Battery Tender for F12

Cincy thought one would have come with the car. If not ask your dealer for one. It comes with every Ferrari I have owned in the past 5 years.

Plug the charger into the car first ( do not plug it to the wall socket first)

When removing the charger, unplug the charger from the car FIRST and then from the wall socket.

Best of luck and yes keep it plugged in if you won't drive it for a week or greater.

 

I thought the instructions for my 458 were plug charger into car first, and unplug last...FILO, no?

 

The dealer is supposed to include the charger with the car. It has a proprietary plug that fits a socket in the car.

 

+1

 

What's the purpose of that? My F12 charger stays plugged in, I arrive at the car, pull the connector in the boot out and drive off leaving the charger plugged in. I then return and plug the lead back into the car. Never an issue on any Ferrari I have ever owned. It's just a car after all.

 

I think the suggested procedure may be partly intended to avoid accidental power surge or a short. The dead charger acts as a surge filter for the car when you plug it in to the car before plugging it into AC power.

FWIW, I never bother with that either. I just leave the charger powered when I unplug and then simply plug back in when I get home. Works fine.

What you do not want to do is to plug the charger into the car and then forget to turn on the AC power or plug it into the AC socket. If you do that, the charger will reverse the flow of current and quickly drain your battery instead of charging it. So arguably, it's better to not bother with disconnecting the charger from the AC current; just leave it powered full-time.

 

None at all. car has been plugged in since mid November - ugh!!

 

The small manual that comes in the pouch for the OEM tender, and on the side of the OEM tender says "disconnect from [mains] supply before making or breaking DC [car] connections." No idea if that makes any difference in reality.

The OEM unit is an F branded CTEK. F12 comes with an AGM battery. CTEK's website recommends a specific AGM mode capable unit, which the OEM unit is not. CTEK AGM tenders supply 14.7v rather than 14.4v. Whether 0.3v makes any difference - no idea.

I purchased a CTEK MXS 7.0 which has an AGM mode, then replaced the connector with the OEM Ferrari boot plug so it still inhibits ignition if connected.

And no problem with the cable going out via the boot.

 

It makes a difference to the AGM battery. They are finicky about being charged.

Its good practice to disconnect from the house power before disconnecting from the vehicle. It also is good practice to connect to the vehicle before connecting to the house power. These newer tenders have protection built in but better off to use the best practices.

As to worrying about the seal, move wire around to different locations and usually its not a problem for the seal.

 

That special plug is why they charge $465 for an OEM Battery maintainer
70002821 BATTERY CHARGER USA/CDN - Ricambi America, Inc.

Does anyone have a photo of the F12 charging port?
Wondering if it is the same as that used by prior model Ferrari. The CTEK MUS 4.3 is fully compatible with AGM batteries, has better features than OEM and when paired with The Ferrari Dongle is your complete battery maintenance solution
Ultimate Ferrari Battery Maintainer Ctek Mus 4 3 Dongle Complete System | eBay

 

Question, seriously this thread, was busting chops last post

I bought a 14 f12 a couple weeks before I left for Asia, etc. put the tender on the battery, nothing new for me.


Back after 6-7 weeks, had the car started about every 2 weeks, not driven just idle for 5-7 minutes.

Get home and now the radio goes to AM about every 3rd time I start it, even worse is turn signals give me 3 blinks and they stop. Once I a while 1:10 they work. No correlation between how long I hold them down and if they work or not.

No time to fade the dealer this week,

Any thoughts?

I'm beyond happy with the car, sure am greatful, to have my health and be in the game driving a car I really like. It's been a very very long time since I had a car I liked this much

 

Assuming no issues with the electronics before the hiatus, then it sounds like a hard re-boot and a thorough charge of the battery is in order.

I have found that the trickle charger is most effective between good runs of the car. If just left on for weeks the battery may technically measure OK but will not be strong like when she is ridden more often.

Remove the lead of the battery terminal, have lunch or dinner, then reattach. If gremlins still present then let the dealer test the battery and charge/replace as required.

Hope this helps.

 

thank you ill try that, i was thinking along those lines, but i wouldnt make a move without good advice.

It was 100% before i left, battery never was low or died while i was away.

i'll let you know what happens, otherwise perfect car.

thank you very much

eric

 

What are the specs of the tender with the F12? Does your car have HELE or not? On earlier models the tender was not really strong enough to recharge the battery- it was enough to kind of hold it steady. HELE means you likely have an AGM battery and those are extra finicky.

Starting up the car will pull a good amount of charge out of the battery- it will need probably about 30-40 minutes of driving to recharge the battery. Not sure if HELE will recharge a battery in idle state or only on deceleration... So just starting it, running for a short time + a tender that might not be very good at adding back in charge = slow but steady reduction in the state of charge in the battery.

 

Exactly...whether plugging it in or unplugging, the charger should be unplugged from the AC wall outlet first.

 

It was my understanding that the standard (non HELE) battery is absorbent glass mat (AGM). No?

 

No. The standard starter battery for a non-HELE California is a regular lead acid unit. They work just fine. Please be aware that AGM batteries require a battery tender charging voltage of 14.7V, not the 14.4V used on lead acid batteries. Suitable battery tenders will have a "snowflake" charging mode for the 14.7V setting. I suspect the HELE cars' charging systems are set up similarly different from non-HELE cars.

AGM batteries are required for any HELE-equipped Fcar and are also standard for current V12 engine Fcar models.

 

Sorry for not being more specific but my assumption (this being the F12 forum) that the F12 non-HELE battery was AGM. Thanks for confirming that as the manual does not speak of the battery design.

It does, however, make a point to lower the windows before disconnecting the battery as opening the doors with the windows dead in the up position will damage the door seals. It also says that the AC ECU will go into a self learning mode and it will take 60 seconds after the battery terminal is reconnected. During this period you should not operate any other functions and the outside temperature must be 41 deg F or above to get through the relearn. Very finicky IMHO.

 

would the windows not automatically drop down as the car battery should have a full charge therefore allwoing them to drop down as normal when opening the doors as usual?

 

Yes, as long as you don't open the doors before reconnection. They want you to lower the windows before you disconnect the battery so you can open the doors while the battery is disconnected without damaging the door seals. There is also a specific set of sequences with operating door locks and windows, alarms and such immediately after reconnecting the battery. Very fussy IMO.

 

Doesn't make sense unless you leave your window down while connected as you can't lower window without opening the doors to get in and lower them. Regardless I have never had this issue and I keep both my V12's connected to the tender most of the time - if I leave either for more than a few days without driving

 

which is what I explained:

Process is: Enter car with battery connected, lower windows, get out and disconnect battery with windows down. Now you can open/close doors without damaging seals.

Hope this helps.