CTEK Battery Conditioner info needed

[jimed]

I got the Griff last year and know the battery is at least 3 years old. I've got a CTEK conditioner connected via the ciggy lighter socket. When I got the car the green light was on quite a bit but in the last few months the green light is on less and less so it looks as if the battery might be slowly on its way out. At the moment the car starts fine and the CTEK doesn't tell me that the battery is gone (it has some light pattern that will tell me when its gone) but the question I would like to know is that by the time the conditioner tells me to replace the battery will the battery actually be useless - ie car wouldn't start - or what? Clearly I don't want to replace the battery much earlier than I need to but then I don't want to find it has "gone" and is completely dead so any info from experience would be useful.
Jim

[Belchy]

Jim,

I Had to replace a battery last year on the griff.Before condeming it I attempted to ressurect it using a ctek conditioner.It didn't manage to get it to a point where it could hold a charge strong enough to sta rt the car after any more than 3 days.
At the time I came accross this in the search function ,by a chap named Martin.


"As a guide to battery state connect your multimeter set to read V and the following will give an indication of the state of the battery:

100% 12.7v
75% 12.4v
50% 12.2v
25% 12.0v
Discharged 11.9v

These values are for a battery at rest, so if the battery has just been subject to a charge or just been discharged the values may well be higher or lower, so leave to settle for a while before taking readings."


My battery at this time was reading average of 12.1v .The ctek was not flashing it's l.e.ds to tell me it needed replacing.

I bought my new battery from Tayna. eg....

http://www.tayna.co.uk/072-Numax-Car-Battery-P1000...

Hope this helps,

Belchy

[jimed]

Thanks for that - certainly interesting info - question is did the battery still hold enough charge to start the car when you replaced it, or was it really b*ggered?
Jim

[Belchy]

me again!

3 or 4 days! of charging produced;

would start on day1 Brrruuuummmm! (after being disconected from charger)
would just about start on second day chugga chugga chugga chugga etc Brrruuummm!
wouldn't start on day 3 clunk clunk nothing!

eg:Bu**ered!

Yes i could have left it ctek'ed every night but it meant i couldn't go away in it, and when i multi metered it and realised how far gone it was £65 doesn't seem so bad to regain a properly functioning car.

regards,

Belchy.

Edited by Belchy on Tuesday 9th November 23:09

[jimed]

Thanks for that Mark!
Jim

[FlipFlopGriff]

How olds the battery Jim?
If its near or over 5 years I'd be tempted to change it anyway. Nothing worse than being let down by a duff battery for the sake of about £75ish.
Can you check the CTEK on another battery to see if that works OK?
FFG

[jimed]

Hi FFG - not sure how old the battery is but for the moment is seems fine so just trying to get an idea as to when I need to replace it without getting let down. Suspect I will need to do the old contortionist job early next year!!
I've not had a dabble in the footwell with all the wiring yet so that should be interesting ....


Jim

[FlipFlopGriff]

They seem to go very quickly with little warning. Replacement isn't that bad. Just mark on the fllor with a marker the two corners of the battery box before you remove the bolts from underneath that hold the box in place. It's pretty difficult to find the holes if you aren't at least very close to the original location. Should take you an hour tops.
FFG

[Belchy]

jim,

ppplllleeeaasseeeeeee fit some of these whilst you have the battery out.(as and when you get to it)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BATTERY-TERMINAL-COVERS-Pos-...

Melting GRP is not a good smell!

Belchy

[jimed]

Interesting thought Belchy re the battery terminal covers. My understanding is that the battery box (?) has a cover which is fibre glass and usually (pop?)rivetted on (or alternatively self tappers) so why is there a need for other protection as presumably the battery doesn't touch the top cover and if it did why do the terminals get hot? (Thinks - unless there is a bad connection with the terminals?)
Jim
Later thought - when the battery is replaced is there then an issue with the alarm or does it go off or something when you reconnect the battery and all you have to do is turn it off?

Edited by jimed on Thursday 11th November 15:28

[Belchy]

Hi Jim

On all the ones I've seen the cover only covers half the box and its not the bit with the terminals on.Thats if they have the cover on, alot are missing therefore holding the battery in with gravity!The thing that usually stops the ECU's metal body from resting on and shorting the battery and causing a fire is a small piece of that felt type underlay/carpet stuff from the factory.This works for a number of years until it eventually wears through at both terminals because of the ECU bouncing on it (as it is also not secured at all!!)and hey presto...

FLAMBE!

For under a fiver?.....

Belchy (soothsayer of DOOM!!)

Alarm dies and then ressurects itself at battery change.I've never had a problem with it.

Edited by Belchy on Monday 15th November 14:39

[jimed]

Thanks for the update - I've been monitoring the voltage and it is holding up better than I thought so the urgency has dropped a little but no doubt I'll need to do it early next year at some time at which point I'll then see the issue you mention re the terminals. A friend mentioned yesterday that he'd changed the battery on his Griff a few years ago and there was no fibreglass cover but a hardboard one so maybe someone has seen the issue you mentioned but certainly the terminal covers are a neat and worthwhile solution "in case".
Jim