Fitting a battery conditioner... Do's and Don'ts

[KJD]

I bought the M6 being lazy but a quick snip and crimp with a dive into the odds and sods box and I had new connectors on the end. But yeah don’t by the 6mm one.

Make sure you wait at least 30 minutes after the car was last turned on before doing this. (I did and had zero errors/warning lights come on) Always disconnect positive first. I didn’t even disrupt the circuit to be honest and the quick connector isn’t a complete circuit as long as it’s not got anything plugged into it.

There is a nice gap when the cover goes on for the positive wire to poke through.

The finished position of the wire has to poke out on the left hand side of the boot cover case otherwise the hand tight black nuts won’t go back on if you’re too far to the right.



View attachment 22759View attachment 22760View attachment 22761View attachment 22762View attachment 22763

Isn’t there supposed to be a fuse in the positive wire?

 

[Pugwash]

There is in mine.

 

[Vanman1936]

There is in mine.

Hi guys

Really helpful thread.

I plan to do the same.

So to recap, you can attach the CTEK directly to the terminal bolts per photos helpfully attached a few posts back. Turn off car/wait 30 mins, positive then negative connection to ctek (no need to disconnect the battery) and you are good to go?

 

[Pugwash]

I opened the car doors and the boot and left them open. Put the keys in the house. Waited 30 mins. Removed battery compartment cover (two black nuts)

Removed one of the battery securing bracket bolts. Unclipped the plastic cover over the positive terminal. Spun off the obvious looking nut on the positive side. Popped the the red positive lead on this and re secured the nut. Negative - black cable bolted to the battery clamp using the clamp bolt. (Just noticed the cable looks red in the photo because it’s red on one side, but that is the black cable on the clamp). Plastic cover back on the positive side feeding the cable through the little gap. Replace battery compartment cover.

 

[emiralust]

Isn’t there supposed to be a fuse in the positive wire?

That's only on the quick connectors that have the traffic light indicators on them

 

[FederGigant]

I opened the car doors and the boot and left them open. Put the keys in the house. Waited 30 mins. Removed battery compartment cover (two black nuts) View attachment 22769Removed one of the battery securing bracket bolts. Unclipped the plastic cover over the positive terminal. Spun off the obvious looking nut on the positive side. Popped the the red positive lead on this and re secured the nut. Negative - black cable bolted to the battery clamp using the clamp bolt. (Just noticed the cable looks red in the photo because it’s red on one side, but that is the black cable on the clamp). Plastic cover back on the positive side feeding the cable through the little gap. Replace battery compartment cover.

I did exactly this setup on my car now and measured 13,0V on the connecting cable. However if I connect my Noco Genius 5 to the battery, it states that the battery is empty and starts charging. I selected AGM on the charger. Has anybody an idea what's wrong there?

 

[Pugwash]

Don’t know much about the Nocos but the CTEK will charge at 14.7 volts. Even if I connect to a fully charged battery it will still go through its analysis cycle.
These smart chargers look after themselves generally so I would leave it connected for a bit and see what happens. Assumes you have connected the cables the right way around (sorry that was not meant to be patronising) but I think the smart charger would let you know that too.

 

[Pugwash]

 

[FederGigant]

Don’t know much about the Nocos but the CTEK will charge at 14.7 volts. Even if I connect to a fully charged battery it will still go through its analysis cycle.
These smart chargers look after themselves generally so I would leave it connected for a bit and see what happens. Assumes you have connected the cables the right way around (sorry that was not meant to be patronising) but I think the smart charger would let you know that too.

You're right, it "fixed" itself. Just took 40 minutes or so and then the charger stated that the battery is fully charged and switched to maintenance mode.

 

[JasonR]

Anyone got any links or recommendations on where to buy these. Halfords don’t do ctek anymore and the nano doesn’t go to M8 eyelets so looking for the right one!

 

[GlynV6]

I bought my CTEK MXS 5.0 charger from Amazon. They had it on offer at £59 a while back and usual price is £79 - £85

 

[JasonR]

I bought my CTEK MXS 5.9 charger from Amazon. They had it on offer at £59 a while back and usual price is £79 - £85

Yea I thought Amazon would be the only place. £86 with the M8 eyelet in the end

 

[JimH]

Anyone got any links or recommendations on where to buy these. Halfords don’t do ctek anymore and the nano doesn’t go to M8 eyelets so looking for the right one!

Amazon product
Amazon product


8mm adapter is available separately….

 

[Tonygcar]

Amazon product
Amazon product


8mm adapter is available separately….

I just connected the ctek lead without the fuse it’s just long enough for the connector to stick out the bottom of the battery cover and you definitely need the 8mm eyelets

 

[JasonR]

Amazon product
Amazon product


8mm adapter is available separately….

Did that in the end but wanted to avoid Amazon

 

[Johnda1]

Pics of the battery charger connections for reference if anyone needs to know how there’s will fit…

View attachment 20999

EXACTLY the photo I need! Thanks

 

[Johnda1]

EXACTLY the photo I need! Thanks

I've fitted my Ctek connector to my battery but just wondered how they route any extension cable to their trickle charger when the boot is closed and the car is locked? Do you just shut the boot down on top of the cable?

 

[Pugwash]

That’s right. Just avoid the part of the boot where the lock mechanism is. My trickle charger is outside the boot so it’s only the thinner low voltage cable going through the seal.

 

[Shahaf2911]

Just a quick note, after not being with my car for around 1 - 1.5 months keeping it charger with a c tec charger had no issues at all this past week.

 

[Peeltone]

I've fitted my Ctek connector to my battery but just wondered how they route any extension cable to their trickle charger when the boot is closed and the car is locked? Do you just shut the boot down on top of the cable?

I sit my ctek on the engine window and run the cable under the window (where the water drains) then into boot. Means I am not stressing the boot seals/lock.