c teck charger

[louisekay]

Flat battery today, left standing for only 2 weeks! Any way nice RAC man said to fit a c teck charger plug in and forget, but do i have to disconnect battery first? Its on a pegeuot boxer

[Keithl]

Hi Louise,

 

First a spelling correction, they are CTEK chargers. http://www.ctek.com/gb/en

 

If the cigar lighter socket in your dashboard is permanently live then you can buy the optional lead to plug in inside the MH. http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/Comfort%20Connect%20Cig%20Plug

 

And as for your question, you do not need to disconnect the battery as long as you only use the standard 'CAR' charge mode and DO NOT USE the 'Recondition' mode.

 

Keith.

[Tracker]

No, simply get at the battery, it's under the cab floor, attach the lead to the correct terminals and replace the cover leaving the plug to the charger protruding (mine is just by the edge of the passenger side front seat) so you can plug it in or out as required and never need disturb it until you sell the van.

 

Most Cteks come with two leads so you can attach the second one to the leisure battery and switch the charger between the two to keep 'em both charged.

 

I used the lead with ring connectors under the floor as it is more secure and the lead with croc clips on the leisure battery but either way will do.

 

It usually does not work plugged into a cigarette lighter socket as these are usually not live unless the engine is switched on or the leisure battery switched on. One can rewire or add extra live sockets but not without some know how and a bit of ingenuity!

[Derek Uzzell]

Charging the starter-battery of Louise’s Elddis motorhome was discussed here

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/elidds-motorhome/40658/

 

and included the possibility of using a CTEK battery-charger.

 

Plugging the charger into an existing dashboard 12V socket won’t be practicable in this case and (as Keithl rightly warns) care needs to be taken regarding a CTEK charger’s charging mode.

 

I would have thought that the starter-battery fitted to Louise’s newish motorhome should normally be expected to still be able to start the vehicle after two weeks of ‘idleness’, but that would depend on how well charged the battery was to begin with and whether there was anything (eg. an alarm system or a fridge’s electronics) draining the battery’s charge while the motorhome was standing.

 

 

[louisekay]

Have fitted the charger to starter battery, came with spare leads so can i use it to charge lesuire battery the same way its a platinum plus battery

[louisekay]

Hi Tracker ,have set my ctek charger up just like you have, really easy to use, but this is a stuipd question i know but how do you get the lead to a power point ?.is it ok to shut door on it or will it have to go through the window leaving it open slightly which in winter wil let damp in.idea was to leave charger on during these

Months but lead causing me a problem.

[Derek Uzzell]

You could connect the motorhome to a 230V mains power-supply and then plug the CTEK charger into one of the 230V socket-outlets in the motorhome’s living-area. That’s what I do.

[Tracker]

Either connect as Derek does or if you don't have a 13 amp plug adapter for your van's mains lead just run an ordinary extension lead through the most sheltered window you have and close and lock the window over it.

[louisekay]

Thanks guys, simple when you think about. Was using extinsion lead through window but worried about damp window slightly open. And lead a trip hazard on drive so will go with dereks idea thanks both

[louisekay]

Forgot to say charged battery turned it off checked about 20 hours later and amber light was flashing so recharged went green in a matter of minutes. Is normal or should it have stayed green a lot longer after orginal charge

[Derek Uzzell]

Louise

 

Here’s the problem...

 

You have an Elddis Autoquest 115 motorhome, but I have no practical familiarity with that model.

 

I have a CTEK MXS 5.0 battery-charger that I’m familiar with, but I don’t know which CTEK charger you have (there are plenty to choose from).

 

This week I’ve used my CTEK charger to charge a Nissan Micra car’s battery that had been allowed to go flat as a result of the vehicle not being driven regularly, the battery of a Toyota 4x4 belonging to my neighbours who are globe-trotting for 4 months, and my own motorhome’s battery that I ‘top up’ from time to time.

 

My CTEK charger has a row of 8 lights that indicate the progress of the charging program. When the first 4 amber lights are lit the battery is considered to be ‘ready to use’, but it is not considered to be ‘fully charged’ until the 7th light is illuminated green.

 

I charge until the 7th light is illuminated, but how long this will take to happen depends on the capacity of the battery being charged and the battery’s state of charge to begin with. A heavily discharged large-capacity battery will take my battery-charger a lot longer to fully charge than a lightly discharged small capacity battey. And a CTEK charger that’s less or more powerful than mine would respectively take more or less time to fully charge a battery.

 

I’ll assume you’ve used your CTEK charger to charge your motorhome’s starter-battery until the green ‘fully charged’ light on the charger is illuminated. You’ve then switched off the charger and - 20 hours later - you’ve made some sort of check. If I were doing this I’d use a multimeter to check the battery’s voltage, but I don’t know what you’ve done.

 

You mention a flashing amber light, but I don’t know if this is something to do wiith your Autoquest motorhome and, if so, what it signifies. Logically, as the green ‘fully charged’ light on your CTEK battery-charger illuminated within a few minutes of charging being recommenced, the starter-battery was already well charged when you turned the battery-charger on.

 

There is the possibility (I suppose) that you have a CTEK “Comfort Indicator”

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-CTE-56382-Comfort-Indicator-Adaptors/dp/B002MT8S7E

 

that has a green/amber/red set of lights to show a battery’s charge-state, but you’ve made no mention of this (and as I haven’t any practical experience of the Comfort Indicator I don’t know if its lights flash or not.)

 

If you can provide more details about the flashing amber light and the green lights it may be be possible to advise usefully on what’s normal.

 

 

 

 

[louisekay]

Yes i have the comfort charger fitted to the battery which flashes green when full charged amber recommend charge top up.red,needs a charge to start. My question was when its flashes green when you open a door ( interior lighting comes on) charger goes to flashing anber, have since foynd out this is normal as you have taken some charge ,when you shut door andcheck in a couple of minutes it will be flashingl green as normal.