Got my battery charger/conditioner hooked up

Thanks for posting this detailed info on the battery tender. Agree with your quote about wine and cars. Have you tried Quilceda Creek Cab from Washington State? Amazing wine!

 

Thanks for posting. My car is 13 months old and I've always wondered what the charger looks like!

 

It is a good thing to keep the car on the battery conditioner. Although not as quick as the F355, the 458 will run the battery down fairly quickly to the point where the starter motor will not crank. My experience is that it seems to be an on-off kind of thing -- no straining to crank; it will or it won't. And I imagine it is a robust starter motor to crank the 12.5:1 compression engine.

 

Thanks for the info.

Once it is "fully charged", do you remove it or just leave it connected until she is ready to wake up and go for a ride.

 

Could anyone please tell me if it were possible to connect the charger to the cigarette lighter jack (I have the (CTEK-) charger for my Porsche and always stick it in there. It works flawlessly) ?

Why does F need to use that special connector beneath the glovebox ? Is the lighter jack not connected to the battery when the car is turned off ?

Any answers are much appreciated.

Cheers,
Ulli

 

It is a trickle-charger that doesn't overcharge, so you can leave it in.


Onno

 

My official Porsche battery tender plugs into the cigarette lighter in my 2011 Boxster S. Works great as the car was not driven for over 2 months and started right up. No problems. I believe this method will NOT work on an Fcar.

My battery tender leads for my 360 F1 Spider were dealer installed in the panel behind the driver's seat. The car also sat for two months and started on the first try just like the Pcar. I keep the tender on all the time when not driving as I never know how long it may be between drives. When you live 3.5 hours from service the safer the better.

Having a battery tender come with the car is great. Thanks to the OP for the pics.

Life is good.
Life is better driving a Ferrari.

 

Right. The Porsche cigarette lighter charger is a real trickle charger. It is rated at only 1/2 amp and shuts off when it is charged. The Ferrari unit is rated at 3.3 amps so it is a much faster charge. It will also cycle on and off as has been noted. This is the pulse mode that is supposed to 'condition' the battery. The Ferrari unit has its own circuit on board the vehicle such that when it is engaged, other circuits are deactivated -- for example the car will not start, though you can turn the ignition on.

 

Interesting.

AFAIK all the CTEKs are 'intelligent' chargers meaning they actively build a full charge-uncharge-recharge-cycle. They do not only CHARGE, but in time also put the battery under load simulating a normal (and battery-wise healthy) cycle.

Could it really be that the F has it's own charge-circuitry on board and does NOT depend on the charger being 'intelligent' as the CTEKs ? THAT would of course explain the need to have an additional charging-jack below the glovebox.

Guess I'll give my other CTEKs a try connecting them to the cigarette lighter jack once I have the F here in my garage. The batteries of both my previous 996TT and my current 997TT were/are always fully loaded when doing so.

Thanks for the moment,
Ulli

 

I had the impression that the Ferrari unit is made by CTEK but am not positive about that. Good question about the nature of the on board charge circuitry. All Fs have a separate charging jack somewhere, if not below the glove box. Please let us know if you learn anything about the cig lighter jack experiment. My 997 GT3 is always fully loaded when I use the Porsche unit.

 

the Ferrari supplied battery conditioner is indeed from CTEK and what you guys have is just a conditioner if I'm not mistaken. it doesn't charge the battery but just condition it to its optimum level. that's what I know

 

I might be mistaken but I believe that the Ferrari/CTEK unit does charge and 'condition' the battery. The instruction 'manual' accompanying the unit describes a charging phase and a pulse phase. The charging phase is indicated by the middle amber light, as discussed earlier in this thread. The pulsing phase simulates normal operation to some degree in that the battery is alternately discharged slightly then recharged.

 

i keep my 430 connected to the tender whenever the car is parked in my garage.
even in the summer, between drives.
unfortunately, the car is now up on a lift, covered for the winter.
i will keep the prancing pony in hibernation until the spring.

 

Based in my limited evaulation, you pretty much have to use the factory charger.

Mine was "missing" when I got my car. I tried my Battery Tender brand charger in the cigarette lighter. Did not work. I suspect the lighter circuit turns off when the car is off. I bought the factory charger from Ferrari for about $400, as noone knew where I could buy the unique plug in end needed to go in the socket under the dash, as shown above.

 

$400? Wow. I think they are made in China for about $10 per unit.

Mine is charging, cycling as described. Spring needs to get here already.

I also parked on carpet squares and will increase tire pressure to 43 or whatever the manual recommends. Then maybe put the cover on.

Anything else to do?

 

Hi all! How long does it usually take to run the cycle if I just want to connect it once in a while. Thanks !

 

My battery went down because the circuit breaker blew when it was in winter storage. I did not realize this. The power was off maybe for weeks.

Got the power back on. Plugged in the tender. Tried it three days later and the 458 started right up. The volt meter in the car showed the battery was not fully charged. Have not had a problem since.

When the car is not in storage l drive 458 every day. Plug in the tender at night as this extends battery life.

 

The tender KEEPS the battery charged when the car is parked, i.e. maintains the level it was right before you turn off the car. The car itself i.e. the alternator will start charging once the car has been moving for about 5 minutes. If you battery is not fully charged or you drive short distances it is best to every once and a while hook up a trickle charger to the battery itself, i.e. under the front passenger dash. You can purchase one at most auto supply stores or online for about 20 or 30 dollars

 

Can anyone verify if this is true? I thought the battery tender would (slowly) charge the battery.

 

I believe you are correct. Most of the battery tenders under discussion come from CTEK. My understanding is the default Ferrari provided tender is the equivalent of a CTEK 4.3 (which I have several of), although I prefer the CTEK 7002 (which I have even more of). If you look at the any of the CTEK manuals you will see that they go through a number of programs that will charge the battery.

For example, if you look at pages 5/6 of the CTEK 5.0 manual (https://www.ctek.com/storage/ma/3f8cf34932cc46889f1d189ca335379c/cd879e35fdd145898b6b99c549c40292/pdf/7F18A34BA7A2CF91AC9F5404D8EB07FE2E6CAA66/MXS_5.0-manual-low-UK-EN.pdf) it says it goes through desulfation, soft start to test that the battery can take a charge, bulk charge up to 80%, slow charge to 100%, remove the charge and see if the battery is maintaining the charge, and then go to float/pulse mode for longer storage. My probem with the 458 provided tender is that the indicator lights do not show the different stages, unlike the CTEK commercial tenders.