought a Ctek MXS 5.0 and have a couple of questions. I have removed the bonnet bulb and turned off the interior light which seemed to stay on when the bonnet was open, but the light that illuminates the ignition remains on. How can I use the charger and still be able to close the bonnet? Would I get away with leaving the cable coming out of the bonnet but then close the bonnet? I realise it would probably put an indent on the cable but can't see a way to do it without having to remove the undertray to bring the cable through one of the grommet holes in the frunk.

Hi,
I simply push the catch all the way down - so it appears as closed and no lights come on, but then leave the bonnet on the 1st catch. As long as you don't forget to use the release catch before you try to push the bonnet back down all is good.
No crimped cables or alarms, and you can quickly get in the bonnet to check status without unlocking.

Cheers
Andy

Thanks but the ignition light stays on unless the bonnet is fully closed on my 993.
 
Jet Jock said:
Albionmuz said:
Jet Jock said:
Hi Albionmuz,

I place the cable from the charger on the corner of the bonnet and gentle press the bonnet down. Second year doing this and with no issue. Hasn't left a mark to date and means you don't have to remove boot/frunk bulb.

HTH

Thanks for the very quick response. Do you mean the corner up by the window or at the side down by the bumper?

Sorry, down beside the bumper.

Baz

Thanks for the advice, that is exactly as I did it yesterday when I put the car back in storage for a few weeks.
 
Albionmuz said:
Thanks but the ignition light stays on unless the bonnet is fully closed on my 993.

That doesn't add up. :?:
If you push that bonnet catch all the way down, it doesn't matter if the bonnet is open or not - the switch will act as though the bonnet is fully closed and no lights will come on....
Do you have an additional switch?

Glad you found a workaround anyway :thumb:
 
i have been able to run the cable out through the bottom right of the bonnet and close the lid without marking or indenting either the cable or the bonnet seals.
J
 
AndyS said:
Albionmuz said:
Thanks but the ignition light stays on unless the bonnet is fully closed on my 993.

That doesn't add up. :?:
If you push that bonnet catch all the way down, it doesn't matter if the bonnet is open or not - the switch will act as though the bonnet is fully closed and no lights will come on....
Do you have an additional switch?

Glad you found a workaround anyway :thumb:

Ah, now I get it. I misunderstood.(in truth I didn't read your suggestion properly!) You mean push the bonnet catch down with the bonnet open? I was thinking you meant just push the bonnet down until it latched but didn't close properly. I will try that the next time I go to the car.
 

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