Battery charger / conditioner

[Tan]

Hi

I need to buy a charger / conditioner for my Brother's 911 and my Wife's 986 Boxster, what do the members here recommend, the original Porsche Charge-o-mat or one of the CTEK units. If the CTEK which one in the range is the one to go for?

Both cars are under Porsche warranty, so will using a CTEK effect the warranty should a problem arise.

Many thanks

Tan

 

[adrian996]

Hi there. Here you go: http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/ctek/xs3600-car-battery-charger-and-conditioner.aspx

I would recommend getting the cigarette adaptor to go with it also - I think it only £5. You might be able to find this charger cheaper elsewhere also. I've had mine for years. They're great for me as my cars only average around 500 to 1000 miles a year.

Adrian.

P.S. Don't worry about the warranty, how are they going to know you've used one. Besides, the Porsche one is a CTEK 3600 with a different sticker on it - and a different price (£100...?!!)

 

[Tan]

Thanks Adrian.

 

[Dylan1]

+1 for the excellent ctek-absolutely brilliant

 

[garyw]

The Porsche branded unit is a CTEK unit... []

garyw

 

[tscaptain]

ORIGINAL: adrian996

. Besides, the Porsche one is a CTEK 3600 with a different sticker on it - and a different price (£100...?!!)

The Porsche branded unit is a CTEK unit...

garyw

Is there an echo in here?[]

+ another 1 for the 3600.

 

[lowndes]

Just as a matter of interest are Porsche unusual in allowing the battery to be charged through the cigarette lighter socket? Does this mean that on Porsche the cigarette lighter socket is not switched on and off by the ignition but is always live?

And the obvious corollary for any non Porsche where the cigarette lighter is ignition switched is that presumably the battery can't be charged via the lighter socket if the ignition is off. And you wouldn't really want to leave the key in the ignition would you? Not that I would have any particular reason for the question you understand! []

 

[tscaptain]

Nick, I don't think it unusual these days for the lighter socket to be live the whole time - all of our cars are like it and yes, it is live on yours always (unless you pull the fuse!)
I'm not sure when Porsches started to have "always live" sockets but my guess is around the 996 era looking at the various battery charging threads on here (and there have been a few!!)

 

[ScottishSpyder]

I have a CTEK on my car but also a very similar unit from Lidl to maintain my boat battery over the winter. Lidl email just out has the charger on offer for about £14 next week. Looks and seems to work like CTEK.

 

[lowndes]

ORIGINAL: tscaptain

Nick, I don't think it unusual these days for the lighter socket to be live the whole time - all of our cars are like it and yes, it is live on yours always (unless you pull the fuse!)
I'm not sure when Porsches started to have "always live" sockets but my guess is around the 996 era looking at the various battery charging threads on here (and there have been a few!!)

Alan, Yes both old cars enjoy a continuous trickle of warm lifegiving juice. It was the newcomer I was wondering about. Presumably I could check by trying the cigarette lighter first with ignition off then if it doesn't warm up try with ignition on. Otherwise it is back to the dark ages of crocodile clips!

 

[adrian996]

ORIGINAL: lowndes

ORIGINAL: tscaptain

Nick, I don't think it unusual these days for the lighter socket to be live the whole time - all of our cars are like it and yes, it is live on yours always (unless you pull the fuse!)
I'm not sure when Porsches started to have "always live" sockets but my guess is around the 996 era looking at the various battery charging threads on here (and there have been a few!!)

Alan, Yes both old cars enjoy a continuous trickle of warm lifegiving juice. It was the newcomer I was wondering about. Presumably I could check by trying the cigarette lighter first with ignition off then if it doesn't warm up try with ignition on. Otherwise it is back to the dark ages of crocodile clips!

Hi Nick. Not sure that I understand the above quote but just to be clear: Porsche started leaving their cigarette lighter plug continuously 'live' around the same time that they face lifted the 996 (2001 on...?). You might also find that a handful of the later 3.4 996's also had a live plug too but all of the face lifted ones do.

It looks like you own two very up to date cars (?) - if so then they're both going to accept a charge via your cigarette lighter.

 

[lowndes]

Adrian

Many thanks for your information. Although it is certainly true that a 2010 car is not old in absolute terms, relative to the one that has just arrived on the drive with 02 01 2011 on the V5 it is positively ancient! Unfortunately the new arrival (non Porsche) despite being German does not appear to have a live trickle charging point. I mistakenly thought it needed a Tracker and had one fitted by the dealer for handover (it has since been confirmed as not necessary by AON who now offer me a multicar policy on decent terms; apologies for being a little OT). Trackers, as well as being a pain, continuouly drain the battery even when the "intelligent" black box in the car has shut down the rest of the car systems.

So now the question is bin the Tracker and write off the cost or find a way of maintaining a trickle charge that is convenient and doesn't invalidate the warranty.

 

[adrian996]

Don't bin it. Just ask Tracker to switch it off.

I'm pretty sure that this is possible and that it doesn't continue to draw power. Check this out with Tracker first. If you're unsure just get someone who 'knows what they're doing' to 'unplug' it once you've got Tracker to switch it off. You can always use it as an asset when it comes to selling it on.

Adrian.

 

[lowndes]

Thanks Adrian that sounds like a plan.

 

[adrian996]

Cheers. Good luck.

 

[knightrider]

Hi

Just a quick one to let you know you can buy the CTEK XS 3600 for £38.50 including free delivery from eBay. That is the cheapest price online and the charger arrived within 2 working days.

Just search under CTEK 3600 and loads come up!

 

[Tan]

Thanks

 

[M030]

My Porsche branded C-tek broke down and drained my battery to zero volts .
Just to point out that even a C-tek can fail.

 

[lowndes]

ORIGINAL: adrian996

Don't bin it. Just ask Tracker to switch it off.

I'm pretty sure that this is possible and that it doesn't continue to draw power. Check this out with Tracker first. If you're unsure just get someone who 'knows what they're doing' to 'unplug' it once you've got Tracker to switch it off. You can always use it as an asset when it comes to selling it on.

Adrian.

Just an update on this which might be of general interest to anyone considering Cobra Tracker products as to some extent the use of a charger is a corollary to fitting a Tracker.

The short point is you can't switch Tracker off!

Cobra Tracker are the approved after market fitment to a number of Manufacturers, including Porsche and Audi to name but two. I had a long telephone call with the Technical Director of Cobra. He was very helpful and gave me a clear idea of how it operates and why you can't just switch it off.
The Cobra device is a sealed unit that is wired into the car fusebox on a spare circuit. This work is done at the Dealer not the factory. Once connected and powered up to the car for the first time it is automatically and irreversibly armed and cannot be disarmed. There is no switch on the unit.

If you take out the fuse, it goes on to internal batteries and sends out a tamper alert. It continues to do this until either the circuit is remade or for 72 hours when the internal batteries become exhausted. Once past this point there is no Tracker service and no way of reenergising the unit ( this last point the Technical Director was not sure about).

So just switching it off and using it as a selling point when disposing of the car is not necessarily going to work, or at least the Tracker isn't, so you need to find a buyer who doesn't understand Tracker