smart chargers yes or no ????

[coolfunkyd]

Went to go for a drive after 2 weeks away on holiday and cars battery had gone flat. Rembered I had been given a smart charger as a present for Christmas so started to charge. Instructions said no need to disconnect leads from the terminals (did this anyway) just connect. As I don't use the car ever day seems ideal to have a a trickle charge going into the battery when car sitting in the garage. Any of you guys use one of these chargers on your car?

[Sudesh]

I use a certain brand on all cars and recreation machines. No need to remove battery terminal.

On the NSX, I attached the charger clips to the jump start locations in the engine bay. Never had any issues

[NZNick]

Hi Sudesh,

Could you post a pic and or a link that shows this.

Thanks.

[L696ULO]

All you need to know

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?10981-How-to-coonect-a-trickle-charger


i have my trickle charge wires permanently connected to the battery as it avoids using crocodile clips and I only need to open the bonnet to connect the charger.

Rich

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Quite lots of owners are using it with either permanent (normally at the battery terminals) or temporary (mainly at the jump start terminals inside the engine bay) install solution.

I have been using the Optimate/Accumate series for years both for my cars and at the race team and for a few years now, using the CTEK as well.
Example from my blog. It's the old spec CTEK MXS 5.0 with 'Mode' switch in black. The latest spec 5.0 models will have red or blue switch.

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/entry.php?790-Ctek-mxs-5-0


Depending on the installation method used, I found it really useful to buy the extra extension cable if using the CTEK models. The cable length going to the battery is somewhat bit short.
The one from Optimate/Accumate has long enough cable for the battery connection.


Unless you are using super dooper racing battery, it is a very good idea to use battery conditioner to keep the ordinary battery in healthy condition.
If you let the battery to go flat for prolonged period, it will shorten its life so please use battery conditioner if you don't drive regularly.
Unless your battery is brand new, with Honda UK dealer installed security devices, it seems quite common for the owners struggling to start their NSX after 2 weeks or so off the road.

Kaz

[coolfunkyd]

Many thanks for the reply's

[NZNick]

All you need to know

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?10981-How-to-coonect-a-trickle-charger


i have my trickle charge wires permanently connected to the battery as it avoids using crocodile clips and I only need to open the bonnet to connect the charger.

Rich

Thanks for the link Rich - I know I had seen it before but couldn't find it. Cheers.

[NSX100]

On this subject a quick question re the CTEK MSX 5. I have not used my car for a month or so due to being overseas on business and now that I am back the battery is low. So, as usual, I hooked up the CTEK which to date has performed flawlessly (yes, I know, I should have done this 4 weeks ago but forgot). However, the green indicator light insists on flashing indicating that the charger is not properly connected. Except that it is. Any suggestions? I have hooked up an old battery charger that I had instead.

Thanks

David

[Pride]

Hi David, I had the same experience with my C-TEK.
Turned out to be a faulty charger, returned it to distributors and they repaired it foc even though it was well out warranty.
Cheers

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, David.

Is it the green 'Power' lamp that is flashing or are you referring to the solid red 'Error' one?

As Pride mentioned above, it could be a faulty conditioner but if the green Power lamp is flashing, it also means that the conditioner was not connected to the battery within 2min and went into power saving mode.
In any cases, if you have another car, equipment, etc with 12V battery, you can check your conditioner with them to verify whether your issue is battery or conditioner related.


For battery conditioner to operate properly, the discharged battery voltage has to be above the minimum voltage spec.
For MXS 5.0, it's 2.0V and for Accumate/Optimate series, it's somewhere above 1.0V.

If your battery is deeply discharged like completely flat (I hope not as it will damage the battery) and below 2.0V, the conditioner won't work.
It will warn the user by illuminating the red 'Error' lamp or possibly goes into power saving mode by flashing the green power lamp.


If this was the case, please try the following if you have the battery conditioner from well known manufactures such as CTEK/Accumate/Optimate but you must first remove the battery off the car and stay with the process until you have confirmed that the battery itself is not faulty.

You are in effect bypassing the deep discharge or faulty battery check process by carrying out the following.
These well known conditioners will stop the charging process at the very beginning of the process to prevent the overheating but you are skipping it.


I don't recommend doing the following on cheap conditioner models.


I have only tested the following procedures using several conditioners from the above manufactures only and please do the following at your own risk.
If you feel the battery is getting very hot, please stop immediately because the battery is dead.
Also, the battery case tends to show some expansion once it failed.


If the battery is deeply discharged, I normally connect another battery in parallel together with the battery conditioner to pretend as if the discharged battery has more than the required minimum voltage.
Then, disconnect the additional battery after it passed the initial test sequence and hope that it can go through rest of all of the programmed conditioning sequences.

Kaz

[NSX100]

Hi, David.

Is it the green 'Power' lamp that is flashing or are you referring to the solid red 'Error' one?

As Pride mentioned above, it could be a faulty conditioner but if the green Power lamp is flashing, it also means that the conditioner was not connected to the battery within 2min and went into power saving mode.
In any cases, if you have another car, equipment, etc with 12V battery, you can check your conditioner with them to verify whether your issue is battery or conditioner related.


For battery conditioner to operate properly, the discharged battery voltage has to be above the minimum voltage spec.
For MXS 5.0, it's 2.0V and for Accumate/Optimate series, it's somewhere above 1.0V.

If your battery is deeply discharged like completely flat (I hope not as it will damage the battery) and below 2.0V, the conditioner won't work.
It will warn the user by illuminating the red 'Error' lamp or possibly goes into power saving mode by flashing the green power lamp.


If this was the case, please try the following if you have the battery conditioner from well known manufactures such as CTEK/Accumate/Optimate but you must first remove the battery off the car and stay with the process until you have confirmed that the battery itself is not faulty.

You are in effect bypassing the deep discharge or faulty battery check process by carrying out the following.
These well known conditioners will stop the charging process at the very beginning of the process to prevent the overheating but you are skipping it.


I don't recommend doing the following on cheap conditioner models.


I have only tested the following procedures using several conditioners from the above manufactures only and please do the following at your own risk.
If you feel the battery is getting very hot, please stop immediately because the battery is dead.
Also, the battery case tends to show some expansion once it failed.


If the battery is deeply discharged, I normally connect another battery in parallel together with the battery conditioner to pretend as if the discharged battery has more than the required minimum voltage.
Then, disconnect the additional battery after it passed the initial test sequence and hope that it can go through rest of all of the programmed conditioning sequences.

Kaz

Hu Kaz,

As usual, many thanks.

It turns out that the problem may be as I and you suspected, the battery had discharged to a level below which the CTEK would work - it was the green light than was flashing after a period of 2 minutes. According to the manual this indicates a poor connection. It mentions nothing about the battery status. Anyway, I hooked up an old charger showing that the battery had discharged quite a bit but still held some charge. After about 6 hours charging I replaced it with the CTEK and it worked perfectly. So, as you note, it appears that there is a discharge level below which the CTEK will not work.