My CTek charger seems to have failed. My battery is relatively new (about a year old), and has given me no problems. I hadn't driven the car in a few weeks, came out this morning and it was completely dead. The CTek was plugged in (as usual), and has no lights on whatsoever, even though it has power going into it. Right now, I have the battery on my 10/2 charger, and it does seem to be taking a charge. I'll probably be getting a higher end CTek (the 7002 seems to be well recommended).
I might have been too quick in blaming the CTek. After getting the battery more or less charged using my big charger, I drove the car gently for half an hour or so, then plugged in the CTek, and the lights lit up as normal. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow.
Which model CTek failed? The Ferrari one that came with my 599 died while plugged in to the car and outlet for about 6 weeks a few years ago. It turns out the factory tender only puts out something like 0.7A while the car wants a little bit more. I was able to rejuice the battery with a 7002 and haven't gone back since. That battery even lasted me a few more years. The 7002 does a great job.
Mine was the one which came with the car. I'm starting to think that the power to the charger went out (it was plugged into a plug strip, and the plug strip might have been shut off), and that is what drained the battery over a week or so. So far, it's been fine again.
I have had two Ferrari c-tek tenders die with my 612 - discovered the latest just yesterday. All lights on charger are out, and it was cold. Luckily battery wasn't dead and car was able to start. Original one completely discharged the battery over a few days to a week. Back then: took out battery, recharged battery, tested battery, replaced Ferrai c-tek tender, and it had been good ever since, well, until yesterday... This time I will get a better c-tek tender and splice the Ferrari connector onto it. Someone in the 430 section figured out the pin connections and source of the "Ferrari" connector years ago (at least some 430s had the same connector as the 612).
Can you confirm it comes with the connector to connect directly to the plug in the trunk? I thought that plug was proprietary. BTW. Congratulations on your 15,000th post.
Assuming the 430 operates the same (stated for liability purposes) as the 612, in this post: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/141102598-post12.html you can see where to order the connector and how to connect it to a standard c-tek battery tender, so that it maintains the no-start with tender connected feature! Read further posts in the thread by the poster for additional details. That is the route I plan to take when I get back in town.
You know, I think that's exactly what happened to Clark Griswold when he set up his Christmas lights!
After my 2nd Ferrari charger died I bought the parts shown in the picture below from Mouser, studied the link above and the existing Ferrari connector, and mated the plug from Mouser that fits the stock 612 tender port in the trunk to a stripped tail of a standard Ctek tender. It works and retains the factory functionality - you can hear the relay click when the tender is connected. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just a quick note...don't leave the charger plugged in and just through it in the car to take with you! UNPLUG THE CHARGER AT THE TRUNK CONNECTOR!
Pin out in link above (for 430) worked for me when I did it last night - Ctek charger to 612 stock trunk connector. But, just verify against your stock tender plug...
Power spikes, outages will mess up the OEM CTEK very easily. It may look like it's charging, but it's actually draining the battery. I had the same thing happen, hope I'm wrong, but if you have a dead battery again it's time to invest in a new one!
Well here's my experience. Last week I found the battery totally dead. It had been charged a week earlier. I had disconnected the Ctek from the ac power at that time, but did not disconnect the unit from the car. Evidently this is what drained the battery because I have recently gone as long as 3 weeks without the car being on the Ctek and the battery was fine. When I connected the Ctek, the usual light did not go on so I thought maybe the tender was bad. I since charged the battery and then connected the Ctek and the light went on as usual. Apparently it will not light if the battery is drained. Also I have to believe as Vino1620 states that it is not good to leave the Ctek connected to the car if it is not plugged in to ac current. I regularly have gone a week without it being on the tender and the battery is fine, but the tender was never connected to the car. I just hope I don't have donv's experience with the battery dying again. I am going to keep the Ctek on full time now and keep an eye on it.
The OEM CTek is simply not powerful enough to keep up with the 599's needs. I doubt the tender will draw power itself to kill your battery- its the car's electronics. The car doesn't just guzzle dino juice--- it guzzles electrons too!
FWIW, I've checked the current on my original Ferrari CTEK (800) charger as well as on my CTEK 7002 charger using an inline amp meter. With my Cali30, both units will drop to 0.04 Amp steady current within 5 minutes of being hooked up. I recall it starts off at about 0.20 Amp as it analyzes the state of the battery and then drops off after about a minute or two once the charger switches to pulse charging my (already full) battery. So with 110-120V AC current, that's equivalent to about a 5W LED bulb running 24/7. The current may blip during a pulse but it's very brief and likely of negligible difference.
Interesting... all I know is my 599 ate one of these and at the time the head tech at my dealer said the car will sometimes pull over 1 amp and he was puzzled at why they would use a tender that could only do 0.8A.... I should have taken my meter to it too! Just too lazy I guess.
