My Cali T went nuts ! | FerrariChat

My Cali T went nuts !

Discussion in 'California/Portofino/Roma' started by odellicour, Sep 20, 2019.

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  1. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
    87
    Brussels
    Full Name:
    Olivier Dellicour
    Hello,

    Just wanted to share with you my last Ferrari experience. I went for a 1h ride. Stopped for 5 minutes. Engine off. The car would not restart. The battery was not providing enough energy. Strange because I keep the car plugged 24/24 7/7. After a few attempts, engine started but the roof would not open. Stucked halfway down. Closed it and drove home. When I parked, the car went nuts ! The screen would switch ON and OFF repeatidly. All types of warning would appear. The turn lights would flash like a stroboscope.
    And that happened without the ignition key which was in my hand.
    A call to Ferrari later, looks like it was a "classic" battery voltage issue. The central unit does not get enough juice and... voilà... party time ! They suggested to replace it.
    600€ for a (poor quality) Ferrari battery so I declined.
    I connected my Ultramate 6 to the battery and I did a full check. The battery was in poor condition and a desulfitation process went on for 4 days. I finally got the green light confirming my battery was saved and fully charged.
    Great.
    Back to the Ferrari charger. Connection. Ready. 100% battery level ? Not at all. It only lighted 4 leds meaning about 60%.

    How is that possible ? I would tend to trust the optimate over the little Ferrari guy... Maybe it drains my battery instead of charging it.
     
  2. EastMemphis

    EastMemphis Formula 3
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    May 25, 2019
    1,717
    Memphis, TN
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    John
    Once a battery is toast, there's nothing short of replacing it that will fix the problem. Get a new battery and be done with it.
     
    Chizz and Fireman1291 like this.
  3. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
    87
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    Olivier Dellicour
    Yes will do. Just the consequences of having a bad battery were specific to Ferrari !
    Or to expensive cars with too much electronic ?
     
  4. vjd3

    vjd3 F1 Rookie
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    Jun 3, 2005
    2,565
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    Vic
    Even if the battery is likely to be fully charged it takes a while for the factory charger to light all the LEDs, usually a few hours at least. Also, the LEDs on the charger are not a linear scale of the charge ... first light checks for desulphation, second is testing if it will accept the charge, third is increasing voltage, fourth is declining current to completely charge the battery, fifth is checking for voltage drops, sixth is floating the charge, and last is pulsing the charge. So LEDs 5-7 are really just checking things, 3 and 4 are the charging stages. Once you're past 3 you're pretty much charged.

    Just get a new battery ... but not the Ferrari one. In the US, most Ferrari dealers will install an Odyssey or Interstate battery.
     
  5. Stercrazy

    Stercrazy Karting

    Sep 29, 2017
    115
    NC and FL
    Full Name:
    Paul Winchester
    If you are using the Ferrari battery tender that’s a problem. They are really not up to the task of maintaining a proper charge. Dealer Service techs confirm this. Use a CTek 5A tender. The voltage variation does make the electronics, which now is the whole car, go crazy.
    I had problems like you, replaced the battery with same specs for less than 500 USD. No problems since.
     
    George Vosburgh and Piper like this.
  6. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
    87
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    Olivier Dellicour
    I ordered a Varta G14 (German quality) for 210€.
    26kgs! Tomorrow I will install it.
    I will also buy a CTek 5A as suggested
     
  7. 4th_gear

    4th_gear F1 Rookie

    Jan 18, 2013
    4,425
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    Michael
    What does your Ferrari-brand charger look like?
    Can you read the model number off the side of the unit?
    What model year is your CaliT?
    How long have you owned the car?
    Does your car have HELE (stop-start)?
     
  8. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
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    Olivier Dellicour
    I use the charger I received with the car. The Ferrari version of the ctek. I will check the serial.
    Cali is 2016. The battery was 3 years old.
    I replaced it easily. Just had to deal with the battery weight and the aluminium cover wrapped around the battery.
    Until now no more crazy behaviour. And my key is now opening and closing the car from 5m away. With the old battery I had to be very close to the car stg like 1m.
    Cali has HELE so a specific replacement battery model was needed.
     
  9. 4th_gear

    4th_gear F1 Rookie

    Jan 18, 2013
    4,425
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    Michael
    I had very good reasons for my questions. My 2013 Cali30 also has HELE. I am the original owner so I know everything about its history and witnessed every service, fixed every issue. I was 1 of 2 HELE car owners in Canada in 2013.

    HELE technology was new to Ferrari and their dealers. My car came with the wrong Ferrari-branded CTEK charger so it matters which charger you actually have because my original charger was partly the cause for the original AGM battery to fail. The charger never properly recharged my AGM battery. My car also took several weeks to ship from Italy and you have to also realize no container ship will supply a maintenance charge to all the cars being shipped.

    At the same time all cars being shipped must have batteries because they have to be driven to and from container terminals. So all cars that are shipped long distances and have to spend time sitting at terminals and/or sit idle during transport from ship to dealers will suffer from battery drain issues especially cars with very sophisticated electronics. Ferraris have special battery cable terminals that draw current needed to maintain the cars’ circuits even after ignition is off. This setup is even more sophisticated than circuits found in cars like BMWs that also draw a lot of current while sitting idle.

    If the battery is not adequately serviced by the dealer or if you bought your car used, the battery not properly recharged by the previously owner, you will start your ownership with a weak battery and you will not know it. Add to that equation the misfortune of being given the wrong battery tender/charger and inadequate amount of driving to recharge the battery, your battery will never be adequately charged and you will suffer weird system faults and error messages because the battery is not putting out sufficient voltage. Circuits require specific voltages and some circuits are more unforgiving than others.

    FWIW, the requirement to be very near to the car to get the remote key fobs to work is not necessarily related to the car battery’s condition.

    Ferrari purposely designs their remote key fobs to do this because you can easily open your Ferrari car doors by accidentally handling the fob in your pocket or purse and not know it. More importantly Ferrari car owners, like all owners of highly visible luxury vehicles are obvious targets for thieves who can easily scan and lift the remote key fob signals if they are “too strong”. They can copy the signals. Ferrari makes you get close to your car before your key fob works because the thieves will also have to be just as close to pick up and steal your key fob signal, get it? ;)

    I can easily open the doors of my pickup truck 300 feet away. Would that also be a good feature for a Ferrari?

    Your car is not crazy. It’s just more sophisticated and demanding than most people realize or are used to. It’s not an appliance.
     
  10. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
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    Olivier Dellicour
    Thanks for your message. Very relevant info. I will take a pic of the charger and write the serial down.

    For the key you are totally right. They limit the distance on purpose. But with the old battery I had to almost touch the door. Not anymore. I guess the battery in the key itself has its importance too but I did not replace it
     
  11. George Vosburgh

    George Vosburgh F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    After you replace the battery I would try a CTEK charger. I went through this exact drill with my 599. The Ferrari charger was the problem. In the 599 there is a plastic plug between the charger and the battery which can make a poor connection. We eliminated the plug and hard wired the pigtail directly to the new battery. Result: problem solved.
     
  12. MalibuGuy

    MalibuGuy F1 Veteran

    Sep 18, 2007
    5,280
    As I recall the battery is located just in front of the engine block. Since heat is harmful to a battery, has anyone tried to insulate the battery with a heat shield case? Or is there one already supplied
     
  13. odellicour

    odellicour Karting
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    Apr 15, 2019
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    Olivier Dellicour
    There is one supplied.
     

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