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Death by trickle charger

C

chris morley

New member
Had the car hooked up to a battery conditioner for the first time last week. It seems to have totally killed all the electrics. No response to either the fob or ignition key. Just a strange, muted alarm-like sound if I switch on the lights or open the engine compartment!
I'm thinking a main fuse blown perhaps?
Anyone had similar experience. Which fuses are most likely to have blown?

Chris
 
I have had similar problems in the past when the battery had become so discharged that the trickle charger was unable to rescue it. I had to use a conventional charger first to recover some of the charge.
 
I have had my car connected to a ctek charger/conditioner for the last 6 years and it has been brilliant, no problems at all, and I am still running the battery that has been in the car for 7 years of my ownership, God knows how old the battery is.

Mine connects through the fag lighter, little chance of reverse polarity
 
Yes, reverse polarity was my first thought but when I attached a big rapid charger it showed the 'fully charged' green light
I didn't disconnect the battery from the car at the time as it just seemed too much palava
I don't understand how it could happen but it seems to have blown something major in the electrics

Chris

 
It's a possibility you simply have a bad connection to the Battery. It's worth pulling off the connections, cleaning and securely refitting them just to be sure.

Another possible culprit is the earth to the body from the battery. The leads are known to go bad from time to time. To eliminate this connect a jump lead to the negative and to a clean part of the bodywork.

 
I have used a c tek charger thro' the Cig lighter, which only seems to work if the ignition key is in the auxillary position. Even so for some reason the battery has been flat after a week. I now charge from an attached c-tek lead from the battery & no problems. If you re charge your battery it will probably solve your problem.
 
Try another battery or a jump start, sounds like the battery is flat.
Don't think a tow start will work, as if there is not enough power in the battery, the fuel pump etc wont run, so the car won't start.
regards
 

ORIGINAL: stephenh

I have used a c tek charger thro' the Cig lighter, which only seems to work if the ignition key is in the auxillary position. Even so for some reason the battery has been flat after a week. I now charge from an attached c-tek lead from the battery & no problems. If you re charge your battery it will probably solve your problem.
Click to expand...

With the key turned auxiliary position still you are drawing power from the battery, and you are drawing it faster than the ctek can replace it, hence the reason the battery is flat after a week.
You can easily rewire the cigarette socket so its live all the time, so you can use your charger ctek in it with out the ignition on.
Regards
 
OK, after 36 hours of 'normal charge ' with my big charger all is now well
Clearly the little conditioner had just drained every drop of juice out of the 9 month old battery. Mysterious.
Anyway I've pinged an email off to the manufacturer but don't expect them to admit reverse polarity as a possibility
Actually it's had me questioning whether I could possibly have connected it wrongly - but it's pretty hard to get red and + wrong!
 
I have always prefered the combined charger/conditioners you can get from places such as Halfords. I've had a couple of them in use for many years and I like the fact you connect it up and it then either goes straight into conditionng mode or into charging mode first followed by conditioning mode if the battery is a little flat. I've never been convinced a simple conditioner has enough omph if the battery is a little low.

Ian.
 
Well guys, I dont know what you are doing wrong or what condition your batteries or wiring is in, all I know for sure is that if I connect my ctek xs3600 to the fag lighter in my car even if the battery is half flat, it will be fully charged and conditioned within 24hrs, and that has been the happy situation for the last 6 years or so, and I am delighted with the product and would not dream of using anything else[:)]
 
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