CTEK or similar

[Simonfryan]

Just did a search and came across this thread..

Went to start the GS yesterday and the battery was dead. I'd only used the car 4 or 5 days before and the previous owner told me that he'd replaced the battery only 6-9 months ago!

I bought one of the £15 Aldi chargers a couple of years ago and I've currently got that hooked up and doing its stuff.

It also has a trickle charge mode and I'm thinking that I may need to keep the car on charge when its going to be left for any more than a few days at a time. This might be a really stupid question (most of mine usually are) but do you need to disconnect the battery even when trickle charging? I don't want to bugger up any of the electrics. How about when using the CTEK unit that's been discussed on this thread - does the same apply?

Also, if the battery does have to be disconnected and on trickle charge for any significant period of time, am I likely to get any problems when reconnecting the battery - losing radio code, seat memory etc or worse?

 

[Simonfryan]

Just to add to that last post, if the CTEK unit can be used to trickle charge without disconnecting the battery, and without any risk to the car in doing so, I'll definitely pick one of those up.

Or rather, as I'm actually going to be working with CTEK in the coming weeks to help with their UK marketing I will be speaking nicely to my contact there to see if I can get one at trade price....

 

[Parisien]

Even a new battery can fail, if that new take it back to them to test and give you a new one if it doesn't hold a charge, what capacity is it?


If left for extended periods and then not driven for long enough on a run of say 20 mins plus, it will fail quickly enough


P

 

[Simonfryan]

I know it's a Unipart (with a label saying 3 year warranty) but in-situe I can't read the label on top, which presumably gives the capacity!

Looked through the docs that came from the previous owner but no receipt for a new battery.

 

[EVOeng]

Just to add to that last post, if the CTEK unit can be used to trickle charge without disconnecting the battery, and without any risk to the car in doing so, I'll definitely pick one of those up.

Or rather, as I'm actually going to be working with CTEK in the coming weeks to help with their UK marketing I will be speaking nicely to my contact there to see if I can get one at trade price....

You do not need to remove or disconnect the battery. Just connect the eyelets to the battery terminals and then you only have to mess around with connecting it once. Some C-Tek models also have a recondition function which would help in a situation like yours.

Hope this helps.

 

[Simonfryan]

That's good news. I'll definitely try to get one for future.

 

[Parisien]

There should a code on the battery, if you ring them they can tell you how old....might be hand written even


P