Couple of questions:

The instructions for my CTEK charger state that if charging a battery in a negatively earthed vehicle the negative charger lead should be attached to the chassis. Why the chassis and not the negative terminal of the battery?

In the case of the S, the manual states that the battery *must* be disconnected before charging to avoid damaging the electrics. But the CTEK instructions make no mention of this - I would have expected to see something like "Check your vehicle owner manual to see whether the battery can be charged whilst connected".

Can anyone throw a bit of light onto this subject?

 

Connect and disconnect the lead to the chassis last. It sparks when
you clip it on, hydrogen gas is produced from the battery and is
exposive. So the spark is not near the gasses.
I have seen batteries blow up at work twice because of this.

Russ.

 

I have mounted the permanent harness that came with my CTEK unit on to the positive battery & negative chassis earth - in the S that is on the bulkhead just next to the battery. Then just plug the CTEK in via the neat little plug. Wire feeds neatly up out of the bonnet at top of the wing. Have been using this successfully for last couple of years without disconnecting battery. Unplugged her this afternoon after a 2 week sojourn & went out to enjoy the sun, she started absolutely fine.

 

Thanks guys - that's a help

 

Whats the power consumption like on a CTEK charger if left on float for long periods?

 

User manual for the CTEK 3600 is here:

http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/D...TEK_xs3600.pdf

It begins charging with an almost constant current (0.8
A or 3.6 A) until maximum voltage (14.4 V or 14.7 V) is reached.
The charger changes mode at this point. It locks the voltage at
maximum level and allows the current to drop. The MULTI XS
3600 switches automatically to pulse maintenance charging when
the current drops to 0.4 A