YABTP: Making the "Battery Conditioner Connected" light

The specialized crimper is not absolutely necessary, I made do with one of the others I already had. Too bad not all the parts are in stock. I made my own from the parts list for less than $20 and customized the connector for my Granit Battery Saver brand maintainer. I think you can PM wkumari who started this thread, and he will sell you a set as well.

BTW, I just checked the links in wkumari's website and all the parts are available today from Digikey:
DIY (kumari.net)

Including the strain relief: MBG4S-1 Souriau-Sunbank by Eaton | Connectors, Interconnects | DigiKey

 

I built one of these from the directions supplied because I was using a different tender than the CTEK on my 430. It was definitely a challenge to fit the wires and especially the jumper inside the connector that’s required to activate the battery warning light that prevents the car from starting when a tender is plugged in. Better off buying the ready-made one. A bargain by any measure…


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Okay - a somewhat OCD question related to this thread, in my F430 manual under the section for how to use the built-in battery charger it says to reference the Carrozzeria Scaglietti manual, which I didn't even realize I had and upon its discovery appears to be an additional manual detailing the options for the car. And indeed all the options for my car are in this manual - with the exception of the built-in battery charger connector! This seems to be an inadvertent omission.

I am guessing it probably doesn't even matter either way but I was wondering if the official guidance when connecting the charger through the port is to disconnect the battery via the master battery switch before charging (making the assumption that the charging connector bypasses the switch), or if you can leave the battery switch on (and the rest of the car electronics drawing current) while charging. On all my other daily drivers I simply connect the charger to the battery with the rest of the car electronics connected and of course it works fine - just wanted to make sure there's nothing different about how a Ferrari works.

 

The official battery charger uses a chassis earth as one half of the battery charging circuit. Disconnecting the battery disconnects the link between the battery negative and the chassis. You can't charge the battery with the disconnect switch open. There is really no point disconnecting the battery prior to hooking up the charger. It just means you will upset the computers by removing power.

 

BTW just to follow up on my previous post (excerpt below), the CTEK connector for my 430 from "chedzem" on eBay works perfectly and is great quality. I checked the pinout before plugging it in just to be sure; it connects/charges correctly and the warning light comes on if you try to start the car. Now the original Ferrari tender can go back into storage.


"If folks are still landing on this thread because they're in a similar situation, I did find this fellow ("chedzem") on eBay in the UK that sells a "Ctek Ferrari Battery Charger / Conditioner Adapter Cable - 4 pin Type" for $62USD. This is just the CTEK adapter/plug - not the charger. He has them for all different makes and models. I've ordered one - will check it out with the multimeter against the info here in this thread before I dare plug it into my baby."