Battery Monitor

Mel,
How long have you been using it? I have been wanting to try the Ctek Battery Sense, which is the originator of this technology a few years ago, but the $55 price was a bit high.
$20 is way better. (btw your link it dead, but this one works)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-Monitor-II-Bluetooth-4-0-IOS-Andriod-Battery-Tester-USA-Shipping/273818799720?hash=item3fc0df4e68:g:9GcAAOSwmDJcv27U

 

Thanks I am going to order one. I have an electronic battery load tester, but it takes some time to get to the battery in my 430 Scuderia to test once or twice a year. This makes it a "no brainer", I can check anytime I want, very simply. I can't really justify it for my other cars, as battery access is very easy, but every Ferrari I have had it was a pain, and took some time to access. I appreciate the post and review! BTW, what is the Bluetooth range like? Do you need to be standing right next to the car?

 

I can't find an issue with this unit unless it has a destructive failure mode. Its got to live in a very demanding environment and the cost is so low. Not sure how it measures current without being in series unless there is a inductive loop around a lead inside somewhere. It says 30 mV accuracy so who knows. There's and A/D in there and a WIFI chip with processor. Certainly a China unit at that price. Very valuable information for these cars specifically Ferrari. Good find.

 

So I have been using this monitor and app for a few days now. I installed it Thursday evening. First, before installing, I performed a voltage and load test using my Griots Garage electronic battery load tester. I found the voltage it showed, to be very close to what I was seeing on the app (version V4). The discrepancy was only a few hundredths of a volt higher on the app. The app shows battery "condition" percentage, rather than CCA (cold cranking amps)the two correlated pretty closely. The app said I had about 88% capacity (battery is a 6 yo Optima red top), right after removing the battery tender it was on. The Optima is rated at 800CCA and my Griots load tester said it was testing at around 700CCA and "passed" (barely) under its test.

As I played with the app, and the various tests and functions, I noticed it prompted that their is a new version V5 of the app. I went ahead and updated. Now, the discrepancy in the voltage reading on the app, versus my Griot Garage electronic battery load tester is much greater. The app shows the voltage as reading over .22 volts higher than the Griots tester, and now my battery capacity reads as "100%", when it is obviously not. I have contacted the app developer and they have been very responsive, emailing me questions and requesting screen shots of the readings under V4 and V5. I can send them screen shots under V5 but obviously I cannot show V4 since it is no longer on my device, nor available online. Hopefully they can resolve the voltage reading and get it more accurate. But even with the error, it can give you a general indication of battery life.

Better, I found a seemingly more useful battery condition test it offers: "cranking test" Each time you start the car, it reads the battery voltage. It claims a cranking voltage greater than 9.6V is GOOD for battery condition, and less is POOR. This seems like a sort of CCA test basically. As expected on a 6yo battery, I am seeing both OK and Fail readings as my cranking voltage seems to alternately fall just below or above the critical 9.6V threshold. Since I know under the voltage test, this app is reading about .22vt high, I am suspecting I am probably in reality, consistently failing this test.

I intend to purchase a new battery.

 

they are brilliant bit of kit

 

Another thumbs up. I have used it on our boat to track the condition of our house batteries. It will log voltage for a week plus and then upload info into the app when you reconnect (come into bluetooth range). Has been very useful identifying strange charging behavior or inverter draw.

 

I have just installed an Ancel monitor [Amazon, $32.00] on my 2013 458 Italia. With the many horror stories about 458 battery life and not knowing when the one in my car was installed I thought it looked like a good idea. I bought the car about a year ago and have been good about keeping the tender on it. I was especially curious about the battery condition because each time I installed it, even after a long drive, the tender dropped back to three bars and took a couple of hours to reach full bars.
The installation was straight forward and disconnecting the negative terminal to reach a wire nut to connect to seems to have caused no problems with the electronics.
I did follow a youtube video that is available. My battery is a red top Odyssey.
Installing the app was also easy. I am currently running a test of the condition without being on the tender. Some 20 hours in and there has been no drop in battery level; it is showing 100%. I guess I can assume that perhaps they installed a new battery when I bought the car.

 

Odyssey batteries are AGM and very high quality. I had a Sears Platinum AGM group 34R several years ago, and learned it was a rebranded Odyssey (gray plastic case, instead of red, but otherwise identical). It was excellent. But Sears changed suppliers and I have no idea who provides them to Sears now.

 

So, I left the car off the tender for three days; saw no drop in the battery level; appx. 12.4+/-. Seemed to confirm the new battery idea.
However, while the first start seemed normal the monitor beeped me that the cranking voltage was low; about 9.42v; just below the min. of the "Standard Range"?!
Drove the car to warm it up and parked it with the tender on; it showed the normal post run 2-3 bars.
In a few hours the monitor went to 13.4v. Dropped back to 12.9v when the tender was unplugged. The cranking test showed 10.22v; just into the "Standard Range".
Damned if I know what this all means. I will just plan to use the tender if it is going to be parked for any length of time; and wonder if the battery is going to bail at an inopportune time!.

 

Reviving this thread. Seems like lots of these on the market via Amazon now

Anyone have recommendation on current brands?






Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat

 

The one linked above (dead link now) I am still using and works great. They have even updated the app a few times and there are a few new features. For the $20 I paid, worth it. Just search on ebay for "bluetooth battery monitor" and they come up.

 

The Ancel I installed worked, conveniently, for the duration of my time with the car.