C-Tek battery conditioners

[bobfredstinker]

I'm going to be going away for a long time soon and will have to leave the Ro in the garage. I've been looking at the C-Tek battery conditioners, but I don't know which one would be the most appropriate.

Does anyone here use one, and if so have any thoughts about which one I should get?

[mik_ok]

Several folks use them. I have an MXS3.6 which is man enough, but others have gone for the bigger 5.0.

The 3.6 has no problem with the battery in mrs mik's Disco (which is 100Ah).

[paul450]

i have the mxs 5.0 can highly recommend one

[PE_V8]

I have the MXS 7.0 and works a treat. I also got the extension socket and wired it so I can plug it in just behind the number plate. Means I can charge it with the cover on and the car fully locked.

Only have the bigger one so I can also charge the Touareg as well.

[LordHaveMurci]

I bought a 5 recently, not used it yet but a quick question please, do they need earthing to chassis rather than - battery terminal?

[t400ble]

Earth to battery as per instructions

Great bit of kit

[throwyourbike]

Got an MXS 3.8 in the post today to keep the beast alive while off the road.

Haven't hooked it up yet but I hear they are great.

[PE_V8]

I always earth mine to the chassis. From the manual from my 7.0

For batteries mounted inside a vehicle
1. Connect the red clamp to the battery's positive pole.
2. Connect the black clamp to the vehicle chassis remote from the fuel pipe and the battery.
3. Connect the charger to the wall socket

[throwyourbike]

Looks to me like the comfort connect was designed to go straight to the terminals though.

C-TEK themselves say it's perfectly safe to do so but they cannot put this on the packaging/instructions because of European approval regulations.

[M I Crazy]

I had one of the C-Tek MXS3.6 conditioners with the comfort connector on my monaro over the winter last year with no problems. Mine was outside the garage so I also bought an extension lead to extend the 12v lead.
This made it easy to connect or disconnect as I still used the car occasionaly on good days.

[PE_V8]

You pays your money you take your chances! I am sure you are right and connecting to the battery earth is fine on the car, personally I always use the chassis for the earth to cover the just in case scenario. Old habits and all that..

[Z0m81e]

I have a 5.0 which I don't use anymore and a 7.0 which I do use (because I needed supply mode). Both of them have been excellent.

[LordHaveMurci]

When it says chassis I assume that is any bare metal on the vehicle, like the bonnet catch or similar?

Don't want to get this wrong as I bought it to keep my 996 battery conditioned over winter when it only gets occasional use.

Edited by LordHaveMurci on Monday 11th August 12:53

[mik_ok]

Yes. The c-tek will show a message if it is not finding a circuit (or if you connect it the wrong way round).

[mik_ok]

decent discount

[MatrixXXx]

Really you should connect direct on to the battery if possible , as you are only charging the battery (parasitic loads will be fed from the battery) otherwise you could get current flowing through badly earthed components/wires etc. also the increased vols drop in bad connections can cause the charger to over charge, and you can get problems where the charger will see the parasitic load as current draw from the battery and overcharge.

[Black VXR]

I had a 5, it fried the battery after a while - got really hot as well

[LordHaveMurci]

t400ble said:

Earth to battery as per instructions

Great bit of kit

Instructions say to earth to chassis.