Battery Conditioner

[runner911]

Can anyone help please ?

The battery conditioner for my 2007 V8 Vantage has gone down for some reason.

Grange want £218-58 for a replacement ! Not too keen on paying that kind of money !

The unit is made by C Tek . I have contacted them and they require the amps/hour details of the battery ( their average price by the way is around £75 ).

What is so special about the Aston martin unit ?

Anyone had the same problem ? If so what did you replace the unit with ?

[porkyrob]

there was one on ebay last week think it was around the £60 mark

[Good Soil (Pete)]

I use a CTek unit that also does motorbikes etc with no problems so far. I don't think there is anything special about the AM one other than the fact it has AM written on it....but I'm no expert.
there are plenty of conditioners out there.....

[GlynMo]

I use a non-AM C-Tek and it's fine.

[Highrisedrifter]

The CTek ones are allegedly supplied as OE parts by Aston Martin anyway - http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/ctek.aspx

Odd (and possibly ridiculous) question and sorry to hijack the thread but is there a way I can use a battery conditioner that uses another battery or some other portable independent power source as its supply please? I know it's odd but I will be parking my car for protracted periods of time all over the place and won't have the comfort of my garage power supply. The car will be covered, so something that fits in the boot would be useful.

[EpsomJames]

Good Soil Pete said:

I use a CTek unit that also does motorbikes etc with no problems so far. I don't think there is anything special about the AM one other than the fact it has AM written on it....but I'm no expert.
there are plenty of conditioners out there.....

Agreed. You are paying for the logo, the price is scandalous considering it's manufactured by someone else and only a AM sticker is stuck on it

Any battery conditioner designed for 12V car batteries will be fine. I'm using an Optimate 4 + accessory plug lead which I've used for my last 4 sports cars and works perfectly.

Links:
http://www.accumate.co.uk/optimate%204.htm
http://www.accumate.co.uk/cg050001.htm

Edited by EpsomJames on Tuesday 28th June 10:22

[pilgrim7777]

The only difference between the Aston Badged and the CTEK is the badge, it is the CTEK 800. You will find the CTEK 800 is much less expensive if you buy non Aston, personally I use the CTEK 3600 which much more adaptable with switching capability for alternative charge rates and if you have other vehicles is also for AGM batteries.

Edited by pilgrim7777 on Tuesday 28th June 10:25

[GlynMo]

Highrisedrifter said:

Odd (and possibly ridiculous) question and sorry to hijack the thread but is there a way I can use a battery conditioner that uses another battery or some other portable independent power source as its supply please? I know it's odd but I will be parking my car for protracted periods of time all over the place and won't have the comfort of my garage power supply. The car will be covered, so something that fits in the boot would be useful.

Couldn't you just carry a portable power pack in the boot just in case you get a flat battery?

[Highrisedrifter]

I could, but I would prefer not to get the flat battery in the first place if I can avoid it. I guess it's not good for the battery.

[Jockman]

Highrisedrifter said:

I could, but I would prefer not to get the flat battery in the first place if I can avoid it. I guess it's not good for the battery.

Use the BDS in the boot, or will you be away for longer ??

[Highrisedrifter]

Maybe from one to two months at a time maximum.

BDS not a bad idea though. It would certainly stop some of the drain for the shorter periods.

[EpsomJames]

Maybe something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battery-Charger-Booster-St...

You'd have to check out the specs to check it can charge under its own batteries (or if it's jump start only).

[Shmee]

There are plenty of Aston branded ones for not huge sums on eBay:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_from=R40&_trksi...

[Good Soil (Pete)]

Highrisedrifter said:

Maybe from one to two months at a time maximum.

BDS not a bad idea though. It would certainly stop some of the drain for the shorter periods.

Ah ok so a generator in the boot will not help as it will need petrol before you get back to it....
:-)

[Mr Aston Martin]

EpsomJames said:

Agreed. You are paying for the logo, the price is scandalous considering it's manufactured by someone else and only a AM sticker is stuck on it

Edited by EpsomJames on Tuesday 28th June 10:22

One word. Cygnet.

[Petrolhead]

Shmee said:

There are plenty of Aston branded ones for not huge sums on eBay:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_from=R40&_trksi...

Still silly money considering they are just CTek units with AM branding

[Highrisedrifter]

Does anyone know if the solar powered trickle chargers would take the place of the battery conditioner for when my car is parked up somewhere for an extended period where I have no access to a standard power outlet please? I think it might be down to whether the car has an active cigar lighter 12v socket or not.

Something like this or possibly like this one.

Thanks muchly

[Highrisedrifter]

Quinny said:

The V8V has an active charge point in the boot

The Boot! Excellent. That place where not much light gets in! Thanks for confirming that. I'm sure I could feed a cable through and put a panel somewhere inside the car though.

[MrOrange]

How about a solar charger?

[Highrisedrifter]

Quinny said:

You could quite easily feed the cable to the charge point and leave the solar part on the rear parcel shelf

Thanks for the confirmation Quinny, I thought I probably could.

With regards to the solar chargers, does anyone know of one brand/model that is particularly good please?