Charging the 458

Under the passenger door. I've done that for three years almost year round without problems. Just don't route it through the forward vertical or door curve.

It's what the factory recommends.

 

As above with the following caveats. Pull the wire as close to the front edge of the door (near the front fender) as possible, then close door. Then, advance wire forward the last inch or so and it will have no pressure on it. You will be able to wiggle the wire freely in this position.
When removing the charger wire you will have to pull it back that inch or so. Otherwise, the wire sometimes gets hung up in the door/fender area when you open door to remove charger. I have been doing this for the past 6 years on my Italia and spider with no wire/charger issues.
Best.

 

I just lower the window a little and run it out that. But if you find a good/easy way to run it out the door upload some pics so I can try it that way

 

The manual describes the passenger door location, and you can see where the actual metal is curved to allow the wire to sit without significant pressure.

 

both ways work great.

I learned the hard way, REPLACE the battery after 2 years or so. This "Charger" is only a conditioner and will not raise the voltage on the battery. As the battery ages, the conditioner only holds it at that reduced voltage.

This cars will start shifting abruptly, miss the rpm matching, and will even get the transmission failure light due to aging battery - even if it was on the conditioner each night as was mine.

 

Yes, There is a spot for the wire. I think the official way to do it is to close the door on the wire while it is near the front of the step plate, then pull the wire from outside of the car forward until it hits the groove. You can feel for the groove on the passenger door seal when the door is open. You can definitely feel the groove when you hit it pulling the charger wire from outside the car.

Low battery major problems. Three days after I bought mine I was driving to an event and doing some spirited corners when the car shut down and went into limp home mode. After sitting at the event it drove ok but afterwards it would go into limp mode every so often.

Took it to the dealer and bad battery. I got confused about the estrimate and told my wife it is only the battery and costs about $200. She said "Nothing on that car costs $200." She was right.

 

Are the 488 cars as sensitive to battery voltage variations as the 458 appears to be?

 

This is all correct. I move the wire a little each time...

I also replaced the factory tender (made by CTek) with a CTek 7002- it will do a great job with the battery.

 

I believe my Ferrari charger has failed as it seems to run down my battery, rather than charge it. I looked at the end fitting of the Ferrari charger and it doesn't look anything like the ones offered by Ctek7002. How do you use the ones from Ctek to charge your Ferrari?

Thanks,

Dave

 

+ 1 for CTEK. I have the 500 series, works great. Works exactly like Ferrari one. I actually think Ferrari rebrands CTEK.

+ 1 for info about battery. I don’t think they even last 3 years. I started getting weird messages upon startup, so I knew battery was getting weak.

+ 1 for wire through the door, but honestly I don’t the door seal is all that tight to start with.

Enjoy your car in good health!

 

But this doesn't answer my question about the proprietary connector Ferrari has versus what Ctek provides?? My battery is an identical AGM battery that is only 8 months old. I just drove the car for 1500 miles 6 days straight with all voltages normal and battery read 12.6 V - then I hooked up my Ferrari charger left for a week and came back with the battery drained to 11 V where upon I got the warning of a major electrical system fault (caused by run down battery) - After the second try the engine started and I drove it over to the gym and back and battery is back up to 12.6 V.

My question is how do you get around the proprietary connector and not destroy the "Ferrari" charger for Concours De Elegance scoring purposes by adapting the Ctek charger?

 

There are previous threads about adapters on Ebay or you could unscrew the existing lead and put in the new CTEK & reverse the process on the few days your concours mark is critical - much the same as you put back into the tires the genuine Italian air on those days

 

Some people make their own, some people buy off Ebay. I bought off Ebay and have been very satisfied: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-Battery-Charger-Custom-Adapter-for-CTEK-360-F430-458-California-599-612/192316637726?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160323102634%26meid%3D70323c4c84ac4975a92d2f811404dc5c%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D192326010880%26itm%3D192316637726%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1.

 

The 458 charging connection is under the dash, on the right hand side. CTEK sells the Ferrari 458 adaptor, which connects the CTEK to the dash. It’s basically a piece of wire......

 

Well my battery is 2 years old and weird messages on start up and I have had the limited engine performance message come on which is posted in another thread.
sounds like the battery is a concern but it has been on the Ferrari factory charger and the center half charge light has been on for hours . I didn't realize that it was only a conditioner and not a charger . Next question is which model of c tek do we buy ?? The company has a bunch of offerings and I'd like to make an intelligent decision.

 

I called ctek this morning and they said they would rebuild my ferrari charger/conditioner as it was proprietary even though it was theirs I had to see the dealer. He did say their replacement was MXS 5.0 and the Ferrari Adapter is being sold by 3rd parties for about $60 on Ebay. Sure enough I ordered the Ctek and the recommended unit for a total including tax was $164.00 and I'll have it by Friday. Called the dealer and they wanted $469 plus tax. So I'm going to use the Ctek and put the Ferrari unit that doesn't work in the red bag it came in for the Concours in Portland in 2021.

 

... would not..

 

Buy the Cytec 7202 It much better unit. It's not more than 100.00. So much more features.

 

See picture of pocket in bottom of door for charging cord.
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Run The "Pigtail" cordage to the extreme front of the bottom of the front passenger door as there is a space there to handle the width of the pigtail. If you use the plug in cordage and the area on the door shown you will fracture or cut the cordage.

 

There is a much better place at the top. Bring the cable in at the top edge of the fender just beside the door/fender gap.and route it down near the door joints.