Another CTEK question

Another CTEK question

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Pitre

Original Poster:

5,303 posts

249 months

Saturday 31st August 2024
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I have a one year old battery which has been working fine, still has green indicator bubble and shows sensible voltages (12.43v with engine off), four year guarantee. Car is used three or four times a month typically and garaged. No charging problems evident and car turns over and starts fine. This battery replaced an identical one which worked faultlessly for six plus years.

I also use a CTEK MXS 5.0 charger daily, which I've had for about 7 years, always connected when car is in the garage with zero problems since I started using it. However, it's just started throwing a red 'error' light after completing stage 5 of charging.

Question is, is there a problem with the battery after just one year, or is the charger dying? I would've thought the charger either worked or didn't, so how do you tell if there's a problem with the CTEK?


jeremyc

25,899 posts

299 months

Saturday 31st August 2024
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Pitre said:
I have a one year old battery which has been working fine, still has green indicator bubble and shows sensible voltages (12.43v with engine off), four year guarantee. Car is used three or four times a month typically and garaged. No charging problems evident and car turns over and starts fine. This battery replaced an identical one which worked faultlessly for six plus years.

I also use a CTEK MXS 5.0 charger daily, which I've had for about 7 years, always connected when car is in the garage with zero problems since I started using it. However, it's just started throwing a red 'error' light after completing stage 5 of charging.

Question is, is there a problem with the battery after just one year, or is the charger dying? I would've thought the charger either worked or didn't, so how do you tell if there's a problem with the CTEK?
Get someone to do a proper test on the battery (Halfords or similar will do this for you). You'll then know whether the battery is bad, or whether there's likely a fault with the CTEK.

jeremyc

25,899 posts

299 months

Saturday 31st August 2024
quotequote all
CTEK User Manual said:
STEP 5 ANALYSE
Tests if the battery can hold charge. Batteries that can not hold charge may need to be replaced.

E-bmw

11,077 posts

167 months

Saturday 31st August 2024
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Pitre said:
I have a one year old battery which has been working fine, still has green indicator bubble and shows sensible voltages (12.43v with engine off),
That will be why it is throwing a holding charge error, a perfect battery fully charged should be around 12.6/6 volts, it is being a bit critical of the battery not being perfect, in reality that battery is around 50% charged at that voltage.