Installing a trickle charger

[richthebike]

Morning all.
I'm about to hardwire a C-TEK into the 996.
Couple of reasons, but mostly I like the thought that I can locate the tail somewhere accessible, in case the battery completely drains, to avoid dismantling the sill plate every time. Does everybody else keep a chopped down allen key in their centre cubby?!

It'll be nice to keep the battery conditioned too. Let's face it, the 996 isn't the most charitable to it's battery, and even with a brand new unit I can't leave it a week without seeing a low voltage.

I have an MSX 5 charger. The diagram shows the tails of the hard mounting over the battery terminals, directly mounted under the nuts. This looks simple enough to achieve.

However, I've heard talk of hard mounting the -ve to ground.

Has anyone else got a CTEK hardwired, and can you send photos please?
Any other tips?
12v cig lighter isn't live when the car is unlocked, as far as I can tell. It's a '99 car.

[mr pg]

I use to plug mine into the cigarette lighter on my '02 turbo.

[CocoUK]

I'm in the same boat - starting to look for a better solution for my '99 with CTEK MXS 5.0.

Did you mean to type '12v isn't live when the car is LOCKED'? as that's the understanding I have with the older cars.

[dazren]

mr pg said:

I use to plug mine into the cigarette lighter on my '02 turbo.

I've been doing this with my 02 turbo for 16 years. OP. Is it worth getting your lighter checked? Does the manual give an indication if your lighter should be live? On my 2002 car the lighter is always live. The charger I bought from the OPC came with the lighter adapter.

Edited by dazren on Friday 16th February 10:24

[markiii]

I used one of their connection kits on my 997, wired directly off the battery terminals, just pop the bonnet, plug in, shut bonnet and lock as normal

[_Leg_]

markiii said:

I used one of their connection kits on my 997, wired directly off the battery terminals, just pop the bonnet, plug in, shut bonnet and lock as normal

I do the same on my 997.2 GT3RS. Seems to be fine. I do this on most of my cars tbh.

[richthebike]

Fantastic, thanks for the replies.

The cigarette lighter isn't live until the ignition is on, in my car. However, I haven't tried it locked, just unlocked. Worth a look.

This morning I wired in the +ve and - ve tails from the charger, installed a weatherproof power outlet in the car port, and now have the same set up as shown in the pic. I have the extension lead, which allows me to run the cable down to exit the bonnet at the corner of the front light. I can then tuck it into the boot when i disconnect.

The unit seems to be doing a great job of bringing the voltage back. Feels like a good solution.