Ferrari Battery Tender (Ctek US 800) Problem

I had the same problem with the CTEK US 800, I replaced it with the CTEk 3300 with better results .

 

Same issue. The Ctek trickle charger kills the battery when it goes bad. In this instance the Ctek trickle charger usually makes a clicking sound when it is bad. It will drain the battery. This is what happened when the early design Ctek trickle charger supplied by FERRARI went bad. If you accidentally due not plug in the Ctek trickle charger on the 120 Volt side and leave it plugged in on the 12 Volt / car side it will also drain
the battery.

 

You need to google, "optima battery problems".

 

+1

I have had this happen. Also on another occasion the Ctek charger was not big enough to supply the residual load of clock, radio etc, and decided to completely discharge the battery instead of charging it.
On both occasions this destroyed the battery. These are badly designed. For something which claims to be the most advanced battery charger blah blah, this is a basic flaw. They should be designed to deal with a simple user mistake of this kind.

 

I have uses an Interstate Battery Tender on my BB512i with an Optima Red Top since 2001 and it still works as new.

 

I had the same problem. I just cut the wires and spliced it into the new tender.

Art

 

Ironic and timely for me as well.

Same car (even the year), same problem, same trickle chargers.

Ferrari one died on me so I bought the 3300 after reading some threads.

Is it best to just attach the red and black clamps to the battery leads or try and splice the cable and hook up the original plug? I had thought about splicing it but didn't want to ruin it. I'm fairly good with things like that but thought I'd ask first.

 

With the battery in the 328 under the spare wheel, I had no choice but to splice the cable and add an extension to it, as the CTEK 3300 supplied cable is way to short.

 

If the connection is male / female (as battery tender) you can get the extra cable needed from Deltran...

https://www.google.com/search?q=deltran+battery+extension&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a#q=deltran+battery+extension&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=LK2&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&source=univ&tbm=shop&sa=X&ei=7JDbUP69Hurx0wHNnYHYAg&ved=0CF8Qsxg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.dmQ&fp=2f048cec0688999b&bpcl=40096503&biw=1366&bih=678
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CTEK 3300 or 7200 come with a set of alligator clamps and a set of eyelet terminals, it's best to connect the eyelet terminals to your battery poles and use the quick disconnect of the CTEK. There is no need to splice wires to use the OEM plug or the alligator clamps.

I had the exact same issue with my OEM CTEK, it drained my original Odyssey, and a MTP-91.
When I pulled my dead Odyssey out it had 9.8V, CTEK 7200 brought it back to life within 24 hours, afterwords I let my battery rest for a day with nothing hooked up, it registered 13.6V, I load tested it twice 1000CCA for 10 sec, it held at 12.8 first, 12.6 second time around. I put it back in the car, connected the eyelet terminals of the CTEK 7200 and now I'm using the quick disconnect.

One thing I noticed, both the OEM unit as well as the 3300 will light up as if they are charging if the battery terminals are connected and the wall plug is not plugged in. 7200 doesn't do that if you forget to plug it to 120V, nothing lights up, also automatically recognizes it's an AGM battery, no need to select type of battery unlike the 3300.

 

I spliced mine. Made it easy to use, and the old one was broken, so it had no value anyway.

Art

 

Just took delivery of my 2007 F430 which included a Ferrari battery Maintainer made by CTek Model Xs 800. it belongs in the garbage. 800 ma charge rate is useless. I've finally hooked up my Battery Tender which charges at 1,25A and is doing the job. Just throw the Ctek away. Overrated for the price!

 

Someone figured it out how to wire quite a while back. I'll see if I can find the post...

 

Here you go: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/347563-yabtp-making-battery-conditioner-connected-light.html

But I can see you posted in that thread yourself, and hence should know...?

Good luck!

Edit: Oops, just noticed that original post is old... duh, sorry...

 

I had a Ferrari supplied Ctek charger with my 360 and it never worked well, a real POS. I was just too lazy to get it swapped out - under warranty, so I went and got something that worked - Deltran trickle charger.

Save yourself a lot of frustration, spend $70.00 and forget about it.

BTW, hookup behind the drivers seat, easy install, take about 15 minutes, most of which is taking the screws out and removing the panel.

MB

http://batterytender.com

 

Its not that CTek is a bad company, but the 800 tender can only supply 0.8A and thats not enough. The 3300 can do 3.3A and the 7002 can do up to 7A. The 7002 is probably overkill but it has the most advanced tending modes. The Deltrans are OK but the CTeks are far more advanced. Its just that you need to pick the right tool for the job and the fault here lies with Ferrari for supplying one not up to the task.

 

it's not the fault of the charger !... the 800 Cetek charger is designed for small capacity LEAD ACID ( std wet cell ) batteries up to 42AH capacity... ("RTFM"... read the manual )

there is more to it than the voltage marked on the charger... the "older" style chargers are not able to meet the charge profiles of the newer batteries... using an "old style" charger on any newer construction battery - non wet cell is a slow death for the new battery... since the batteries will not be charged to full capacity... best to get a new smart charger that is designed or is selectable for the type of battery being charged... this applies to ALL chargers designed to be used with wet cell batteries...

don't trash your "old" Cetek as it may not be damaged and could be working fine, when only used on wet cell batteries