Battery maintainer

[mep59]

Hi

I have a CTek/Porsche battery maintainer, but it has failed to keep the battery charged several times.
I'm looking for an alternative - any recommendations?

Many thanks!

[elisered]

I use NOCO products now after several CTEK failures.

[alabbasi]

If it failed to charge a couple of times, it's probably not the charger but something going on with the car or the battery. That said, any charger / maintainer will do the job like this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183580571967?

I'm not fond of the Noco ones suggested (I do own one) for the simple reason that it uses proprietary connectors for the quick disconnect where as the one linked uses a standard connector which will allow you to move the charger from one car to another.

[Panamax]

How old's the battery? A C-tek can't breathe new life into a knackered battery.

[Popolou]

Are you using the quick connector? The copper terminals will tarnish/corrode and prevents a solid connection.

[mep59]

Thanks for the replies/suggestions!

The charger has caused problems in a few cars, all of them fairly new (less than 2 years old). I have a cigaret lighter adaptor connected directly to the battery in the frunk. The last recovery guy said that the connectors maybe weren't attached well enough, causing the charger to disconnect. Also I leave the car on the charger, unattended for several months in the winter when I'm out of the country, so I'd like a charger that will reconnect in the event of a power cut, for example.

Thanks!

[nw942]

I have noticed on a couple of cars that the CTEK does not always resume properly after a power cut.

This only seems to happen if I have not used the car for over a month or so - I don't know if the cars go into a slightly different mode after an extended period?

I usually switch the ignition to position 2 and open windows to reset it.

[Sto3nor]

Not a fan of the cigarette lighter method, prefer to wire the plug directly into the battery and negative point. You can usually feed it through the blanking plate / engine cover and plug in as needed.

[FriedMarsBar]

No idea if your charger has issues but I opted to hard wire my Ctek connector to the battery's positive and the car's main earth to ensure the BMS is used. I need to pop the frunk open to disconnect/reconnect it and I'm sure I could find a way to hide the connector around the cowling but it doesn't bother me. There are possibly issues with timing when using the cigarette lighter socket, or any socket inside the car, as they're designed to power down and therefore could exacerbate any issues with the charger.

[mep59]

Thanks - I'm already using a variation of that solution, with a cigaret lighter adapter hard wired to the battery.

I guess I might go for a NOCO or similar and alligator clamps, although it's a bit of a faff to remove/loosen the cowling every time I need to plug it in (it's a GT4RS).

[Clad-Hach]

Check out the make Beta, mine maintained my Porsche branded battery for years until I noticed I hadn't switched it on one winter and the battery died.

As has been mentioned...don't use the 12v socket, either croc clips or better still hard wire it via an in-line connector.

[FriedMarsBar]

mep59 said:

Thanks - I'm already using a variation of that solution, with a cigaret lighter adapter hard wired to the battery.

I guess I might go for a NOCO or similar and alligator clamps, although it's a bit of a faff to remove/loosen the cowling every time I need to plug it in (it's a GT4RS).

You buy an extension cable and simply adapt your existing cable to have crimp on eyelets.

[PTT]

put the ignition on.
put the socket in the sig lighter
turn on the Cteck and then the programma
put the ignition off
lock your car
Works on my car.

[M11rph]

PTT said:

put the ignition on.
put the socket in the sig lighter
turn on the Cteck and then the programma
put the ignition off
lock your car
Works on my car.

That works until you have a power cut lasting more than 30 minutes.

After that time the "cigarette lighter" socket shuts down. Hence it is best for long term storage to connect any charger to the Battery & Earth which gets around that issue.

This CTEK accessory can be fitted and the socket positioned such that you can access it via the frunk.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-Indicator-eyelet-pra...

The only issue I had with my CTEK was when using the extension cable. The Terminals needed a good clean.