Battery conditioner

[craig elam]

have a look at Lidl "Ultimate Speed" battery conditioner , £13.99 , 3 year warranty and intelligent charging , had one on madams P***che over winter , works perfectly,
It has 2 crocodile clips which i attached to DB9 under bonnet boost points, I have since altered it by chopping the cable and socket off my old AM branded Ctek unit (which lasted about 18 months) and connecting it to the charger.
A while ago i discovered that the AM plug was a fairly common electrical connector and by no way bespoke to AM , if i remember where i found it will post

craig

[clarkei]

Got mine from Maplin. Fairly standard plug, easy to fit

[gibbon]

Is it ok to just attach this to the positive boost terminal under the bonnet of a vantage, and the negative to an earth such as the strut top bolt or alternator clamp?

How long will it take to charge a battery approximately?

edit to say, 3,8 Ah so a 100 Ah battery, about a day.

Thanks

Edited by gibbon on Tuesday 30th January 19:56

[R129 300SL]

gibbon said:

Is it ok to just attach this to the positive boost terminal under the bonnet of a vantage, and the negative to an earth such as the strut top bolt or alternator clamp?

How long will it take to charge a battery approximately?

edit to say, 3,8 Ah so a 100 Ah battery, about a day.

Thanks

Edited by gibbon on Tuesday 30th January 19:56

Just did this exact thing. Positive on the jump point under bonnet and negative on alternator clamp.

Battery was quite low. Took over 15hrs. Not sure exact time because went to work and it was full when got back.

Was better than using the old original AM charger in the socket in the boot.

[V8Chris]

My AM one goes into the cigarette socket in the boot

[steveway]

V8Chris said:

My AM one goes into the cigarette socket in the boot

so does mine, close the boot on the wire and all ok, keep it on trickle charge 24/7 unless I use it

[HBradley]

I bought one from Clive on eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aston-Martin-Battery-Charger-Conditioner-Cigar-Connector-DB9-Vantage-2006-2017/142581828415?hash=item21328a0b3f:g:mlkAAOSwnHZYZrwY). Perfect & what a gentleman!

[ilikeAstons]

+1 for the boot/trickle charger route.

If my car doesn't get used for a couple of weeks, then this method at least ensures that the battery is up to me standing on the fast pedal for 20" or so and pressing the start button to ensure the oil gets around before startup.

I shall be doing just that tomorrow morning!

Happy weekend everyone.

[Manwhoneverwas]

This post put the "kiss of death" on my OEM Aston Martin branded battery conditioner.
Ordered a new one from Clive as mentioned earlier in this topic.

[General Grievous]

Hi, I have a 2005 DB9 that came with a ctek xs800 trickle charger. I have had it connected now for two days and it does not change to the maintenance light, does this mean the battery is already at its peak ? It's only a few months old.
Also do you have to shut off the electrics via the BDS before charging ?
Is it likely the charger is u/s due to its age assuming it came with the car ?
Thanks

[Sebastian Tombs]

I can't answer the CTEK specific questions (I have the later charger) but you can find a manual for it here: http://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/334755/ctek-xs-8...

Don't press the battery disconnect switch.

[Westlondondriver]

I don’t know that model of CTEK but when I bought my 2005 DB9 I was told that some of the trickle chargers were good for maintaining the battery but not powerful enough to recharge a fully run down one. I got one of the bigger CTEK units but that still took over 24hrs to recharge a flat battery.

[alscar]

CTEK MXS 5 is the one I swear by - either by live boot socket ( V12S ) or battery clamps ( other cars ) or via permanent connector on the defender wired to the battery.
The Xs badged models work well on the lawn tractor and quad.
Amazon is your friend for all the stuff you could want.
And put a note on the steering wheel !

[klee168168]

There are so many different CTEK chargers. I could not figure out the difference between the CTEK MXS 5.0 (about $60 on amazon) and CTEK MUS 4.3 (about $80 on amazon). Supposedly the 5.0 is newer and both are 8 step chargers so I am not sure what really is the difference?

Most people get the cheaper 3300 (about $55 on amazon) which is a 4 step charger. Some people said this one is great while others said its being discontinued and not that good.

[anonymous-user]

I have been using the xs 0.8 for years on motorbikes and for the last 18 months on the db9 with no issues. It would struggle to recharge a dead battery but for a trickle charger and battery conditioner it is plenty.

[V8LM]

klee168168 said:

There are so many different CTEK chargers. I could not figure out the difference between the CTEK MXS 5.0 (about $60 on amazon) and CTEK MUS 4.3 (about $80 on amazon). Supposedly the 5.0 is newer and both are 8 step chargers so I am not sure what really is the difference?

Most people get the cheaper 3300 (about $55 on amazon) which is a 4 step charger. Some people said this one is great while others said its being discontinued and not that good.

I think the MXS is European (230V) and 5.0 amps, whereas the MUS is/was for the US (120V) and 4.3 amps.

[klee168168]

The 56-305 is the MXS 5.0 EU for European cars. The 40-205 is the MXS 5.0 and will work in USA.

So on these things, do you just plug in a leave it in 24/7? Will it damage the battery by overcharging once full and you just leave it plugged in?

[V8LM]

The CTEK conditioner is designed to be left in 24/7. A simple battery charger it is not.

[klee168168]

For those that connect directly to the battery behind the passenger seat, do you roll down the windows (not my preference) or do you close the passenger door on the ctek wire?

Also, I got the 5.0. Do you guys know if I just plug it in and let it go through the 8 steps or do I have to let it know that I am trying to charge/revive a dead battery vs maintain a new battery? Not sure if there are distinct modes and settings that I need to set in order to differentiate the two.

Edited by klee168168 on Saturday 2nd February 12:46

Edited by klee168168 on Saturday 2nd February 12:48

[Westlondondriver]

Fairly sure my old one was a 5. Just leave it on charge the CTEK unit is smart and sorts itself out. It automatically slows its charge rate as the battery comes to full charge to avoid damaging it and then switches to conditioning mode (8th light) once fully charged. It therefore charges the battery to almost full quite quickly but then very slowing puts in the last few %. This protects the battery but does mean it can take more than a day to reach the full charge. I always charged mine via the boot connector and shut the boot on the wire.