Using Jump Start terminals for trickle charger?

[Senninha]

NZNick ,,, This is how I have mine set up too …

[NZNick]

I’m sure I copied it from someone here back in 2015-ish, possibly you!

[Old guy]

Without wishing to cause any unnecessary worries, the use of the CTEK MX5 seems to have killed my NSX's battery. It was working fine for several weeks - the string of LEDs showing progress illuminated and then changed as normal = all healthy. And then one day the string of LEDs was not lit.

Now, when disconnecting and reconnecting, the CTEK doesn't seem to think there's a battery attached.

I will investigate more this week.

How old was the battery? Maintenance free batteries (AGM or conventional) have the distressing characteristic of seeming to be just fine and then 15 minutes later suffering a massive MI and not being able to be revived. I have had occassion where I have driven a car someplace in the summer months, parked it and come out to a 100% dead car. No prior warning such as a slow starter motor or dimming headlights. When they fail in this manner they will not accept charge (the CTEK lights do not go through their progression).

Maintenance free batteries seem to have an operational life of about 6-8 years. If you have ever allowed the battery to go flat (headlights on / parasitic loads) this will skew towards a shorter life (much shorter if you do this frequently). I have had a Volvo 242 GT, Volvo 745 turbo, Honda Pilot and the NSX and they have all suffered from the 'it was fine 15 minutes ago' battery failure. The CTEK will help prevent the shortened battery life due to parasitic loads. On a car with a charging system that is in good order it will not materially extend the battery life.

Sometimes a dead battery is just a dead battery and not caused by anything other than the ageing process. At around 6-7 years I always start wondering 'should I change it pre-emptively or wait and get caught' . My current DD is an Audi A4 wagon and it actually monitors and stores current flow into and out of the battery and will give you a heads up when the battery is approaching its end of life - about 6-10 months before it goes completely dead if you choose to ignore the warning message every morning.

[goldtop]

Not sure how old my battery was. From memory, I did buy a new one a few years ago, but it's possible that was 6 years ago. And/or it's possible that lack of use contributed to premature failure. I did see that there was another old thread about a battery failing while 'maintained' by the CTEK: http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...battery-advice

Anyway, I've ordered a new Yuasa today.

[bernev]

How did this go? Incidentally my perfectly fine s/s battery in my Fiat 500 DD died over Xmas with no warning. Despite being shown to be “healthy” on ctek. Even the technicians who came to revive the car said the battery was fine. I said it wasn’t - check the amps! They did and agreed it was full of volts but had no power. Dead

[Heineken]

One of the damages that can happen to lead acid batteries is lead powder accumulating at the bottom of the battery and shorting a cell.
This makes it fail from one second to another, while it was working perfectly before. One reason to replace batteries at fixed intervals, if possible.

[NSX100]

Just after I read this post I went to the garage and found that the CTEK was flashing the on/off power light yellow . All other lights were off. Checked battery. Flat!!! Any ideas why the CTEK would stop charging the battery? I am not sure of the age of the battery but at least 5 years and it does not get much use - about 1,000 miles a year max. The battery is on the CTEK more than it is on the road. I have it on the charger now but it did show completely flat.

Ideas, comments welcome.

Thanks

David

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Flashing power indicator means CTEK entered into the power saving mode.
It couldn’t detect battery connection within 2min after being powered up or the battery voltage was way too low and below the 2.0V threshold.

Thus, from what you wrote, the latter case.

Either you lost good connection at some point, extremely high drain current while connected or the battery reached its end of life.


Seems like you mangaed to somehow charge it using certain charger and not the CTEK.

With CTEK, you could connect another battery like jump starter pack in parallel to bypass the minimum voltage protection (be careful) to initiate the Step 1 of the CTEK cycle.
Remove the jumper pack once the cycle gets going but because you let the battery so flat, it may never complete the full cycles.

If your battery is an ordinary lead acid flood type, more than 5 years old and went flat even for once, you’ll never recover the full capacity.

Personally, I would replace it with a new one.

As a last resort, if you managed to kick start the cycle using the above method, try the CTEK Re-condition mode FOR LEAD ACID BATTERY ONLY.
You may or may not be able to re-use the battery.

Please note, re-condition feature relies on the chemical reaction and lots of bubbles to physically shake/peel off the sulphate layer from the cell surface by passing pulsated high current.
Therefore, TAKE THE BATTERY OUT OF THE CAR for added safety.

Though, in my view, it’s only effective at the early stage of sulphation.


Even with the new battery, if you haven't found the reason why the existing battery went flat, chances are .....

Every time when the battery gone flat or disconnected, you were resetting the ECU and erasing all the codes stored on all of the controllers except for the upgraded ABS.

I wrote about the battery health few days ago.
Please visit Kaz’s not so build thread and you’ll find the link ‘Jan/25’ next to the tag [Battery Health].

You may find some of the info useful including the candidates for the replacement battery.

Please note that even if CTEK indicates that the battery is 100% fully charged, that doesn't mean it's healthy.
Seen many examples of fully charged battery yet it couldn't even crank the engine just for one turn.


Kaz

[NSX100]

Excellent Kaz - unparalleled advice as always!

A dead battery is a good bet based on your referenced thread and my own assumptions so I will replace it with a new one. The local Halfords has the Yuasa one you recommend so I will go for that.

Thanks again

David