12v Battery Dead

[NemesisUK]

3 minutes ago, bluenose1940 said:

With the CTEK MXS 5.0, is it possible to permanently connect this to the battery and leave the actual charger hanging somewhere safely in the boot so that when charging becomes necessary you can simply plug the mains lead into it?

Yes, I did this with my CLS55 and it's pretty much what the CTEK is designed for, permanent connection 

[royoftherovers]

2 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

10.55am 06/04/20  I have just checked my battery and it is showing as 11.51, this appears to be about 15%or so according to Herbies chart.  Time to get a charger methinks.  I do have what I would call a normal charger but I think that I prefer to go to one of the 'smart' jobbies.

With the CTEK MXS 5.0, is it possible to permanently connect this to the battery and leave the actual charger hanging somewhere safely in the boot so that when charging becomes necessary you can simply plug the mains lead into it?

A further thought, is it possible to check the state of the 12v battery by putting a mulitmeter across the special jump lead connectors under the bonnet?  Also, would it be possible to connect the smart charger to these terminals and leave it permanently connected under the bonnet.  This would make life even easier to connect the mains cable as my car is always parked nose first in front of the garage (nay workshop) door and would avoid the need to mess around in the boot area, or are these connectors equally fiddly to get at.

Also, would it be possible to connect the smart charger to these terminals and leave it permanently connected under the bonnet.  This would make life even easier to connect the mains cable as my car is always parked nose first in front of the garage (nay workshop) door and would avoid the need to mess around in the boot area, or are these connectors equally fiddly to get at.

 

My question is"Would the bonnet close fully or would the electricity supply cable prevent it from closing fully?"

[RgrWynne]

Hi John, well I can answer that for you, although my Lexus Is an LS. I do indeed leave it on permanent charge, and as I live in an apartment with with a communal car parking area, it is in the open . We have an outdoor certified electric socket and I run an extension to under the bonnet and close it completely and just leave it ...no problems . I would use as thin a cable as possible , mine is thickish and does crush a little but no probs and all safe. 
The biggest problem is remembering it is there and I did forget recently on returning from 8 weeks away in Australia, but I then remembered stopped the engine and disconnected, no problems. Cheers, Roger

[alpine]

On 4/6/2020 at 12:32 PM, bluenose1940 said:

10.55am 06/04/20  I have just checked my battery and it is showing as 11.51, this appears to be about 15%or so according to Herbies chart.  Time to get a charger methinks.  I do have what I would call a normal charger but I think that I prefer to go to one of the 'smart' jobbies.

With the CTEK MXS 5.0, is it possible to permanently connect this to the battery and leave the actual charger hanging somewhere safely in the boot so that when charging becomes necessary you can simply plug the mains lead into it?

A further thought, is it possible to check the state of the 12v battery by putting a mulitmeter across the special jump lead connectors under the bonnet?  Also, would it be possible to connect the smart charger to these terminals and leave it permanently connected under the bonnet.  This would make life even easier to connect the mains cable as my car is always parked nose first in front of the garage (nay workshop) door and would avoid the need to mess around in the boot area, or are these connectors equally fiddly to get at.

Yes, I have my MX5 connectors permanently connected in the boot, with an additional home made low voltage extension cable  on the charger output so I can run the charger module in the house. I use twin core orange mains cable with a miniconnector pair laid along the back of the boot floor. That's because the CTek extension cables you can buy aren't long enough for my needs. The connector pair is waterproof and the cable exits happily through the bottom of the boot opening. It's actually the same MX5 that I used to use on the IS300H, with the same connector arrangement.

Ignore the stuff about removing the earth lead which is aimed at countries with dubious supplies. Just disconnect before you power the car on!

And don't , like I did once, drive off with the cable attached... This does not do the cable any good...

[ColinBarber]

On 4/6/2020 at 3:04 PM, royoftherovers said:

My question is"Would the bonnet close fully or would the electricity supply cable prevent it from closing fully?"

There is normally a gap by the headlight which will allow a wire to be run into the engine bay without the bonnet seal even touching it. Currently my GS and my wife's Prius are connected to chargers this way. Post-it note over the start button on the latter as a reminder that the charger is connected. 

[Heanorboy]

Similar question so please excuse me if in wrong 

We have a Campervan and "did" like to go away for extended periods so did also have the problem of total flat Battery that the AA sorted for me.

Q. Does it seem sensible to connect a leisure Battery 110a to the Battery vis jump leads as i have both in the garage to keep the Battery fully charged.

By the way re driving off with the elecrics connected I use a velco strap and a sign on the steering wheel on my camper as a precaution.

[Herbie]

4 hours ago, Heanorboy said:

Q. Does it seem sensible to connect a leisure battery 110a to the battery vis jump leads as i have both in the garage to keep the battery fully charged.

If you mean connect a Battery to a Battery to keep the first one charged, then no, all that will happen is that both batteries will end up flat. Mind you, they would anyway because all batteries self-discharge over time if they aren't being used.

[Heanorboy]

7 hours ago, Herbie said:

If you mean connect a battery to a battery to keep the first one charged, then no, all that will happen is that both batteries will end up flat. Mind you, they would anyway because all batteries self-discharge over time if they aren't being used.

Hi Herbie

thanks for the response I am looking to see if it should be possible, my other thought without going to the expense of the C-Tek was to purchase a simple Maintenance charger like the Maypole 0.5a charger, 

   

[RgrWynne]

42 minutes ago, Heanorboy said:

Hi Herbie

thanks for the response I am looking to see if it should be possible, my other thought without going to the expense of the C-Tek was to purchase a simple Maintenance charger like the Maypole 0.5a charger, 

   

I think the answer to your question is yes. You pays your money and takes your chance. I bought a cheaper float/trickle charger years ago, for it to fail and be a waste of money. I am not in any way saying there is a potential problem with this one, plus I am sure others on here will swear by theirs as good, better value chargers. It is just that ctek has many satisfied customers who swear by its reliability . I had a boat in Spain where ctek was part of the original equipment , operating in a hostile environment continually 24/7 for 8 years.  It was faultless. That is my view and good look which ever way you go, Roger 

[ColinBarber]

51 minutes ago, Heanorboy said:

my other thought without going to the expense of the C-Tek was to purchase a simple Maintenance charger like the Maypole 0.5a charger,   

If you want something cheaper than C-Tek (and as good if not better) then try a Noco Genius. The 1 is a low powered charger for small batteries but will also maintain larger ones. I've a couple of these on the family's cars at the moment.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GENIUS1UK-Fully-Automatic-Temperature-Compensation/dp/B0828HMG3N/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=noco+1&qid=1588364750&sr=8-1

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/battery-maintenance/battery-chargers/noco-genius1-1-amp-battery-charger-230262.html

 

[Heanorboy]

Roger 

Many thanks for your comments, the reason I do not want to go down the Ctek route as I already have a similar one, but does not operate in a simple way i.e. you have to tell it  type of vehicle each time you put 240v to it and my idea was the not leave on 24hr but on a timer for say 2 hours per day. I also have a very old type at least 25 years old which will charge from total flat if required 

Colin 

Thanks for the info on the NOCO might well be a better choice. 

[Steve Oliver]

40 minutes ago, Heanorboy said:

Roger 

Many thanks for your comments, the reason I do not want to go down the Ctek route as I already have a similar one, but does not operate in a simple way i.e. you have to tell it  type of vehicle each time you put 240v to it and my idea was the not leave on 24hr but on a timer for say 2 hours per day. I also have a very old type at least 25 years old which will charge from total flat if required 

Colin 

Thanks for the info on the NOCO might well be a better choice. 

I bought one of these, is fully automatic and runs as soon as you switch on at the mains, so should do as you want on a timer if you wished. HTH

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123996353457

 

 

 

[Barry14UK]

That's strange, my CTEK 5 starts with with the last setting used.  Could mine be faulty even though it does the job fine and I can cycle through modes if required? I know that some people have had a problem with the mode button but I think this was because the mode button didn't change mode when depressed.

[Heanorboy]

8 hours ago, Steve Oliver said:

I bought one of these, is fully automatic and runs as soon as you switch on at the mains, so should do as you want on a timer if you wished. HTH

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123996353457

 

👍

 

 

[ColinBarber]

10 hours ago, Steve Oliver said:

I bought one of these, is fully automatic and runs as soon as you switch on at the mains, so should do as you want on a timer if you wished. HTH

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123996353457

I purchased one of those a few months ago from amazon but found the voltage reading on the display was 0.2v lower than what my meter read at the clips. Returned it as it could overcharge and damaged the Battery if it thinks the voltage is lower than reality. May have just been a faulty one but sometimes you get what you pay for.

[Steve Oliver]

10 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

I purchased one of those a few months ago from Amazon but found the voltage reading on the display was 0.2v lower than what my meter read at the clips. Returned it as it could overcharge and damaged the battery if it thinks the voltage is lower than reality. May have just been a faulty one but sometimes you get what you pay for.

I will meter check it the next time I charge and see if I get the same issue. 

[steve2006]

I have one of these, cost around £70.00 but never let me down, can  be set for different charging rates and Battery type.

 

[bluenose1940]

I have now fitted my new CTEK charger permanently in the car.  I used the ring connectors and have connected them to the + and - terminal posts on the Battery and the charger is lying in a recess in the boot.  It is now a simple job to just run the mains lead into the boot and plug the charger in.  If I need to use the charger on my wife's car, it's a simple job of removing it from the boot of my car and to use the clamp system when charging the other car.

The first time that I used the charger I ran the mains cable through the passenger window and then wound it up as near as closed as possible without catching the cable.  What I would really like to know is, is there a route that I could take the mains cable to the boot without danger of crushing the cable or damaging the door/boot rubbers?

When I fitted the cable to my Battery, I encased it in some additional insulation (the outer of some electrical cable) as an additional safety measure.  Not too sure that this was absolutely necessary but, I've always been a bit of a belt and braces sort of chap.

 

 

[bluenose1940]

Anyone got an answer to my question in the second paragraph of my post above (the one before this one)?

[Thackeray]

On 4/3/2020 at 8:21 PM, Herbie said:

It appears that the animation is still there but it needs Adobe Flash to be enabled to see it and interact with it, but it's definitely still there as you'll see below:

 

One day this extremely useful animation may disappear from its website.  I think it's dated 2006 so it probably won't be there for ever. I wonder if there are any software developers on this forum who could create something similar. Perhaps even an updated version depicting the variations on more recent transmissions. It's so useful for making sense of what the Power Split Device is doing and it would be a pity to lose access to it altogether.

Can any forum administrators advise whether Flash files can be inserted into forum messages, if the creator of this one would give permission for this original one? Just to repeat Herbie's link in an earlier message, it comes from this page http://eahart.com/prius/psd/

 

 

 

[ColinBarber]

On 5/5/2020 at 2:20 PM, bluenose1940 said:

What I would really like to know is, is there a route that I could take the mains cable to the boot without danger of crushing the cable or damaging the door/boot rubbers?

Hopefully not otherwise you will have a noisy interior.

[Spottedlaurel]

On 5/3/2020 at 11:50 AM, steve2006 said:

I have one of these, cost around £70.00 but never let me down, can  be set for different charging rates and battery type.

 

I've just ordered one of those (also branded as Sealey). My RX's Battery no longer has enough power to start it......

[Steve Oliver]

On 5/2/2020 at 10:54 AM, Steve Oliver said:

I will meter check it the next time I charge and see if I get the same issue. 

So, for info, I checked the voltage with a multimeter this time (on 2 cars) to see whether the Foxsur unit (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123996353457) was measuring correctly and on the one I got 13.17v on the multimeter and 13.2v on the Foxsur. I think this is reasonable given that it rounded up as it only displays to 1 decimal place. On the other Battery I got readings of 12.8v on both the multimeter and the Foxsur, so I'm happy that it's accurate.

[Heanorboy]

Thanks for that Steve so can you  just  confirm this one will auto start on timer if we are ever allowed to spend an extended period away from home with the Lexus sitting in the garage.

[Steve Oliver]

3 hours ago, Heanorboy said:

Thanks for that Steve so can you  just  confirm this one will auto start on timer if we are ever allowed to spend an extended period away from home with the Lexus sitting in the garage.

Hi David, yes, I can confirm that the charger starts immediately that power is applied, so should do what you're after. 👍