hi, newbie question again drove the car for 50 miles Sunday, today put the battery conditioner on (supplied with car) and I was surprised it was only showing 4 orange lights rather than being fully charged. the conditioner is the Ferrari item (stickered B91 on rear). Is this normal, or does it suggest either an unsuitable conditioner and/or battery ? Any feedback gratefully received.
Very normal. Every time you put the charger on it will usually start at about 3 or 4 green lights. It will slowly turn to 7 green dots in about 6 - 8 hours. The charger slowly charges the battery to avoid heating the battery and shortening its life.
thank you, only diff is my conditioner displays orange lights and a final green light ,once i presume , is charged
My apologies, my error, I meant it starts at 3 - 4 orange lights, then slowly moves to the right & turns to green light when battery is fully charged.
As I understand it, the LEDs on the factory tender 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.
You may be right about that Vic. I will read my battery charger owners manual soon and confirm. Thanks. Dan
If it were me, unless I knew the battery was very recent, I would assume it's rubbish and replace it. Ditto for the tender. After a long drive, my Cali goes green on the CTEK 7002 within an hour. What you describe sounds like how my Cali acted when I first got it with an older battery and the OEM charger...T
I'm using a more up to date ctek with an adapter for the Ferrari charge port on mine. Works great, and its not unusual for the lights to take awhile to show fully charged.
Ctek 7002 is what I use. As Justice said, the OEM is a ctek, but in my book 7002 is better. I have a HELE Cali ('11) and so I charge in "snowflake" mode on the 7002...T
Same here. I use the 7002 along with this adapter : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ctek-Ferrari-Battery-Charger-Conditioner-Adapter-Cable-4-pin-Type/183641012432?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
How often should you put your car on the charger? I tend to drive mine daily but never more than a handful of miles since I work from home.
If the car is home and I'm not driving it, then I hook the battery tender up. The only time its removed is when I'm driving it or out of town.
24/7/365 unless I'm driving it. Even if I'm driving it the next day, it's on the tender. If there's a big electrical storm imminent, I might take it off tender for the duration of the storm, since we live in a 110 year old house. I also plug the tender into a surge protector as an added layer of security...T
Ferrari’s are famous for being very sensitive to voltage irregularities. It will throw all sorts of CEL and cause the car to malfunction. From transmission malfunctions to engine malfunctions. Hence it’s always a great idea to keep the battery fully charged and hooked up to a battery tender when not being driven. There’s parasitic drain that occurs when car is sitting with engine off. (Alarm system, incandescent bulbs being monitored by light ECU, etc. ) Mine is a 2016 Cali T. The guidance I received from the dealer is to hook up the car to a battery tender if you think you won't drive you car for over 2 weeks. I hook up mine as soon as I pull in too my garage. A well maintained battery will usually last longer. Dealer installed a new Interstate AGM battery on my car and provided me a brand new CTEK MUS 4.3 battery charger before I took ownership 2 months ago. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thanks for the info. My 2015 Cali T is being delivered Friday and I am sure it includes the factory-included battery tender. I have a Battery Tender Plus for my '71 Mercedes-Benz 250C and I didn't really want to use it with the Ferrari.
You will love the magnetic charge port, hidden on the left of the license plate. So easy my Cali T stays on unless being driven!